ABBAcadabra

The made-for-TV film, shot at the Castle of Ussé in western France, was part of the promotional activity for the album of 'ABBCaDAbRa'. It was of course the 'musical fairy-tale adventure', using ABBA tunes with new lyrics. It was set around a story of school children who get transported into a magic land where they meet various fairy-tale characters including Pinocchio, Cinderella and Aladdin.

Click here for more pictures (NB. site is in French)  Here's another site (also in French)

The French album was the original version of this project.  Frida and Daniel Balavoine released a single of Belle and made a PROMO film for it as well as making other promotional TV appearances (Champs Elysées). Not long after Frida recorded the duet "Belle" with Balavoine, she also supplied backing vocals for his single "Dieu Que C'est Beau". See Twist in the Dark for more information.

It was later turned into English and transferred to the London Stage (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith from December 1983 to January 1984) where Elaine Paige starred as Carabosse; Michael Praed was Aladdin; BA Robertson was The Beast and Sylvester McCoy was Pinocchio.

Recordings were also made in Dutch and Portuguese by other artistes.

French fan, Pascale Ranson, gives a lot of background:  "It took a while before Abbacadabra took off. They did this musical as a tribute to ABBA's 10 year career. At the time they thought that ABBA was music for children although they realized afterwards that it was more than that.  Daniel Beaufixe is in fact Daniel Boublil himself who plays the part of Aladdin. In fact the whole thing started with the song "Mon Nez" (Money, Money, Money) hence the idea of Pinocchio and of using fairy-tale characters. However, it is worth mentioning Fabienne Thibault, a French-Canadian singer, who played Snow White. She also played in the same Starmania/tycoon production as Daniel Balavoine. Belgian Plastic Bertrand who played Pinocchio is known for "Ca plane pour moi" (1978) covered by President of the USA

"The castle of Usse was used because it inspired Charles Perrault's version of Sleeping Beauty. In fact, after ABBAcadabra, another plan for the children's group was settled and it was "La fusée de Noé" (Noah's rocket) a musical that used "Lay All Your Love on Me" (and Frida was credited as the voice of Mary Starlight on the chorus of "Etoile Filante") although other songs were not by ABBA even if "Waterloo" was covered as a single as Gare au Loup (Beware of the wolf) but had, I think, no connection with either musical. "La planète amour" (cover of "Lay all your Love On Me") is sung by various choirs and has become a popular number. The chorus was even played at mass before the communion!)"

Daniel Balavoine was killed in a helicopter crash on 14 January 1986.  A few days later, Frida was in Stockholm to film "Tivedshambo" and she looks noticeably pale and subdued, presumably grieving for her friend.

                   Part 1                                      Part 2
  

                    Part 3                                           Part 4
 

                   Part 5                                          Part 6
   

                   Part 7                                          Part 8
  

             Part 9                                                 Part 10
  

    Part 11 (Frida and "Belle")

Click here for a rehearsal picture