The Times - UK (2022-05-27)

the times | Friday May 27 2022 2GM 13

News

JOHAN PERSSON

The Abbatars did all the hard work

while the real Abba stars reunited on

the red carpet before last night’s show

“To be or not to be,” said Benny, “is
no longer the question.”
The bizarreness of the situation
duly noted, it was essentially an Abba
singalong with added sound and light
show. Knowing Me, Knowing You
came with giant refracted images on
towering screens of the (spookily
realistic) avatars getting intimate; a

giant orange sun set the mood for

that package holiday perennial

Chiquitita.

Abba were as much about camp

spectacle as they were about catchy

upbeat pop with an undertow of

melancholy, and Vo y a g e’s director

Bailie Walsh understood that. The

“Abbatars”, as they were inevitably

called, wore outfits that recalled

Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson,

Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid

Lyngstad in their garish prime. It was

weird, seeing phantasmagorical

figures going through the motions,

and a sequence of the four in neon

catsuits was just too synthetic. Voulez

Vous didn’t need the fantasy cartoon

of some kid it came with either. But

for the most part this was captivating,

and celebratory in a rather innocent

fashion. Who doesn’t love dancing

along to Gimme Gimme Gimme?

A show like this lives by the spirit

with which it was conceived, and

unlike past hologram shows, there

was nothing ghoulish about watching

youthful versions of people still very

much alive. It was easy to get a bit

weepy as artificial Anni-Frid

introduced Fernando with a

sentimental tale of her late

grandmother. A version of the recent

ballad I Still Have Faith in You should

have been sung by elderly avatars, but

it was rousing nonetheless, as was a

finale of The Winner Takes it All

featuring a living, breathing choir.

Is this the future? Should we get rid

of pop stars and replace them with

compliant spirit people? I’ll stick with

humanity, not least because when the

real Abba came on at the end it

provided the truly emotional

moment. Still, for a show that

combined live music, 3D spectacle

and something else entirely, it was

out of this world.

Until May 28, 2023

Abbavoyage.com