Musical

When Per in the past talked about the fact that Roxette’s music has theatrical potential, I always thought that one day there will be a big musical written based on Roxette songs. Now the thing is, a book is already written and a script from that with matching Roxette songs will be adapted to theatre stage. (We wrote about it in May HERE.) I don’t know which direction is more difficult. To write a story based on existing songs or find the most fitting songs for an already existing story.

The base book from which the script will be written is a novel by Jane Fallon. She is an English author and television producer who debuted as a full-time novelist with her first national bestseller, Getting Rid of Matthew in 2007. She has followed this with several other bestsellers. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Got You Back is the second novel written by Jane, published in 2008. It’s an entertaining story about the triangle between a husband, his wife and his mistress and the revenge of the latter two gone wrong.

A husband. A wife. A mistress. And the ultimate plan for revenge…

The husband James never intended to lead a double life with a wife in London and a mistress in the country, it’s exhausting. But that’s all about to change…

The wife Stephanie isn’t really snooping when she finds a text message from a strange woman on her husband’s mobile. But now she’s found it, how can she ignore it? It’s time to track the woman down and find out what’s going on…

The mistress Katie has no reason to believe her boyfriend, James, is cheating until someone claiming to be his wife gets in touch. Now she’s been cast in the role of mistress. Not one she’s happy with…

Once Stephanie and Katie know about each other, they must decide what to do. They could both just throw him out or they could join forces to make his life hell first…

But revenge isn’t always sweet. And what happens when one woman thinks enough is enough but the other doesn’t know when to stop?

I had the chance to read it this weekend and what I really like about the novel is that Jane tells the story from all three angles, so you have an in-depth view of these three characters’ personalities. Some of their actions make them sympathetic, others make you roll your eyes – like Finn, the 7-year-old son of Stephanie (stylist) and James (vet) roll them sometimes. Until a certain point you keep your fingers crossed that James pays for all his mistakes, but after a while you feel it’s getting too much and you feel sorry for him. The tension is built up very cleverly and it is also kept after everything turns out to all three parties. You never know how all your la-la-la-la-lies affect your Lover, Lover, Lover until you realize she already knows everything and your wife knows everything too.

And yes… with this, let’s get down to the main thing. The story being the base of an upcoming Roxette musical. There is actually a tremendous amount of Roxette songs that popped up in my mind while reading. The ones that would be obvious choices (for me) are Spending My Time, Listen To Your Heart, The Look, It Must Have Been Love, Things Will Never Be The Same, Dangerous, Sleeping Single, Dressed For Success, Joyride, Come Back (Before You Leave), What’s She Like?, You Don’t Understand Me, A Thing About You. But there are several more that could be included. Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave), I Don’t Want To Get Hurt, Lies, Paint, Lover, Lover, Lover, Pay The Price, The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye, Wish I Could Fly, I’m Sorry, Secrets That She Keeps, Vulnerable, Staring At The Ground, The Centre Of The Heart (Is A Suburb To The Brain), Easy Way Out, Cry, From One Heart To Another, Dance Away, Do You Wanna Go the Whole Way?, It Just Happens…

Now I stop making a list here, because in the end, all Rox tracks will be added to this article and „only” 20-25 songs fit in a real musical. Oh well… how about a musical version of Crush On You? Haha. Nah, OK, I really stop it. Certainly, the most well-known Roxette hits will be included.

Besides being a Roxer, another passion of mine is theatre. I love dramas, comedies and musicals the most. Coming it from Webber or anyone else, I like it when stories are told by the help of songs.

This musical is set to premiere in Malmö Opera in autumn 2024. The script will be written by Swedish playwright and director Klas Abrahamsson. That makes me wonder about the language of the play. Roxette lyrics are in English of course, but if I look at musicals I saw in Hungary, the lyrics (also in Mamma Mia!) are translated into Hungarian. Thinking about Jesus Christ Superstar that toured around Sweden recently, it was performed in English, but I also saw Swedish versions in the past. For the time being, we are talking about the musical getting on stage in Sweden and of course, in Sweden there is no issue with it being in English. Later it will be interesting to see how the project develops and how many theatres will join worldwide. I already heard a Hungarian version of The Look in a play a couple of years ago and It Must Have Been Love also has a Hungarian version. Hm… I think it will also be different when you hear your top favourite band’s songs in another language than the original. Do I care when I see Mamma Mia! the musical that the songs are sung in Hungarian? Not really. I have the original English lyrics in my head, but I watch the musical as a theatre play, not as an ABBA „show”. Then it’s totally fine.

Let’s see what happens! Only 2 more years to go! Haha. It’s an exciting project, that’s for sure. Good luck to the whole team involved!

Until then, you can get yourself Got You Back to read. HERE you can read the first chapter!

Fun fact: Jane Fallon is the partner of comedian Ricky Gervais and you might remember Ricky’s guilty pleasures video from 2014… Still much fun!

Roxette’s vast catalogue of hits is the soundtrack for generations all over the world. It is now time for it to be used in a brand new musical, based on the hit author Jane Fallon’s novel “Got You Back”. The opening is scheduled to be in the autumn of 2024 at Malmö Opera in Malmö, Sweden.

The Swedish duo Roxette, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, is one of the most successful pop groups ever. Their iconic songs like “Listen To Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, “The Look”, “Joyride” and many more have ruled the charts around the globe. The classic Roxette catalogue will be the soundtrack for a brand new musical, based on the English hit novelist Jane Fallon’s book “Got You Back” with a script by the Swedish playwright and director Klas Abrahamsson. Per Gessle is the hugely successful songwriter and frontman of Roxette which he formed with singer Marie Fredriksson in 1986. Their sales to late exceeds 80 million albums since their first release.

Per Gessle says:

My immediate feeling is that Roxette’s music is perfect for a musical, a rich bunch of songs with lots of familiar melodies. The mix of our legacy and Jane Fallon’s brilliant story feels like a match made in heaven. I look forward to this exciting project.

Jane Fallon is the celebrated TV-producer who became a successful author. Fallon has published eleven novels since her debut “Getting Rid Of Matthew” in 2007 and the sales has passed the million mark in UK alone.

Jane says:

I love musicals and I love Scandinavia and I love Roxette’s music so this is like a dream come true. I’m so happy to be part of this production.

The playright and director Klas Abrahamsson has been praised for several of his plays like “Camping”, “My Friend The Fascist” and “Ingvar! A Musical Furniture Tale” – the two latter together with composer Erik Gedeon.

Klas says:

The music is so great and cool and the story is important and has a most relevant intrigue. I’m so thrilled.

Malmö Opera is one of Sweden’s biggest producer of musical theatre. Carina Ostrander says:

Malmö Opera has yet again shown the power to launch new projects, from the first idea to a full stage production. We do look forward to the collaboration with Per Gessle, Jane Fallon, Klas Abrahamsson and all of the skilled professional craftsmen necessary for a successful stage show.

The musical is a collaboration between Per Gessle, Nordiska ApS and Malmö Opera.

Tickets will go on sale in 2023/24.