Picture: Johan Persson/ABBA Trip
The ABBAtars are concerning New York City. Crain’s reported this week that Gary Barnett and his ever-busy Extell Development submitted documentation to demolish half a block on 11th Opportunity and West 45th in Hell’s Kitchen to make way for ABBA Trip, a holograph-forward show designed by … ABBA. The program, which initially opened in London in 2022, has a fairly devoted following and the developers behind the project (Extell is joined by Bluestone Group on this ABBA Voyage) are anticipating crowds. The planned arena, per Crain’s and the local news website W42ST, will be 175,000 square feet and have a capacity of 3,000.
The 4 members of ABBA– who are, yes, still alive and in their 70s– apparently invested years establishing their holograms in addition to a team of producers to craft the 100-minute efficiency. This included five weeks of filming Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid in motion-capture fits and the work of 140 animators from Industrial Light & Magic, the visual-effects firm behind a bunch of Marvel motion pictures. Helpfully the occasion’s frequently asked question page keeps in mind to concertgoers that while Abba is “not physically in the arena,” the band has actually “produced the kind of concert they constantly desired.” (Holograms of themselves from practically 50 years back.)
If you wonder, and why would not you be, it looks like this:
According to W42ST, the city’s Industrial Advancement Firm authorized a $50 million tax break to help Extell and Bluestone develop out the arena. The designers claimed that the tax advantages were needed for them to “hire a European-based occupant to New York City, rather of Las Vegas.” Their proposition described a $500 million spending plan with a prepared opening in 2028.
Plus now that Mamma Mia! is no longer running on Broadway, the ABBA fanatics will require a place to go. And they’re ready: “My prayers have lastly been responded to after all these years,” one of the devoted composed on Reddit. “This will be my new home.”
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