Super Troupers - 30 Years Of ABBA

Press release:
DVD release 20th September

Super Troupers is a celebratory film looking back at 30 years of ABBA, one of the most successful and influential pop groups ever. The film charts their career from the very beginning when they won the Eurovision song contest in 1974 with Waterloo through to April 2004, which was not only the 30th Anniversary of the band`s triumph in Brighton but also the 5th Anniversary of the musical Mamma Mia! which in 5 years has become the most successful musical in the world.

The documentary was commissioned by ITV and will be screened on ITV 1 on September 21st between 9pm and 10.30pm. The idea for the documentary was to follow the build up to the 5th Anniversary gala performance of Mamma Mia! as the 4 original members of ABBA prepared to attend the show, marking the first time all 4 members of the group appeared on stage together since their split in the early 1980s. The suspense builds as it is unknown whether Agnetha, with her fear of flying would be able to attend.

The DVD features classic live and TV performances as well as video footage of no less than 25 ABBA songs. More importantly there are brand new and exclusive interviews with all 4 members of the band: Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Frida who talk about life on the road, their fans, their personal lives and what they have been up to since the band split. Although the broadcast time of the documentary is 72 minutes (due to commercial breaks) the running time of the main DVD is 90 minutes with extended performance clips that didn`t make the TV show.

In addition to the 90 minute documentary, the DVD includes 30 minutes of exclusive extras, only available on the DVD. The extras include the entire finale of the gala performance of Mamma Mia! The stage show has never been seen outside of the theatre itself so a first for this DVD release. At the end of the performance, the 3 members of the band who made it to the show appear on stage (a first in 20 years) to receive a special sales award for 365,000,000 records sold. There are also exclusive in depth interviews with Bjorn and Frida which are totally exclusive to the DVD. Frida talks about her charity work and family whilst Bjorn concentrates on the music of ABBA and it`s transition to the stage.

end.

Thanks to Alex Jones/ABBAMAIL

30TH TV SPECIAL NEWS -

ABBAMAIL has heard more information about the upcoming ABBA AT 30 special that is to be shown on the Australian Channel 7 network in September.

This special is indeed the same special that has been produced by the company that produced "The Winner Takes It All" special in 1999. The original title is "Super Troupers - 30 Years of ABBA". It has been renamed and rebranded by Channel 7 for Australian broadcast.The new special includes a lot of historical footage that many fans would have seen before including material from "ABBA - The Movie". The special also recycles the interviews and footage used in 1999's "The Winner Takes It All" documentary.

There are new interviews with Frida, Björn & Benny which look to be shot in London during the Mamma Mia! 5th Anniversary visit in April.

There is behind the scenes footage shot at the Prince Edward Theatre on the night of the 5th Anniversary and footage of Frida singing along to the songs in the musical.

There is no new interview with Agnetha - there is some footage taken from her "My Colouring Book" TV special including part of a promo clip for "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind." The Agnetha footage from the 1999 special is also recycled.

Overall, it doesn't appear that anything drastically new is featured in the special apart from the Mamma Mia! 5th Anniversary material.

Graeme Read/ABBAMAIL Administration

BACK | HOME | MAIL | Disclaimer

This site uses frames. If you came directly to this page from an external link, welcome to ABBA Omnibus. Please click here to go to the home page.