Thank You for the Music

In 1997, British playwright Catherine Johnson penned the script of a jukebox musical in which a woman and her daughter live on a Greek island and the daughter tries to figure out who her father is—all set to the unskippable tunes of the Swedish pop group ABBA. But have you ever considered what might happen if the musical were instead set in a small town in Oklahoma? What if rather than a mother and daughter, the central characters were teens from enemy gangs on the streets of New York? Or perhaps “The Winner Takes It All” is more appropriately performed by a former flower saleswoman who has been taught how to speak “proper” English by a professor who is appallingly both her father figure and her romantic interest? Wonder no more—it’s your turn to take on the music of ABBA and tell your own story. 

This game takes players through the process of developing a brand new ABBA jukebox musical that will be performed for one night only in the world’s most exclusive venue—your living room. The players? Your friends. The band? Karaoke tracks. The lyrics? Made up or misremembered. The story? Unforgettable.  Without a song or a dance, what are we?

This game was inspired by “Mamma Mia But Different,” an improv show at UCB in Los Angeles that I have heard about but never seen. It's dedicated to ABBA, for everything.