Musical

Per Gessle interview on Studio Ett about “Joyride – The Musical”

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Studio Ett, news magazine on Swedish Radio P1, did a phone interview with Per Gessle after he saw one of the final rehearsals of Joyride – The Musical on 3rd September. Listen to it HERE!

The program leaders welcome Per Gessle on the show. He is joining via phone from Halmstad. Per was in Malmö yesterday (on 3rd September) to see one of the final rehearsals. The program leaders are curious what it was like to see and hear Roxette songs in musical form. Mr. G says it was the first time he got to see it together with an audience and it was absolutely fantastic. It’s a strange experience, of course, but it’s awesome. It’s a new chapter in the book in a way. It’s amazing.

To the question in what way it is a strange experience, Per replies it’s awesome, it’s so big. There are almost 300 people who worked full time on this musical in Malmö. It’s a huge production and there are costumes, there is a 45-piece orchestra and everything is larger than life. Then they play these Roxette songs for 2.5 hours. It’s absolutely magical.

Per is asked if it was obvious to say yes to the musical. He says it wasn’t. They have been talking about it since 2015, actually. They got the first request then and he has been to various showcases in London and everywhere. Different companies, different producers presented different ideas, but they have all been turned down, because the script has never been good enough. Then they heard about Jane Fallon’s book, Got You Back and all of a sudden it felt like it could work with their music. It’s a cool story and it simply fits the music. Per doesn’t think the music itself has any major problems to fix so it works in a musical context. There are very big emotions and big melodies and there are a lot of ups and downs. So it fits the musical format very well.

As Per saw the show yesterday in Malmö with a lot of people, but there are many who of course haven’t seen it yet, the program leader asks him to describe it. Mr. G says that so far there were three rehearsals with invited audiences, e.g musical school children and others, but the actual premiere is on Friday. It’s magnificent. It’s a large venue for 1,400 people, it’s a fairly large theatre. It’s a fantastic production that has a huge orchestra and an enormously talented cast. There are many singers and dancers. You have to go and have a look yourself, he suggests.

The program leader says Roxette was Per and Marie Fredriksson, who passed away five years ago and is missed. She wasn’t really a musical girl, so the program leader is curious what Per thinks Marie would have thought about this musical. Per says Marie liked the musical idea. He thinks Marie would have thought this was great fun, because it keeps the Roxette spirit and the Roxette catalogue is shown to new audiences. Per thinks you should welcome such things. He thinks it’s the same they did with the Gyllene Tider movie that premiered this summer. You reach a new group of people, a new generation all the time with your music, so he thinks Marie would have thought this was amazing.

Speaking of the GT movie, it’s very much Per Gessle right now. Musical, film, Roxette tour with Lena Philipsson by his side next year, new solo album in October. Per turned 65 in January and the program leader asks him if this is how he picks up the pace. Per laughs and says he is retired now. He says he ended up on the cover of a pensioners’ magazine. He was shocked. Getting back to the question, it just happened. The movie and the musical were not really meant to come out with such a short interval, but it has become so. Per tries to keep up as much as he can. He likes his work and he loves working with all these projects. It’s incredibly exciting stuff, both the film and the musical and the solo album, which is mostly duets in Swedish, coming in October. It’s very exciting. Then the whole adventure with Lena Philipsson next year will also be a completely new blank page of what it will be. So he tries to keep up as best as he can.

Roxette has sold close to a hundred million records. It’s almost hard to take in. They have had enormous success. The program leader asks Per how often it comes to his mind when, for example, he was packing food boxes in Halmstad and his teacher came by and said „I knew this is where you would end up”. Per laughs and says it was like that. He says he came from a fairly simple childhood and very much lived in the middle of his little bubble all his life until he met MP and started a band in the late ’70s. It became Gyllene Tider. We all have our own destiny and lines to follow, so he tried to keep up as best as he could. It has been fantastic.

The program leader asks Per what of everything he does he would most like this teacher to see and hear. Per says, nothing, he didn’t like him. Per doesn’t think about it, it doesn’t matter anymore. There are so many adversities that you face, especially when you are young. It becomes a driving force. You have to show yourself that you can handle things. Per has always been quite a determined and ambitious type. It was one of many things that got him going.

The program leader mentions that as Per says, he loves to work and he loves his job, but a large part of his job was Marie Fredriksson. She wants to know how much Per misses her in everyday life and now that Joyride – The Musical is premiering. Mr. G says it’s been a long time since Marie passed away, but he thinks about her every day. Especially now, when so many Roxette-related things are going on. She is there in spirit somehow. The whole musical is an homage to her in a way, it’s also written in the program. It’s clear that she is felt. Per has to say that it’s highly emotional for him to sit in the theatre and hear all these songs. You kind of travel back to a lot of events, tours and things that they worked on over the years. It’s a common journey that’s completely unique, so it’s clear that Marie is there all the time.

The program leader asks what the strongest memory is that Per gets from watching this musical and hearing their songs. It’s above all the big Marie ballads, It Must Have Been Love, Spending My Time, Queen Of Rain, the songs that she represents. Every time you hear these songs, she sits next to them. It’s magical. Then there are some of her songs that are in the musical as well, songs that she has written, so it’s not just Per’s stuff. It’s amazing, Per thinks. He adds that he thinks a lot of people will like this, because it’s strong and a lot of people have a very big relationship with Roxette, especially with Marie.

The program leader says there are many people who have a relationship with Roxette all over the world. She is curious if Per thinks many people will go to Malmö to see the show. Mr. G says he actually knows that that is the case. Someone at Malmö Opera said that 45 percent of all tickets sold are bought by people who have never been to Malmö Opera before. It must mean that Roxette is a strong magnet.

Here the interview ends by thanking Per for joining Studio Ett.

Per Gessle thinks “Joyride – The Musical” is awesome

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TT News Agency has published an article in which they talk to Joyride – The Musical director Guy Unsworth.

There have been many suggestions of a musical based on Roxette’s music. Per Gessle has turned down previous offers, because the scripts weren’t good enough, including one that focused on cancer during a period when Marie Fredriksson was ill.

When Unsworth came in as director, it was about one thing: keeping the Roxette spirit.

It was one of the first conversations I had with Per, if you want to capture Roxette in a feeling, what kind of feeling would it have been? For Per, it’s a lot about having fun at concerts. At the same time, they have made songs that evoke incredibly strong emotions.

The result is a musical based on both parts.

Unsworth continues:

We wanted the audience to smile, but at the same time we also wanted to manage the fact that Roxette is associated with some of the biggest “break-up ballads” of all time. The atmosphere is “feel-good” from the early ’90s when they had their heyday.

The script is based on best-selling author Jane Fallon’s novel Got You Back from 2008 – a triangle story full of drama.

The dangerous thing about musicals is that many people come just to listen to the music. That’s why we wanted a story that outweighs the music.

Another challenge has been to attract both devoted Roxette fans and musical enthusiasts. Unsworth explains:

We want to reach out to everyone regardless of whether they like Roxette or not, but we will offer a little extra to all fans. We’ve woven in some of the lesser known songs. So if you are really a fan, there are a few surprises in both costumes and melodies. It’s also a little tribute to Marie.

With two days left until the premiere at Malmö Opera, Unsworth believes they will succeed in conveying the Roxette spirit. The tickets are almost sold out until December and Gessle himself has expressed that he is satisfied.

He has been an important part of the process. He has been very present, but also trusted us very much. He probably realized that musicals were not his area of interest and instead turned to others. I was fascinated by the idea of creating something that he would appreciate. He has said that he thinks it will be an awesome musical.

Check out Aftonbladet for the original Swedish text.

Per Gessle and the creators about “Joyride – The Musical” on Swedish Radio P1 Kultur

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Swedish Radio P1 Kultur did a reportage about Joyride – The Musical before its world premiere on 6th September. Besides the main characters, the director and the costume designer, they also talked to Per. Listen to it HERE!

The program starts with the introduction of Roxette, a Swedish duo that took the world by storm in the late ’80s. They formed their band in 1986, but the first time Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle sang together on a record was five years earlier. Here they play Ingenting av vad du behöver, a Gyllene Tider song from 1981. Five years later they formed Roxette and became one of Sweden’s biggest pop exports.

Now their music has been revived in Joyride – The Musical at Malmö Opera, which has its world premiere on 6th September.

The program brings you behind the scenes, so you can take part in the preparations for the premiere. Before that, Jenny Teleman talks about good old MTV, her memories of those times and then Roxette’s history and heydays.

The script of the musical is based on English author Jane Fallon’s novel Got You Back, published in 2008. It’s a triangle drama that touches on topics such as infidelity and double life. So a lot of emotions are involved, which Roxette’s music fits perfectly. There are a few days left until the world premiere and you will get to accompany reporter Johanna Olofsson to take part in the preparations for Joyride – The Musical.

In one of the halls at Malmö Opera, rehearsals for Joyride – The Musical are in full swing. Jessica Marberger and Alexander Lycke, who play two of the main characters, are on stage and three child actors as well. The musical is not about Roxette itself, which Per Gessle is happy about.

Per says:

There has never been any discussion about writing a story about Roxette in particular. It’s not a documentary thing about Roxette. I think it’s more fun if it has an independent story and you use the music as the spice of this story.

The script is based on the novel Got You Back written by British author Jane Fallon. It has been reworked into a musical script by Klas Abrahamsson and then adjusted by director Guy Unsworth who wants to find a world where the music leads the drama.

Guy says:

This is my kind of adaptation of the piece, turning it into something that feels like it is a part of the music and related to the music. I wanted to find a world where the music would really lead the drama.

The story revolves around Stephanie who lives in London with Joe and their teenage daughter Stella. One day, Stephanie finds a note in Joe’s pocket that makes her suspect that he is cheating.

Jessica Marberger, who plays Stephanie, says:

I don’t want to reveal too much, but by accident, she discovers that her husband is in another relationship and everything she thought was very good was apparently not very good. So her world is turned a little upside down and then the whole story takes off.

When Stephanie contacts the note’s sender, Katie, it turns out that she is also in a relationship with Joe, who has been living a double life. The women then decide to join forces and take revenge on Joe played by Alexander Lycke.

Alexander says:

It’s basically infidelity, but I think it can hit quite a lot of people on how you feel in such a situation, also how you act, like these two women do. Roxette’s songs fit perfectly a story like this with broken heartache and such stuff. So it will be fun.

Guy says:

I think what’s amazing about Roxette’s music is particularly Per’s lyrics of a glimpse into the abstract world, or the non real world. The world of people’s minds. The music is expressing what people don’t say in real life. That’s really nice to have the dialogue representing the real world and then this music opening up that real world and exploring something more abstract and more magical inside.

Director Guy Unsworth believes that Per’s lyrics with their abstract qualities stand in good contrast to the dialogue in the musical that represents real life.

When Per Gessle is asked which songs will be included in the musical, the answer is:

It’s not that hard to guess, perhaps, but the big songs that are the sharpest in the musical world are of course our big ballads, Spending My Time, Listen To Your Heart, It Must Have Been Love,  Queen Of Rain, Fading Like A Flower. There are as many as you like. I write very melodic music and there are big gestures at times. It should fit in the musical world very well.

The music has been reworked by Per Gessle’s extended arms in Roxette, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist in collaboration with Joakim Hallin, who is the conductor of the orchestra.

Per says:

I haven’t had any direct wishes or opinions about how it should be other than that I think it should be very much Roxette. I think the worst that can happen is that it sounds like a Roxette cover band playing this. You want it to sound like the soul of Roxette is present in some way. It sounds fuzzy, but I’m a little fuzzy sometimes.

To the question what the hardest part of the process has been so far, Per replies:

For me it’s getting used to the fact that you leave things to other people who decide. I’m quite used to doing what I want. When working with Malmö Opera and directors and orchestras, there are a lot of people involved. It’s a different way of working than I’m normally used to.

The program brings you to Malmö Opera’s costume studio. Costume designer Torbjörn Bergström says:

This is where all the costumes are made and now we are inside the actual tailoring. Here are all the tailors sitting, working feverishly on the Joyride costumes now.

300 costumes will be used in the show and half of them will be made from scratch with designs by Torbjörn Bergström.

Torbjörn continues:

Roxette for me is very colorful. Therefore, I immediately felt that it is important that there are a lot of colors in the performance. It’s 1994, but you can say that everything between 1989 and 1994 is part of this performance.

It was also in the ’90s when Roxette had its heydays, after they broke through in the US in 1989 with The Look. Today they have sold more than 80 million albums with a string of chart-topping hits.

In the costume studio, the work continues and the tailors ask Torbjörn for help in making a decision. This is how they work. It’s part of the job, Torbjörn says.

You have to make a lot of decisions all the time. Much of what you decide, you cannot change on stage, because once something is cut, it’s cut. And as a costume designer, you also design masks and wigs. If there is one thing that’s very definitive, it’s cutting a wig. It doesn’t grow back. Haha.

At the moment, ten costume designers and four tailors are working on costumes for the Joyride musical. Johanna talks to one of them, who test sews a T-shirt for one of the actors. She says it’s common to test sew things, especially when you are a little uncertain about the fabric and its characteristics. Test sewing makes you feel safe. She thinks it’s super fun working on the Joyride costumes, because they are very varied. All are individual costumes.

Torbjörn says:

It is very grateful that the set is in a world of fashion. That’s a very, very big advantage of this show. It would be difficult to bring in so much color and shape in other contexts. This way there is no limit to how much fashion and high fashion you can get into the show.

During the course of the musical, Stephanie’s character goes from working as a stylist to working as a designer, so the sewing room is filled with her half-finished costumes. Costume designer Torbjörn Bergström is standing at a workbench, flipping through his many sketches of models in colorful, pattern-softening creations.

Here you can see all the intricate patterns and then accessories on top of that. It must not be messy. It is very important. When I make a sketch, that’s why I often copy it down so that it’s quite small and I can see how it looks from a distance. You must remember that it is a very large theatre with many seats and many sit very far away. It is important that even those who sit very far away can take part in everything.

The reporter mentions that Roxette will go on tour and Per brings Lena Philipsson as the singer. Marie Fredriksson passed away in 2019, but Per thinks she would have liked that Roxette’s music now becomes a musical.

I think she would have thought it was amazing. She was much more interested in musicals than I really was from the beginning. So I think she would have thought this was really cool. I’ve never been a huge musical fan myself. It’s a new chapter in the book of my life and it’s exciting to step into it.

The first request to make Roxette into a musical came back in 2016.

There were different versions by several people. They have written scripts and they have even showcased it to me and performed eight songs with dancers and an orchestra in London. I have turned it down, because I didn’t like the script. So Malmö Opera was not the first one on it, but it became Malmö Opera, because it is a fantastic organization and it has a very fine and large orchestra. I was there at one of the previous orchestra rehearsals and it’s really cool to sit in the middle and hear a big orchestra play your music. It will be a completely different trip than two guitars and drums and bass that I’m used to in the rehearsal room.

To the question how important it is to him that Roxette’s music becomes a musical, Per replies:

It’s a big thing and it’s exciting. It feels great and I have a good feeling about it in every way. I hope this musical will be a success, so that it can go on around the planet, just like Roxette did once upon a time.

Joyride the Musical – feel-good musical based on the songs of Roxette

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The much anticipated Roxette musical, inspired by the pop duo’s music and with a plot taken from the Jane Fallon book Got You Back, now has a name – Joyride the Musical. It will be directed by Guy Unsworth and the world premiere will take place at Malmö Opera 6th September 2024. C’mon join the joyride! Tickets available now HERE!

An unforgettable rollercoaster ride filled with joy, humour, uptempo songs and power ballads – Joyride the Musical is a new feel-good musical featuring music by the legendary pop duo Roxette and a story based on the English bestselling author Jane Fallon’s book Got You Back.

Fashion designer Stephanie lives in London with her husband Joe. What she doesn’t know is that when Joe commutes weekly to his job as a veterinarian in Lincolnshire, he has a girlfriend, Katie. When the two women finally discover each other’s existence and meet, they decide to give Joe what he deserves…

The key roles of Stephanie, Katie and Joe are played by Eurovision Song Contest participant Jessica Marberger, West End musical artist Marsha Songcome and Alexander Lycke, international musical actor and frequent leading man at the Stockholm City Theatre.

The direction and adaptation for the stage of Klas Abrahamsson’s original script are made by English director Guy Unsworth, who recently directed Miss Saigon in Oslo.

Guy Unsworth says:

It’s a new way to experience the music. I think it will be a perfect evening for those who love musicals but also for those who love Roxette.

It’s a real ‘joyride’ through the complexity of life and love.

Roxette’s Per Gessle has been involved in the project from the start.

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.

Joyride the Musical, musical in two acts. World premiere 6th September 2024 at Malmö Opera’s Main stage. Plays through 29th December 2024. Performed in Swedish with English lyrics. Swedish and English surtitles. Duration 3 h including interval.

CREATIVES

MUSIC & LYRICS Per Gessle
BOOK Klas Abrahamsson
Based on the novel Got You Back by Jane Fallon
DIRECTED & ADAPTED by Guy Unsworth
MUSICAL SUPERVISOR Joakim Hallin
CONDUCTOR Joakim Hallin
SET DESIGN David Woodhead
COSTUME & MASK DESIGN Torbjörn Bergström
COREOGRAPHY Miles Hoare
LIGHTING DESIGN Ulrik Gad
SOUND DESIGN Avgoustos Psillas
VIDEO DESIGN George Reeve
MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS Joakim Hallin, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist

CAST

KATIE Marsha Songcome (US Kerstin Hilldén)
STEPHANIE Jessica Marberger (US Caroline Gustafsson)
JOE Alexander Lycke (US Patrik Martinsson)
NATASHA Sara Lehmann (US Sienna Sebek)
GARY Oscar Pierrou Lindén (US Rasmus Mononen)
MEREDITH Sanna Martin (US Emilie Larsson)

ENSEMBLE

Marcus Elander
Kerstin Hilldén
Michael Jansson
Caroline Gustafsson
Patrik Martinsson
Fredrik Sjöstedt
Erik Gullbransson
Sienna Sebek
Rasmus Mononen
Emilie Larsson
David Lindell
Emmie Asplund
Joel Zerpe
Steffen Hulehøj Frederiksen
Robin Lake
David Auxoilte
Oliver Gramenius
Hanna Carlbrand
Emma Kumlien
Leila Jung

Malmö Opera Orchestra
US = Understudy
PUBLISHER/AGENCY Nordiska ApS/Jimmy Fun Music

Read more in Swedish HERE!

APRIL FOOLS’ DAY! – Per Gessle to appear on stage in the Roxette musical!

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APRIL FOOLS’ DAY – There is still quite some time left until the Roxette musical hits the theatres in autumn 2024, but it has just been confirmed in a recent interview that besides taking huge part of the job in matching Roxette’s music with the play, Per will also appear on stage each night the musical is on. Well, not exactly on stage, but in the orchestra. Actually, in front of the orchestra, because he accepted the challenge to be the conductor. This way he can make sure everything sounds exactly how he imagines it, so the audience will have an extraordinary experience each night. This is going to be a very new role for Mr. G, of course, but the more he dives into this project, the more his curiosity about theatre life is growing. Who knows, maybe one day we even see his name in the cast of some play. Haha.

The script of the musical is not yet ready, but as you already know, it will be based on Got You Back, a book by Jane Fallon and is being written by Swedish playwright and director Klas Abrahamsson. The premiere will happen in Malmö Opera in autumn 2024.

Dates will be out and tickets for the musical will go on sale in autumn 2023. Until then, you can always read the book. HERE you can find the first chapter.

Conductor Gessle stills are from PG Roxette’s Nothing Else Matters cover video.