Our staff will be unavailable from 11am on Friday 17th May until 9am on Tuesday 21st May, spreading the joy of jazz hands and spirit fingers at our Junior Theatre Festival in Birmingham. Our office will remain open, however, to accept deliveries of returned materials.
Björn Ulvaeus
1945 Björn was born on 25 April in Gothenburg. When he was six years old, the family moved to the small town of Västervik, and this is where Björn grew up. In the mid-Fifties, Björn fell in love with rock’n’roll and skif e. By the early Sixties, he was a member of a folk group called the West Bay Singers. 1963 The group entered a talent contest arranged by Swedish radio. This led to discovery by songwriter and publisher Stig Anderson and his partner, Bengt Bernhag. Stig and Bengt had recently started a record company called Polar Music. The band acquired a new name, the Hootenanny Singers, and quickly became one of Sweden’s most popular groups of the Sixties. 1966 Björn had a chance meeting with Benny Andersson, himself a member of Sweden’s number-one pop group, The Hep Stars. They hit it off and wrote their rst song together, ‘Isn’t It Easy to Say’. Björn recorded a couple of solo singles in the late Sixties, at which point he also started concentrating more on his collaboration with Benny Andersson. 1970 Björn and Benny started releasing records as a duo and also staged a cabaret show together with their fiancées, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. 1971 Björn and Agnetha married on 6 July.
1972-82 ABBA.
1982 Björn and Benny started writing the musical Chess with lyricist Tim Rice.
1984 A concept album for Chess was released in the autumn.
1986 The musical opened in London’s West End in May.
1988 Chess received its Broadway premiere. A reworked version of the musical opened in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002.
1990 Björn and Benny decided to write a new musical. This time, they wanted to write exclusively in Swedish, and they chose the Emigrants novel series by author Vilhelm Moberg as the basis for their work.
1995 The resulting musical, Kristina från Duvemåla (Kristina from Duvemåla), opened in October. The show ran for three and a half years at various theatres in the Swedish cities of Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm. Björn and Benny’s most recent musical is Hjälp sökes (Help Wanted), a collaboration with playwright Kristina Lugn and Kristina director Lars Rudolfsson. Björn writes many of the lyrics for the Benny Andersson Orchestra, and has involved himself in the stagings of MAMMA MIA!.
2008 MAMMA MIA! THE MOVIE was released.
2016 MAMMA MIA! THE PARTY opened in Stockholm in January, with Björn as one of the producers.
2018 MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN was released.
Author's Shows
Questions & Answers
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Did you see our latest news earlier in the week? Chitty flies again! We're thrilled to announce that rights to the full, 2-act version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are now available without restrictions for performances scheduled to take place before 31st December 2023. Applications for 2024 are currently restricted to those in venues of less than 500 seats. Apply today! www.mtishows.co.uk/chitty-chitty-bang-bang #chittychittybangbang #newrelease #trulyscrumptious
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Xanadu is now available for licensing! You have to believe we are magic... Xanadu is a moving, electrifying tale of endless fun that will keep audiences in stitches, while the original, legendary chart-topping tunes lift them out of their seats. Find out more: www.mtishows.co.uk/xanadu #xanadu #newshow #amateurtheatre #licensing #olivianewtonjohn #strangemagic
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Bravo to everyone at @_spotlight.theatre who went Into the Woods at Nottingham Arts Theatre earlier in the month. These photos look great! Photo credit: Martin Holtom. #intothewoods #nottingham #amateurtheatre #amdram
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A huge congratulations to everyone at @green_room_productions on their hugely successful production of Sunshine on Leith. We really would have walked 500 miles to grab a ticket. #sunshineonleith #pottersbar #amateurtheatre #wyllyotts
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As schools across the UK and Europe wind down for the Summer holidays we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the incredible teachers everywhere who make musical theatre happen year after year. To those teachers we say: you are an inspiration! We had close to 100 of these incredible teachers take part in this years Junior Theatre Festival, so lets enjoy the special teacher number from that days awards ceremony. #teachers #jtf22 #musicaltheatre #schoolshow #inspiration #education #broadwayjr
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We love these production shots of Disneys The Little Mermaid JR from @pqanorthampton #merfolk #thelittlemermaidjr #performingarts #disney #broadwayjr
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Bravo to @curtaincallshrewsbury on their production of Roald Dahls Matilda the Musical JR. Theyre currently having the best time working on the show, and these wonderful photos prove it! Enjoy your final performances. #matildajr #broadwayjr #shrewsbury #roalddahl #youththeatre #maggots
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WHAT A PICTURE We'll definitely be sticking these in the family album A few snaps from @haslemereplayers dress rehearsal of KIPPS - The New Half a Sixpence Musical which runs at Haslemere Hall this week. Break a leg! #kipps #kippshalfasixpence #haslemere #haslemerehall #surreytheatre #surrey
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Do you love musicals and want to work at MTI? We're searching for a new Licensing Assistant / Receptionist. The successful candidate will be required to work from our newly refurbished office in London at 12-14 Mortimer Street, W1T 3JJ. The core duties/responsibilities will include: Reception duties: * answering a busy telephone switchboard * greeting all visitors to the office Amateur Licensing support: * show availability requests * answering basic enquiries both via phone and in email * general administrative support as required Professional Licensing support: * general enquiries * generation of invoices as per instructions from the Professional Licensing team * vetting of foreign language translations The successful candidate will have a keen interest in musical theatre (on or off stage) and have excellent administrative skills. For full details visit: https://www.mtishows.co.uk/.../job-vacancy-licensing... #vacancy #licensing #receptionist #job #musicals #opportunity
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JTF is making the news! @skynews @fyi_skykids came to Birmingham last month to share the power of jazz hands and spirit fingers with a wider audience. The JTF piece will air Saturday at 10:30 and 16:30 and then on Sunday at 10:30. We can't wait! Check out this sneak peak, which follows Timi from The British Theatre Academy. #jtf22 #news #jazzhands #broadwayjr
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