Musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ Is Going To Be A Restaurant Because Even Former ABBA Members Need Hobbies

It could get kinda boring, retiring from your day job and trying to figure out how to fill the minutes, hours and days that stretch emptily before you. Especially after touring the globe as part of a Swedish supergroup and performing for hordes of rabid fans. Perhaps that’s why one former ABBA member has decided to open up a restaurant based on the band’s song and the musical it gave birth to, Mamma Mia!. Because hey, ABBA fans really like ABBA, so why not?

Björn Ulvaeus was also one of the composers behind the band’s 1975 song that was later turned into a Broadway musical and then a movie starring Meryl Streep, about a woman who invites three of her Greek inn-owning mother’s ex-flames to her wedding in order to find out which one is her dad.

If you’re wondering how that classic tale of dubious paternity will translate into a dining atmosphere, Ulvaeus explains that he hopes the show’s dancing-in-the-aisles feel will work well in the Greek taverna-style restaurant slated to open in January in Stockholm reports the Associated Press.

The musicians and actors working in the tentatively named Nicos’ Taverna — conveniently located just down the street from the city’s ABBA museum —  will interact with both servers and guests, who will be invited to sing and dance along to the show’s songs.

“They will be part of a little story in real time, which will be played out during the evening,” Ulvaeus told the AP.

The storyline will veer from the musical with changes every night, he adds, noting that the main characters of a Greek taverna owner in his 50s and his “slightly younger Swedish wife” will be at the center of the action.

Ulvaes says that his fellow ABBA pals aren’t involved, but are aware of his project and “wish it well.”

The timing could be good for bereft Mamma Mia! the musical fans mourning the show’s upcoming last show on Broadway in September, after a 14-year run there.

After Musical, Movie, Here Comes ‘Mamma Mia!’ the Restaurant [Associated Press]

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