Ever-popular Abbamania to close Concerts in the Park series

August 22, 2024 · 0 Comments

They’re one of the few tribute shows to headline Roy Thomson Hall.

Now, the popular Abbamania show, which has been wowing audiences for more than 20 years, is set to close out Aurora’s popular Concerts in the Park Summer Series next Wednesday, August 28.

“Abbamania is the world’s number-one production of Abba,” says the Town. “With amazing vocals, look and authentic costumes, Abbamania matches every song done note for note, exactly as the original recordings. Don’t miss this season’s finale night!”

This exacting attention to detail is what sets Abbamania apart, says producer Garry Lichach.

“The energy is 100 miles an hour, the vocals 100 per cent, the look 100 per cent, the sound 100 per cent,” he says.

Abbamania performs more than 200 shows a year, which he adds puts them in good company.

They are employed in 200 shows a year and in 20 years that is more concerts than the Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Madonna combined. The Beatles only played 117 times in their history. We do that in three quarters of a year. From the vocals, the sound, the costumes, the dialogue, the precision everyone takes in learning their part – from the head engineer on – to recreate the sound where people go, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ They’re blown away!

“This [performance] will show how incredible our singers are. When this band sells out Roy Thomson Hall four times, that is something. Tribute bands don’t play Roy Thomson Hall. Now Massey Hall wants us there next year and we will be the only tribute band to play Massey Hall. Come out [to Town Park] and see a great show. And even people who aren’t ABBA fans come out, they say, ‘Wow, I’m such a fan now.’”

And, since the last time they played Concerts in the Park, there are a few new additions to the program. In 2021, Abba released its new album, Voyage, a critically-acclaimed surprise for fans.

A hit from Voyage, Don’t Shut Me Down, now features in the act, along with a medley of their latest work to augment the hits from Abba’s heyday that has entertained generations of fans the world over.

This new material and the re-imagining of some of the band’s most famous works, is key to their – and Abbamania’s – enduring success.

“The Mamma Mia movies gave us longevity and then when [the album] Abba Gold came out, that helped. Mamma Mia in Toronto helped. It recreated a new, in the last say, 15 years, a younger crowd has come to enjoy Abba,” says Lichach. “It’s not like an Elvis impersonator [who] attracts older people – and I’m older too – but with a resurgence in Abba through movies, the new play in London, there is a new interest again of, ‘Wow!’ so we’re lucky.”

Concerts in the Park take place each Wednesday night from 7 – 9 p.m. at Town Park through to the end of August.

Vendors for food and other goods begin setting up at 6 p.m.

Concerts are free, but donations to the Aurora Food Pantry are encouraged.

For more on the 2024 Concerts in the Park lineup, visit aurora.ca/summerconcerts.

By Brock Weir