Over the weekend we made the journey to Scandinavia to take in the sights and sounds of one of the most spectacular corners of the world – the wonderful cities of Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden to be precise. We have visited each of the Nordic countries before, but this trip was an extra special one for this music fan. This was a trip especially to see the brand-new stage show which is based on the songs of my very favourite of bands, Roxette.

The show follows a long line of Jukebox musicals where music from a single band’s catalogue is paired to a story. Some have been short-lived flops, and some have been global success stories. Spice Girls had unfortunate poor luck with Viva Forever back in 2012 and Queen found a bomb with the very perplexing yet long-standing sci-fi spectacle, We Will Rock You (sorry Queen fans) for example. The Swedes however, seem to know what they are doing with shows like the recent & Juliet, which is based on songs by Max Martin, becoming a huge West End success story as well as fellow pop juggernauts, ABBA striking gold with Mamma Mia.

Joyride: The Musical is adapted from the Jane Fallon novel, Got You Back and the Roxette catalogue is expertly crafted alongside the Guy Unsworth scripted tale of a love triangle that delivers revenge and unexpected lessons learned.

The venue

Held within the incredible confines of the Malmö Opera, we arrived just shy of the 4pm start time for the Sunday performance. It was the first time visiting the venue and we were incredibly impressed by the interior of the performance space as much as the grand entrance where a bronze statue of Nils Sjögren’s sculpture of Tragos stood with flames alight from the top and a banner stretched across the top of the venue advertising the show.

Inside we were met by very polite staff and a crowd very eager to get to their seats and enjoy the show. Marble steps led us up to the second floor and inside the venue we found out comfortable places for the night as large JOYRIDE lettering shone colourfully on stage.

The story

Joyride: The Musical is set in 1994 London and follows fashion stylist Stephanie and partner, Veterinarian Joe along with Stephanie’s 14-year-old daughter, Stella. The couple’s 16-year relationship is about to implode when Stephanie discovers that Joe is leading a double life in Lincoln with a woman named Katie.

Upon discovering this, Stephanie sets out to meet Katie and together they come up with a comical plan to get revenge on Joe at his upcoming 40th birthday party. They quickly become the best of friends in the process and without giving too much of the storyline away, things don’t always go to the pair’s plan and with that we see a whole host of dramatic situations occur between the 3 main characters and many incredibly engaging side characters along the way.

The stage

A slick, modern and ultra colourful stage design was created to tell this fascinating love triangle story. There were two main storyline set designs. The first to be introduced to us was that of Stephanie’s family home where she lived with cheating husband Joe and her singer-songwriter aspiring teenage daughter. A metal spiral staircase with a quaint kitchen at its base provided the scene for some of the shows big power ballad moments. The second was Premiere Fashion House where some of the more colourful performances of the set took place, involving the majority of backing ensemble who delivered perfectly executed dance numbers, thanks to the choreography of Miles Hoare.

Outside of these two main set pieces, we were impressed by the use of space and props that were used to help create other pop-up scenes including the use of the giant JOYRIDE lettering that opened the show being used to create the name JOE for the near-closing wedding scene, as well as the lettering being moved around the stage and turned around to show shelving displays of groceries, plants or pills for quick and comical moments in a supermarket, plant store and pharmacy.

Overall, the stage designed throughout carried a rich, 90’s look to it and were clearly heavily inspired by the designs of some of Roxette’s most famous music videos including nods to Dressed For Success in the fashion house scenes as well as the use of a small red Ferrari in the shows closing Joyride scene as a nod to the iconic video for the bands 1991 global hit.

For any non-Swedish speaking fans of Roxette or general theatre-goers unsure whether or not to see this show due to it being delivered in the Swedish language, you can rest assured as they have made this show accessible to a much wider audience than just those who speak the native language. Above the stage are two subtle but extremely effective/readable subtitle screens. To the left you can read subtitles in Swedish, for deaf or hard of hearing, and to the right of that is are subtitles in English.

The cast

The ensemble of the Joyride: The Musical were incredible – from the leading threesome through to the side characters and extras. Carrying a weighty script, each member played their characters with pure passion and dedication.

Leading ladies Jessica Marberger (Stephanie) and Marsha Songcome (Katie) were so contrasting in their characters of a fashion house power lady and stylist for fashion magazine The Look and astrology fanatic and pub worker Katie (Marsha Songcome) respectively, but play off each other’s energetic, committed and charismatic stage presence whenever they delivered a scene together.

Loose belted Joe is played by the incredible Alexander Lycke and delivers a masterful performance as a cow loving vet juggling the scandalous double life while music loving daughter Stella is played by the wonderful Sara Stjernfeldt.

Even the side characters shone brightly in their own glory moments during the 2hr 30min show. Fashion house sidekick and revenge plan plotter Natasha comes to life in the hands of Sara Lehmann while Sanna Martin does a remarkable job playing snooty and hard to please soap opera star, Meredith.

There is also a strong LGBTQI+ influence and inclusion in this show which was amazing to see. This is seen through the shows campy fashion storyline and the colourful rainbow styled imagery on stage as well as its impeccable casting of several members of the ensemble and LGBT community including Oscar Pierrou Lindén, who plays the role of flamboyant Premiere Fashion House fashionista, Gary. A Malmö Opera regular, Lindén has performed at the venue many times over the last eleven years in shows like Kinky Boots, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Miss Saigon and was a brilliant addition to this latest adventure for the actor.

With a surprising audience made up of predominantly older attendees (I was expecting the venue to be filled with fellow 40-somethings and South American flag wielding superfans like the bands concerts), it was amazing to see the LGBT jokes resonate with the crowd and met with open-minded ears – an evident shift of the acceptance of openly gay characters in media these days being very evident during the show and an aspect to the show that I was particularly proud to see.

The music

There would of course be no Joyride: The Musical without the incredible catalogue of Roxette and the mastery of the songwriting pen that is Per Gessle. Joyride: The Musical is absolutely drenched in the Roxette repertoire, from songs that help move the script forward through subtle nods at some of the bands deep cuts, as well as several career notables like the use of a replica of the white and blue two-piece number that was worn by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as a nod to the bands Hollywood success with It Must Have Been Love.

Songs featured in the show spanned almost the entirety of Roxette’s incredible 30+ year catalogue and ranged from the band’s massive singles through to lesser-known album cuts.

Obvious global hits like a gorgeous duet of It Must Have Been Love between Stephanie and Katie nearing the end of the show, swaying performances of Crash! Boom! Bang! and Fading Like A Flower were powerfully delivered by key cast members, while The Look and Dressed For Success were given the grand performance treatment with the stage filling up with perfectly in-sync dancing and singing members of the ensemble.

Listen To Your Heart was delivered by the character of Meredith was also given its small-scale stadium moment as the actress dominated the stage while the orchestra played through one of the more cinematic and dramatic song moments of the night.

It wasn’t just the massive numbers known around the globe that took up residence within Joyride: The Musical, however. Lesser-known songs to your casual Roxette listener also took up key space in the song line-up with First Girl On The Moon, an unreleased album track from the band’s Crash! Boom! Bang! album playing a significant part for Sara Stjernfeldt in her role as Stella, Stephanie’s wise and musically aspiring daughter.

A punchy performance of Opportunity Nox, a handful of hits from the band’s Pearls Of Passion release including Neverending Love and Goodbye To You, Paint and Dance Away from Look Sharp, a flowing offering of Wish I Could Fly and a perfectly placed moment for Stars during the wedding scene are also found here in the show.

One of my favourite moments in the night however was with Joe’s performance of my personal favourite Roxette song, Spending My Time. The number showed off Alexander Lycke flawless, almost operatic style vocals as they swept over the crowd during one of the momentous scene stealing and gut-wrenching moments within the show while supporting cast provided a gorgeous backing vocal to the leading actor.

While there is a lot to enjoy as a casual fan of the theatre or a casual listener of Roxette, there are many exciting easter eggs to be found for the more avid Roxette fans (or Roxers as we are called) in Joyride: The Musical. The use of oversized white men’s shirts on several dancers during a tightly choreographed scene (taken from Marie’s look in the video for Spending My Time), or the lyrical references to songs like How Do You Do and Joyride (“Hey, you fool”) as well as the use of a game the family played called The Game Of Life (a nod to Queen of Rain), were all well-placed, nostalgic moments that might only be noticed by the more die-hard Roxette fans in the crowd so felt very sentimental as one of those fans being in attendance.

While the cast performances of the Roxette catalogue were being watched on stage, behind the scenes the Malmö Opera Orchestra provided the beautiful orchestral backbone to the night. With conductor Joakim Hallin at the helm and the orchestra cloaked for most of the show by a semi-transparent wall, a flood of strings washed through the venue and gave each song a gorgeously rich texture. Throughout the years, Roxette introduced orchestral instrumentation to their songs. Orchestral work was heavily used on the band’s 1999 techno-tinged album (and my personal favourite Roxette record), Have A Nice Day and I had always dreamed of being able to see the band perform songs from their catalogue with the help of a grand orchestra. I was lucky enough to see them perform 3 times at the touring Night of the Proms series in Belgium in 2010 where they performed a small handful of hits with the Night of the Proms Orchestra and to be able to hear more of their repertoire in this way had this fan and reviewer quite teary-eyed.

Summary

Overall, Joyride: The Musical was something quite special. Removing myself as a superfan of Roxette, the show offers everything you would hope for in a theatre spectacle. From colourful and impressive stage designs, impeccable acting and singing from a very talented band of performers, along with a catalogue of music rich in nostalgia and storytelling genius, Joyride: The Musical ticks all the boxes. But, as a Roxer, it offers so much more. Discovering the Easter eggs within the show that nod to the band’s history that only we could spot. Being able to see a story unfold on stage effortlessly translates to a stage show and lends itself so perfectly to a story full of drama, humour and emotion. Being able to proudly turn to the person with you and educate them on your favourite band by saying things like “this is an album track from Pearls of Passion” or “oh, Game of Life is taken from Queen of Rain“. Small things like this allow the experience to feel like a much more elevated one for those of us who have cherished the work of Per and Marie for so many years. While there is a colour, distinction and life that Marie Fredriksson gave to the songs included in the show that no one could ever replicate, the cast’s sensitive approach to the band’s catalogue, especially on the Marie-led numbers, was truly commendable.

As the cast took their final bows, projections on both sides of the brick laden stage design displayed video footage of iconic Roxette moments with Per on the left and Marie on the right which added more nostalgia and a sombre feeling to the show – one which Marie is no longer with us to be able to see but would have been immensely proud of.

The show has been such a hit, having sold out its initial run with over 100,000 tickets being snapped up that an extension of performances through to the end of April 2025 was recently announced. Seeing Joyride: The Musical was a truly amazing experience and opportunity for me and one I enjoyed so much that I immediately booked tickets to fly back to Sweden in late March to see it again.