Sweden: Sanna Nielsen and Dr Zhivago

by Alex Stewart 313 views

The seven time Melodifestivalen entrant and 2014 winner, who came 3rd with her entry Undo in Copenhagen earlier this year has exclusively revealed details of the costumes she will be wearing as Lara in the Swedish presentation of Dr Zhivago

Sanna Nielsen is an established star in her native Sweden. She first entered Melodifestivalen back in 2001 and her best placing was with Empty Room at the 2008 final at the Globen. Her entry in 2014 with the Fredrik Kempe track Undo saw Nilesen win  the grand final at the Friends Arena on the 8th March She also came 3rd at the grand final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen.

Nielsen was approached by the Malmö Opera to take on the female lead role of Lara in Dr Zhivago the musical. She accepted and had the following to say about a role she describes as a Dream come ture.

Nielsen is quoted as saying I was in  Greece on vacation and had no thought of anything other than vacation. As you can probably understand how my thoughts were buzzing in my head. I can not really describe all the emotions.

She went further to talk about how she decided to accept the challenge of such a role I was so flattered that the question came to me and I thought for a while, but decided nonetheless quite soon after I Googled what it was about and felt that this would be a real challenge for me, something I always strive after!

Nielsen also further expressed her excitement at the forthcoming musical project I am extremely pleased to be doing this , along with amazing actors, directors , producers, and additionally at the Malmö Opera . In Malmö, which I love, in Skåne!
This is a dream come true and I will do my absolute best to portray Lara in a fair manner. I look forward to this adventure!

Nine custom-made costume rings marked with the pop star’s name hang on hangers with clothes for the rest of the ensemble. In total there are about 600 different outfits that are either stitched up or been researched to recall the era in Russian history.
I have to take a picture so I can send to my mom, says Sanna Nielsen when she gets on her third costume change, a fur hat and a large coat with fur collar.

Some of the outfits designed for Sanna consist of a wedding and a simpler, rural dress with an apron. The tailors Gisela Danielsson and Lotta Selander oversee all details whilst under the auspices of the musical costume designer Camilla Thulin, who also did Sanna Nielsen’s dress for the Eurovision Final and was chief costume designer for the Army Of Lovers.

 

The show stars Sanna as Lara, Christopher Wollter as Yuri Zhivago and Philip Jalmelid as Pasha.Doctor Zhivago will have its Scandinavian premiere on August 29, 2014 at 19 at the Malmö Opera.The musical is based on Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak’s novel. It tells the story of four young people growing up in revolutionary Russia and the young Soviet state during the first half of the 1900s.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more information on Sanna Nielsen, Melodifestivalen, Sweden and the Eurovision Song Contest.