#dan ekborg

[thepeoplesmovies]

Watch Trailer For Swedish Comedy Anxious People

Watch Trailer For Swedish Comedy Anxious People

Netflix have just released the first Trailer for upcoming Swedish dramedy Anxious People. A bank robbers failed heist goes downhill ends up a hostage situation, how much more worse can it get? The limited series is based on a book by bestselling author Fredrik Backman, and directed by Felix Herngren. A totally bonkers series of a failed robber who becomes a hostage taker taking two cynical IKEA…

[motionpicturelover]

"Kuta och Kör" (1992) - Chris Johnston

(Orig. title: "Run For Your Wife")

Films watched in 2022 (84/210)

Full play:

[robertiamlegendneville]

[starlene]

Some blursed Swedish musical news from this week:

Peter Jöback playing Jesus and Ola Salo playing Judas on a new arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar – a tour that’s starting its run in Helsinki, of all places! I’ve been losing my mind over this a little, Jöback as Jesus is just... what. I certainly did not see that coming.

No matter what, I hope they’re smart enough to understand that if they just make Judas go “HYVÄÄ ILTAA HELSINKI!!” before he starts singing Heaven on Their Minds or whatever, they’ll have the audience eating from the palm of their hand for the rest of the night. Seriously. If you want us Finns to love you, you just need to aknowledge that we exist. That’s all we ask of you.

Also, Anders Ekborg is replacing Alex as Freddie in that arena production of Chess I have a ticket to. Hopefully because in February, Alex is still scheduled to be here in Finland playing Dan in Next to Normal? Of course, I’ve no idea how safe it’ll be to travel in February... but even if it’ll be 100% safe, I still have no idea what I’m going to do. I mean, I love Anders Ekborg, but as a replacement for Alex as Freddie?? Like, I was already wondering if Alex is getting a bit too old to play Freddie, but I guess it’s all subjective...

Swedish musical theatre!!! How I’ve missed you.

[linneax]

Omg vem var det?? Började precis kolla på sex education och blev väldigt mindfucked av att Persbrandt shower up

den andra skådespelaren? Dan Ekborg 😂🤢 väldigt ökänd här där vi bor hahaha, riktigt äckel! hahaha ja jag blev chockad av att läsa det?!

[pojkflata]

Full disclosure as funny as it would be if Mikael Persbrandt was the Swedish voice for Detective Pikachu it’s actually going to be Dan Ekborg who’s getting cast as he specializes in characters designed only with the original voice actor in mind

[starlene]

@veilingofthesun

I'm really sorry to hear that, that's not how it should be.. Writing down your feelings seems like a good plan to me... Here's a question for you: What was the first Swedish production of a musical you saw and where and when was it?

Thank you so much. <3

I think my first Swedish musical was Les Misérables in Malmö Opera, back in 2011.

I went in with such high hopes, all of which died before the first act was even half-way through. Ronny Danielsson had made such confusing choices with his direction, the bizarre almost-modern-but-not-quite aesthetic was just the beginning of it, and Dan Ekborg’s Valjean was the cherry on top of the trash heap. A bad time was had by all, because even though the people I traveled with weren’t so critical, they had to listen to my Disappointed Analysis for the whole way home!

Glad to have seen Fred Johansson as Javert though. Didn’t exactly save the production for me, I don’t think any single tthing could’ve done that, but seeing his interpretation of the character was a joy nevertheless.

 @katistrophe

Goddammit, that sssssssuuuuuuucks. Writing things down seems like a good strategy, though it’s frustrating as hell that you have to resort to it. Question—wise, what musical or production of a musical you’ve seen was the most positively surprising for you? 

Thank you. <3 I feel like I express myself better via written word than via spoken word, so I guess it’s worth trying at least!

The first production that popped into my mind is the Finnish production of Next to Normal back in 2012. There were two N2Ns here that year, and after seeing the Swedish-speaking one, I felt like I’m done with the show. I kept fixating on the weaknesses of the piece instead of the strengths. For whatever reason, I still decided to see the other production too, though...

...and I remember leaving the theatre feeling excited and surprised, because I had liked it so much! Still not a favourite musical, per se, but that production really turned me around and reminded me that despite the parts I don’t like, when it’s done right, it can be a really powerful story.

(A fun fact: a year later, the N2N director directed my favourite musical production of all times, that production of Jekyll & Hyde I keep obsessing over. I didn’t make the connection at first, but remembering the N2N experience did make me smile when it finally clicked. I was stanning before I even knew it!)

[swankifyed]

Allt Jag Begär Är Kärlek Som Värmer (All I Care About Is Love) from the opening night of Chicago in Stockholm (19th September, 2014).

Billy Flynn - Dan Ekborg

[samhalletsolycksbarn]

Dan Ekborg as Jean Valjean and Emmi Christensson as Cosette in Malmö Opera's 2011 production (Malmö, Sweden).

[yoyo-inspace]

"They could’ve been two brothers just as well, or twins that end up in different places in the world, one ending up as a criminal, the other as a police officer. Criminality - honesty - where do they lead a person’s life? It’s a random chance.”

Dan Ekborg on the relationship between Javert and Valjean, from this interview

[starlene]

Scratch the thing I just said about being pretty chill about theatre nowadays.

A rant about a production of Les Misérables I saw back in 2011.

You know how, no matter how many years it’s been, some performances just stay with you?

There are a couple of things in my theatrical past that will forever make my blood clot, and @darkbluesinamay mentioning Malmö Opera’s Les Misérables just reminded me of one of them – the worst Jean Valjean I have ever had the displeasure of seeing.

Usually, I tend to avoid dragging actors too much, because in most cases, they’re doing their best even if they’re woefully miscast. But Dan Ekborg as Jean Valjean... oh man, he was the worst. With a different characterisation, his voice could have been bearable, but his acting and attitude... just no. No!!

Maybe I’ll just share an excerpt from his interview in the souvenir programme (by Catarina Ek, English translation by me).

Interviewer [on Valjean getting out of prison and the Bishop giving him the candlesticks]: “But is it so simple? Does Valjean become a good man now?”

Ekborg: “No way does Valjean become good that fast! No one is just good or just evil. Just see how Valjean first becomes the owner of a place of slavery, a factory where they work on an assembly line. He’s the one who benefits the most from his own upward social mobility. He looks the other way when Fantine is being abused by the factory foreman. His goodness comes and goes. And what is goodness, anyway? Later on, it’s like he keeps Cosette in a cage. He tries to be good to her but overprotects her instead. He lies to her and doesn’t tell her the truth about her childhood. The bad parts [of Valjean’s personality] are still there – for a long time – and I try to show that as much as possible. It’s this contradiction that makes the character interesting, Valjean’s double nature.”

Like, yes, if you look at it on the surface level, that’s kinda what’s going on, I guess (though I think the place of slavery thing is a bit a lot much). Too bad that there was nothing else to Ekborg’s performance, though!

It was awful. When you take this super cynical view of the character and take it up to eleven, removing love and warmth and honest desire to become a better person from the equation altogether, the audience is going to have a really hard time sympathising with Jean “Dark & Edgy” Valjean – which is a huge problem when you remember Les Mis is like five hours long and he is the goddamn protagonist. If you actively hate him, the runtime is going to feel a lot longer than it otherwise might.

This was by far not the only problem with the production, director Ronny Danielsson had an altogether... unique vision – but even so, Ekborg’s performance was so thoroughly unpleasant, I my stomach still feels weird when I think about it.

I saw the show with two people who were quite a lot less critical about theatre in general than I am. I don’t blame myself for not being to shut up for the rest of the trip, though – by then, I don’t think I had ever been this harshly let down by a piece of theatre, I was completely shaken and had to vent it out of my inexperienced system. I think in the end, all of us had a bad time, but for different reasons.

I need to stop thinking about this now.

It was a theatrical experience packed with such potent dark energies that even now, nine years later, I think the memories might cause me to develop a case of rabies if I’m not careful.

[guildenfern]

i'll take a chance on leaving it's that, or stay and die

Next to Normal | Stockholms Stadsteater 2012