Dancing Queen - eighteenth century style

[nineveh_uk]

Things I learned from YouTube over breakfast: the first Swedish performance of ABBA's Dancing Queen was at a gala at the Swedish Royal Opera, the night before the King's wedding. It is magnificently bizarre, a bewigged and stockinged choir and audience behind them, Anni-Frid and Agnetha in giant costume dresses, Benny and Björn in tights, and everyone is clearly having an amazing time during it.

"ABBA : Dancing Queen (Royal Swedish Opera 1976) HQ" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[aella_irene]

I am rather fond of the future Queen's baffled look at the King.

[antisoppist]

Particularly since the lyrics imply she's a tease who's going to leave him.

Is that Silvia's parents looking politely bemused behind them? Extrapolating from http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/wedding-of-king-carl-xvi-gustaf-of-sweden-and-silvia-sommerlath/

[moon_custafer]

And then the cut to the three gentlemen in powdered wigs sitting in another box and watching everything with shrewd, appraising expressions.

[nineveh_uk]

I love all three of them and their facial expressions.

[nineveh_uk]

I assumed it must be, because the one thing I know about Carl XVI Gustaf was that his father had died young.

I am interested to learn from that article that Silvia had a Real Job before she married, and that it seems the way to marry a major Scandinavian royal is to go to the Olympics.

[aella_irene]

Yep, and neither of them looks like Prince Bertil (or Princess Lillian, Best Princess)

[antisoppist]

I was just coming here to say when you don't know who it is lurking at the back it is often Princess Lilian from Swansea. Except this time it isn't.

[nineveh_uk]

I hope she was there anyway and enjoyed it!

[nineveh_uk]

"Is this what it's going to be like for the rest of my life???"

[bookwormsarah]

That was delightfully bonkers. Thank you for sharing!

[nineveh_uk]

It was the bonkersness I needed to start the day!

[marginaliana]

What on earth must the royals have been thinking during all of this? And the three dudes in the powdered wigs at the end! Amazing.

They really do look like they're having fun. It's very genial. For some reason I kept thinking "they seem like really nice people." If they're secretly backstabbing each other and trashing hotel rooms and doing a ton of drugs, I don't want to know about it.

[nineveh_uk]

"I prefer them in the lycra flares"? I love the men in wigs, I'm not sure if they are meant to be playing specific people, or just general scenery!

Everything you hear about ABBA is basically nice. Even though they got divorced it all sounds like relationships not working out, not them being terrible.

[azdak]

That was amazing! I had no idea that when they sang Dancing Queen they meant literal royalty.

[moon_custafer]

Someone posted a slowed-down version of the song on Tumblr, and people were commenting on what dramatic movie scenes it might accompany. I said it sounded like tenors singing solemnly at the coronation of the literal Dancing Queen.

This isn’t that far off.

[nineveh_uk]

Nor I! Even if they didn't originally write it with that in mind, it was a very handy coincidence!

[elmey.livejournal.com]

Holy cow! The definitive version ♥ ♥

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is! You'd think it would be better known.