Kristina in pictures: Royal Albert Hall memories

13 Comments

  • Great pictures Steffen,i sat next to you for the second half of the show.

  • Really lovely pictures Steffen. I enjoyed this very much.

  • Thanks for putting these up!

  • Great photography… thank you for sharing these Steffen. Cheers.

  • These are fantastic memories. Great shots. Thank you Steffen and Ice.

  • gives me goosebumps all over again.

  • Brilliant evening and wonderful pictures. Show drove me to poetry (as below). All global diaspora can relate to Kristina…bring on Dublin and Sydney!

    The Emigrant (after Kristina från Duvemåla)

    Laced across the shrinking globe
    From Duvemåla to Battery Park
    Or Redwood City to Sydney?s shores
    We journeyed.

    In the eye of Famine
    In the cradle of Hope
    In the desire to Conquer
    In the pursuit of Love
    We tracked the White Hart.

    Can it be so simple?
    Taking The Long Trek to assuage our simple needs?

    "We?re off to the Promised Land, Oh Lord!
    We?re off to the Promised Land
    Oh who will come and walk with me?
    We?re off to the Promised Land?"

    The wander, the lust?

    And we alight, we weary Settlers
    We freeze and put wheat in the barn and clothes on our bairns
    As the accents melt
    The Melting Pot bubbles quietly away?away?away

    Time rolls over and the drift goes on
    The never-ending river of madness
    For the Somali waiting in the Glasgow snows
    And the Boer parched in his high veldt wagon.

    "Little do ye know your own blessedness;
    For to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive,
    and the true success is to labour."

    Perhaps it is our way
    Our way to migrate like birds
    Like Moses
    Like millions of Monarchs flitting the Oceans?
    Even when the ash cloud reddens the Moon
    And smears the sky with glass.

    Still the children call us out

    Oh Mama, Mama where is Home?

    And we look and we smile and say we?ll be home soon?
    A vacant smile
    A quizzical smile
    For we know a place called Home and in the very same moment

    We forget again?.

  • For anyone who didn’t get to attend the concert an wants a programme Dress Circle are selling the programmes at £7.00 (£10.00) on the night. The CD is also their best selling item in stock at the moment.

  • I am now totally obsessed with Kristina! Benny and Bjorn please bring it to Australia. Hey, work on the English stage version here then transfer it to London and New York. It’s got to be cheaper! Anyway, can’t wait for a full stage version. By the way, don’t cut it, expand it, please.

  • Before the Kristina pages go into the history file has anyone heard even the tinnest feedback on the business response the concert has got?
    With the mixed response the concert got I do wonder if it has actually caused hesitation in the business for launching a full show? I know some Ice members have insider knowledge so is there any feedback on the future of Kristina other than the 2011 restaging of the original show?

  • ‘Kristina’ did not chart in the US or UK.

    The ‘Chess’ CD reached No.10 in the UK, in 1985.

    I think that Benny & Bjorn will write something more
    accesible & commercial one day. ‘Kristina’ is
    great – but too serious for most people.

  • Stephan:

    If you think about it, there’s only one reasonable explanation why B & B would be shuttling the piece off to Finland cut to 2 1/2 hours: to see how it plays in a more "West-End" or "Broadway" friendly form.

    I’m certain B & B know they have a large enough fan base to keep the show running for four or five years no matter what critics say. "Mamma Mia" proved that for the se guys, just make it and they will come.

  • I will treasure the memories from that evening back in April 2010 at the RAH. Programme and concert leaflet safely put away as a nostalgic reminder x

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