SPARKS

[MrDemotime]

‘The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman’

By Ron Mael and Russell Mael

Double vinyl release October 19th 2009

In 2002 Sparks released their 19th album, the much-feted and genre-generating ‘Lil Beethoven’. The subsequent albums, ‘Hello Young Lovers’ (2006) and ‘Exotic Creatures’ (2008), emerged as its happy siblings with similar musical DNA, but undoubtedly their own personalities and characters, completing the trilogy whilst simultaneously raising the question “what next?”

The Times echoed the thoughts of many when saying “….where a Sparks musical is concerned, it’s surely a matter of when rather than if” and, with the release of Ron and Russell Mael’s 22nd album, the worlds of Sparks and musical theatre have finally become one.

‘The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman’ is Sparks’ new album. 24 songs and just over 60 minutes of wonderfully original music that tell a fantasy “what if” story – “what if” the acclaimed Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman had gone to Hollywood.

‘The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman’ will initially be available as a limited edition double vinyl and download release on the band’s own label Lil’ Beethoven Records.

The musical will also be broadcast on radio stations commencing with a part-Swedish version on August 14th on Swedish National Radio.

www.allsparks.com


The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman©

The background – by Ron Mael:

What does the typical Swede consider typically American? Hamburgers? Guns? Brad Pitt?

Similarly, what does the typical American consider typically Swedish? IKEA? Volvo? If you’re not exactly typically American, perhaps Ingmar Bergman.

When we were approached by Sveriges Radio (Swedish National Radio) to write a radio musical for them, we considered the possible subject matters that would be able to incorporate the use of the Swedish language (a requirement) and chose the slightly less than typically American choice of Ingmar Bergman.

Bergman and Bergman’s films are known in America, but known mainly by older intellectuals. Neither Russell or I consider ourselves a part of either of those groups, (old or intellectual) but we were familiar with much of Bergman’s work in film from our university years when cinema was considered a legitimate art form and Bergman was considered a master. It didn’t hurt that being a “foreign film” buff at the time was as much of a turn on to young ladies as being a football star. Hollywood films were for the masses and we were not of the masses. Liking Bergman at the time was even more prestigious than liking any director from the French New Wave because he was… Swedish! France was such an obvious choice.

We continued our studies, Russell in cinema and I in graphic design (I wanted to design cars), but our pastime of playing in a band soon made any practical and well-thought out career decision irrelevant. We were, I guess, musicians.

Now it is 40 years later and we have done 21 Sparks albums and find the challenge of working on a radio musical thrilling. How do you convey events happening over time without using visuals? How do you incorporate Ingmar Bergman into a musical fantasy when he seemed to always want to explore the depths of real life? How do you do a radio musical that is not the slightest bit “camp” but still is large-scale and, dare we say it, in widescreen and Technicolor? We have tried to answer these questions as best as we could. We have also tried to be as respectful of the legacy of Ingmar Bergman as we could, while at the same time always feeling a need to be iconoclastic. That’s what pop music is supposed to be about.

The challenge for us was to make a musical that was a musical in the same way that Ingmar Bergman films were films. If we have succeeded in even a small way, we will be happy.



The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman©

By Ron Mael and Russell Mael

The Synopsis:

The internationally acclaimed film director Ingmar Bergman traditionally dealt with matters of death, faith, God's existence, and the struggle to find love and meaning in our lives. In this musical fantasy, Bergman is confronted by the lure of a mythological Hollywood seemingly at odds with all he stands for---a Hollywood that tempts him and ultimately tries to control him. What starts as an exploration by Bergman of the possible mutual benefits of his working in Hollywood turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare, a nightmare ended with the aid of a most unlikely savior.

As the story begins, Bergman is being announced as the winner of a 1956 Cannes Film Festival Prize for Smiles of a Summer Night, an award that was unexpected. Soon, Bergman feels compelled to enter a Stockholm movie theater to see a dreadful American blockbuster film. As he exits the theater, he finds himself not on the streets of Stockholm, but in Hollywood. A limousine driver is there to take him to a mysterious location. We learn that he is being driven to an American movie studio to meet with executives about the benefits of his working in Hollywood. Unconvinced, Bergman returns to his hotel, telling the executives he must think about the proposition. Bergman returns to his hotel where he is greeted by the "Hollywood Welcoming Committee," a hooker hired by the studio to persuade him to work in Hollywood.

Meeting the executives the next day at the studio, the studio head takes Bergman to the commissary, where he sees various emigré directors (Lang, Hitchcock, Wilder, and others) dining. They are both happy and successful working in Hollywood, Bergman is told. Bergman says he needs more time to think, to weigh the benefits and liabilities of working in Hollywood.

Back at his hotel room, Bergman imagines his directing an American prima donna, who screams "why do you take that tone with me?"

Bergman decides to take a walk and discovers that both tourist busses and autograph seekers spot him and pursue him. He returns to the hotel. Pondering his escape from this Hollywood, a Hollywood that Bergman perceives as more of a concept than a real place, he decides that the best plan may be just to walk out the hotel door. We hear the studio head bitterly saying that Bergman will not be permitted to leave Hollywood. Bergman becomes aware that he is being followed by the police, as they discuss how they must prevent him from leaving Hollywood. Bergman runs, and is now in the midst of what seems like a stereotypical Hollywood action chase scene, with helicopters, explosions, car crashes, etc., occurring around him. Seemingly everyone and everything attempting to stop Bergman's leaving is being controlled by the studio chief.

Eluding capture or death, Bergman reaches the beach and asks if God exists and, if he does, would God prove it by sending a messenger to enable his escape from this mythological Hollywood. In the distance, he sees what appears to be the figure of Greta Garbo, apparently divinely sent to help Bergman. She reveals that a movie theater nearby is playing an early Swedish film of hers and that by the two of them watching this film together, he will be able to be transported back home to Sweden.

As the Garbo film ends, Bergman is alone, Garbo gone. He walks out onto the street. He is back in Sweden. He is greeted by cheers of "He's Home!"


The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman©

1 - 1956 Cannes Film Festival
2 - “I Am Ingmar Bergman”
3 - Limo Driver (Welcome To Hollywood)
4 - “Here He Is Now”
5 - “Mr. Bergman, How Are You?”
6 - “He'll Come 'Round”
7 - En Route To The Beverly Hills Hotel
8 - Hollywood Welcoming Committee
9 - “I’ve Got To Contact Sweden”
10 - The Studio Commissary
11 - “I Must Not Be Hasty”
12 - “Quiet On The Set”
13 - "Why Do You Take That Tone With Me?"
14 - Pleasant Hotel Staff
15 - Hollywood Tour Bus
16 - Autograph Hounds
17 - Bergman Ponders Escape
18 - “We've Got To Turn Him 'Round”
19 - Escape (Part 1)
20 - Escape (Part 2)
21 - “Oh My God”
22 - Garbo Sings
23 - Almost A Hollywood Ending
24 – “He's Home”

Credits
All words and music by: Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Produced by: Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Story by: Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Orchestrations by Ron Mael
Recorded and mixed by Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Recorded on the soundstages of HollywoodAmerican Studios, Hollywood, California and at the Radio Drama Studio, Stockholm

Cast
The Studio Chief: Russell Mael
Limo Driver: Ron Mael
Ingmar Bergman: Jonas Malmsjö
Cannes Festival Announcer: Marie-Chantal Long
Intepreter: Saskia Husberg
Hollywood Welcoming Committee: Saskia Husberg
Hotel Operator: Katie Puckrik
First A.D.: Jim Wilson
Hollywood Starlet: Rebecca Sjöwall
Hollywood Tour Guide: Ron Mael
Autograph Hounds: Jim Wilson and Marcus Blake
Gerry: Tammy Glover
Woody: Marcus Blake
Hotel doorman: Steven Nistor
Hotel concierge Steve McDonald
Policeman 1: Russell Mael
Policeman 2: Russell Mael
Greta Garbo: Elin Klinga

Musicians:
Keyboard: Ron Mael
Vocals: Russell Mael
Guitar: Jim Wilson
Guitar: Dean Menta
Bass: Marcus Blake
Drums: Tammy Glover
Drums: Steven Nistor