My name is Tilda. My name is Sara. And I’m going to play Stella in Joyride.

Stella

Johanna Hybinette, assistant director:

Stella is Joe and Stephanie’s daughter in Joyride the Musical. And she loves music!

Tilda Hallström, Stella:

I would describe myself in three words as happy, enthusiastic and driven.

Sara Stjernfeldt, Stella:

Fun, anxious and thoughtful.

Tilda:

I had previously one song from Roxette. I had heard Listen to Your Heart.

Sara:

I’ve noted that I’ve heard It Must Have Been Love in one of the Sune movies.

I look forward to meeting a lot of new people who know a lot more than I do, and whom I can learn from.

Tilda:

And it will be great fun standing on the Malmö Opera stage and to hang out with a lot of new people!

Johanna:

We’re very happy to have found these three girls. We will have much fun together on this journey!

New feel-good musical

Meet Joakim Hallin, musical supervisor for Joyride the musical. He talks about the collaboration with Per Gessle, Malmö Opera’s orchestra and how you create a musical.

My name is Joakim Hallin and I am currently the first guest conductor of a musical at Malmö Opera and I am the musical supervisor for Joyride, so I’m responsible for everything that has to do with the music in the show.

The music

When we create this musical together with Guy, who writes the script, and me, who writes the music, and Miles, who is the choreographer, it’s important that we tell the same story. The music can’t stand on its own any more than the dance can stand on its own. So the music has to be adapted to the story we are telling. I might change a song so that it becomes a ballad instead of an uptempo. We create duets, we create large ensemble numbers. Per and Roxette, that is Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundqvist who play in the band, are involved. Clarence and Christoffer are involved in writing the orchestral arrangements, and Per, of course, because it’s his material and his baby, this music, is very keen to make himself available. So I have very great access to Per, I feel.

Malmö Orkester’s orchestra is unique in that it is one of the most versatile orchestras we have. They can play everything from Mozart, Wagner to Roxette in this case. So the orchestra is one of the most important cogs in this machinery. Working together with a group of singers, actors, dancers and orchestra and creating something together, and the power that such a creative group can create is incomparable to anything else, I think.

Maximilian Kensell, deputy decorator:

Three words on the spot. Bright, interesting and let’s bring it together, exciting.

The decorating studio

My name is Max. I am an Australian set painter and we are in Malmö Opera’s “Kranen”. It’s the workshop for all the decor that goes on at Malmö Opera.

David Woodhead, set designer:

I’m David and I’m the set designer for Joyride. The set design is really influenced by London in the early 90s when the piece is set. We’re looking at the kind of warehouse spaces that were being developed in that time and sort of done up and turned into art spaces and art studios. So we’ve taken that as our kind of reference point.

Max:

The letters for themselves are multiple use of a set piece. They’ve got multi functions, they’re movable, they’re very interactive to put it in one word. They’re a huge part of the scene. It comes in all different materials. We’ve got metal, we’ve got wood, we’ve got lighting, papers and bits and pieces in it.

Jonathan Sendborn Pohlin, installation technician:

I’m working on special effects for the letters in Joyride. Right now I’m installing a pixel LED. I’ve been doing it for about one month.

Max:

The effort that we’re putting in to bring to life this music creation, it’s something that’s really important.

David:

It’s been so much fun to work in Malmö. I’m just constantly amazed by all of the incredible people that work here. It’s fantastic and I’m really excited for audiences to see what they’ve been doing.

We’ve got a car. It’s gonna be amazing!

Torbjörn Bergström, costume and mask design:

The audience can expect a lot of colour, shape, and strong expressions.

Costumes that I hope, like Roxette’s music and this story, goes straight to their hearts.

The looks

It takes place in the early 90s. We have said 1994, but I feel that anything from 1989 to 1994 can be included in this musical. It’s a very interesting time in fashion history. This period is definitely a heyday. Roxette’s music, along with the fashion of this era, has set the bar very high for costume design for a show like this.

Sanna Ekström Forsberg, costume supervisor:

Joyride has about 300 outfits. An outfit can be everything from two garments to eight. We have a lot of fun. There’s a lot of colour, it’s a lot of fun material.

Torbjörn:

The whole ensemble was here, because in the show they play people who work in a fashion house. And to do so in a believable way on stage, the director thought they should come and visit us to watch and listen how we work here.

Miles Hoare, choreography:

I’m hoping a treat will be act two, opening The Look. Where we come in and we come out with a powerful dance number and the visuals look cool. In-your-face, attack.

The moves

When I was first asked to do this musical, it was an honour, a huge shock. Knowing that we were going to create the musical from scratch and we were lucky enough to be able to create whatever we wanted with this music. So throughout this period I’ve been able to work with many different styles. Each song has a different rhythm, a different tempo, a different sound. We’re more of like, let’s give them a show, let’s give them a music video vibe. So the dancing has been able to reach a different level in that aspect.

Every time I come back here choreographing, I feel like it’s home and I just find that it helps the process for me being in such a warm and inviting environment.

Favourite song?

So when I first came in, the favourite was, It Must Have Been Love, but now, like there’s too many now that I’m like, oh no, this is my favourite. It changes every day now.