Two ABBA Members Plan Musical

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) â€” Two former members of the Swedish supergroup ABBA are planning a Swedish version of the musical ``Chess.'' Love and passion, rather than the Cold War, will be the main

Friday, January 19th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) â€” Two former members of the Swedish supergroup ABBA are planning a Swedish version of the musical ``Chess.'' Love and passion, rather than the Cold War, will be the main focus of the new musical.

The premiere is scheduled for February 2002 in the capital of Stockholm, former ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson said. The duo wrote the music for the original that was performed in London and on Broadway.

``Chess'' was a musical love story that used the complex game as a symbol of the Cold War. The historical political events will be used as a backdrop for a new story, the composers said.

Ulvaeus said some familiar songs like ``One Night in Bangkok'' might be scratched because of a condensed story line centered in Milan.

``Only one song (`Pity the Child') has so far been translated into Swedish,'' he said. ``The lyrics have to convey the same things, the same feeling, but one has to reword them.''

Ulvaeus said they decided to retell the story rather than developing an entirely new concept.

``It's not so easy to cough up something new,'' he said.