Who Doesn’t Love ABBA?

Reviewed by Marilu Murphy

The stage is set up with a drum kit sitting dead center at the back. A guitar is to the left and a keyboard to the right of the drum kit. In front of these three pieces of the Starbright Band, I can see an electric piano and a bass guitar. I am getting excited. I want a surprise; I have no idea of what I’m in for.

The musicians enter the stage; Evan Chambers takes his seat behind his drum kit as Dee Klinger picks up his guitar. Nathan Nykor walks towards his keyboard and stands behind it. Mark Payne enters and takes his place at his piano at the front left of the stage and Alex Panneton picks up his bass to the right. The stage lights are bright white and everywhere you look there is silver glitter. The stage wall is back lit with changing colours and the huge black letters “ABBA” is sparkling in white lights.

All About ABBA is now on stage at Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia. It’s a tribute show to one of the world’s most incredible and iconic bands.

To add even more sparkle to the stage, five singers emerge dressed in even more glitter and flash. The energy they all bring to the stage is most definitely a precursor of the excitement to come. They make it clear to us, however, that they are not trying to sound like ABBA humorously adding, that they are much more reasonably priced and available. There are two guys and two girls, plus a guy – they call themselves ABBA + 1. This is the first of many hokey jokes that are sporadically spread throughout the performance.

“Ring Ring” was ABBA’s first massive hit and the singers first performance. Two large monitors, one on each wing of the stage is very helpful as it shows the song or album cover of every song performed. Another famous song and one of my favourites is “Waterloo”. It is next followed by “Does Your Mother Know” which is performed be the three men, Michael Vanhevel, Michael Hughes and Luciano Decicco. Their voices are rich as they harmonize together flawlessly. The audience is smitten by the perfection of pitch and the bands professionalism.

As an ABBA fan there is so much that I didn’t know about this Swedish Band until now. ABBA was highly regarded and unique as they were a double couple band. Another fact was that Madonna borrowed snippets of their 1979 hit “Gimme!,Gimme!,Gimme!”. Elton John had an interest in ABBA’s ”Chiquitita”. This song was performed at a 1979 UNICEF event where they pledged 100% of the royalties to UNICEF and it continues to this day. Kate Suhr accompanied by Michael Hughes, sings “Chiquitita” flawlessly but not without a Michael’s Chiquita Banana joke among others. Their light-hearted humour does not stop there.

My memories of the era and my emotions were running hot as I watched the five singers perform the 1975 hit “SOS”. The range and power of their voices, the high notes that they reach effortlessly, and the low notes are resonating. Michael Vanhevel delivers the historical facts. His crooner’s voice makes one melt when you listen to him. His powerful performance of “Winner Takes It All” is magnificent but emotions run wild, as it is heart wrenching when you know that it’s a song of divorce, a winner and loser in the game of love.

Luciano Decicco is impressive, his voice powerful with a very wide range of high and low notes. Callandra Dendias is no stranger to the ever so popular Mamma Mia musical because she had the role of Sophie in the Toronto production. Luciano was having a tough time keeping Callandra’s live stage role separate from the movie role with Meryl Streep as he kept insisting that Callandra did, in fact, perform alongside his Meryl Streep. The audience laughed at his antics and how he was so star struck by the thought that Callandra worked with such a famous star. Laughs continued as she kindly tried to explain to him the difference between the movie and live theatre.

Kate Suhr’s rendition of “Fernando” was soulful and deep bringing back memories of years gone by, the harmonizing by the cast was flawless. One of my favourites was “Voulez-Vous”, a disco song with a subsequent 1979 recording session in Miami for ABBA. The choreography is amazing as they dance across the floor, each dance move is perfectly synchronized. Audience members, including me, were involved by dancing in their seat and tapping their feet. After every song, there was a quiet sigh of “Wow” escaping from my lips.

The costumes are reminiscent of the 70’s Disco era in act two. They are flashy orange, bright green with fringes, bell bottoms, white boots and platform shoes. The music continues, the voices are beautiful and full-bodied, their harmonizing is phenomenal. They are all so very talented. I left the theatre with ABBA songs playing in my head.

There is a quick costume change while the Starbright Band performs a couple of songs. I wanted a surprise and I most definitely got one. I will leave the next number as a pleasant surprise for you.

All About ABBA is playing at the Victoria Playhouse in Petrolia from September 16 to October 10 with showings from Tuesday to Sunday at 2 PM, there will be no performance on Tuesday, September 30. On Friday, October 3 there will be an evening performance at 7:30 PM and an after-show Cabaret.

Photo: The cast and musicians of All About ABBA. Photo by Diane O’Dell

All About ABBA
A VPP Original
Starring Luciana Decicco, Callandra Dendias, Michael, Hughes, Kate Suhr and Michael Vanhevel
With the Starbright Band: Evan Chambers (percussion), Dee Klinger (guitar), Nathan Nykor (keys2), Alex Panneton (bass) and Mark Payne (piano)
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
September 16 to October 10 EXTENDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND
Reviewed by Marilu Murphy