Abba

It's all ABBA's fault.For some reason, whenever Americans put the words "Swedish" and "rock" together, all they can come up with is ABBA. Never mind that Ace of Base and Roxette have long since topped ABBA's success record; as far as most Americans are concerned, half the people in Stockholm still wander the streets singing "Fernando."So maybe we ought to put a couple of misconceptions to rest for good. First, Swedes are not totally ABBA-crazed. On a recent visit to Sweden, the only evidence I saw of lingering ABBA-mania came on a TV show called "Smastjarnona" ("The Little Stars")

Signs of movement toward renewed cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have Israeli officials on edge. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization committed to its destruction and has shunned negotiations. In the wake of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts last fall to sidestep negotiations with Israel and seek United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state, it is easy to see this as another ominous sign for the prospects for peace. But there is another possibility at work.

ABBA-holics, forgive me, but for this critic songs like "Take a Chance on Me" and "Dancing Queen" have always belonged to the genre of bubblegum Muzak. So, if you turn nearly two dozen of these pulsing, sticky tunes into a musical, you end up with a bubblegum musical. Granted, lots of folks like bubblegum, and lots of folks like Mamma Mia!, which is not only a hit in London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne, but also has already spawned two U.S. touring companies. And no doubt about it, the company at Washington's National Theatre is slick and peppy.

Only cool-tempered Swedes could take a hot-blooded Italian expression like "Mamma mia" (imagine Anna Magnani saying it) and use it without any syllabic stress in a light, snappy song, as if the value of the two words derived from their alliterative appeal alone. But Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson knew just what they were doing in generating that song, and a whole bunch like it, for their famed group ABBA. The way those guys could match any string of words to magnetic melodic hooks proved magical in the 1970s and early 1980s, leading to a pop music phenomenon of global proportions.

Think of Mamma Mia! as a pop music puzzle. The puzzle pieces are 22 songs by the '70s Swedish pop group ABBA. The solution is a script that cleverly ties the songs together with a story about a bride-to-be's search for her father's identity. This solution has proved such a bona fide crowd-pleaser, the musical has become an international sensation. Its current engagement at the Hippodrome Theatre comes only two years after it first played here - with several of the same cast members (including former Baltimorean Tiffani Barbour as one of the bride's best friends)

"Mamma mia, here I go again / My my, how can I resist you?" If only you could. But, oh, those alliterative "m's," those 17 syncopated syllables - chances are that by the time you reached the end of the first sentence, ABBA's familiar melody had forcibly taken possession of every single one of your brain cells. And there it will remain, until it is driven out by a different tune that's equally ... er, unforgettable. "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line / Honey, I'm still free, take a chance on me."

Only cool-tempered Swedes could take a hot-blooded Italian expression like "Mamma mia" (imagine Anna Magnani saying it) and use it without any syllabic stress in a light, snappy song, as if the value of the two words derived from their alliterative appeal alone. But Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson knew just what they were doing in generating that song, and a whole bunch like it, for their famed group ABBA. The way those guys could match any string of words to magnetic melodic hooks proved magical in the 1970s and early '80s, leading to a pop music phenomenon of global proportions.

Ruth Abba Garrison, 94, seamstress, church member Ruth Abba Garrison, a retired seamstress, died Saturday of respiratory failure at Caton Manor Nursing Home in Catonsville. She was 94. Mrs. Garrison, who lived at Strawberry Hill Apartments for 20 years, was a former resident of Somers Point, N.J. She had worked for many years at the Needlecraft in Atlantic City. Earlier, she had been a seamstress at Saks Fifth Avenue in Philadelphia. The former Ruth Abba Putuss was born and raised in Huntington, W. Va., and graduated from high school there.

It's funny how stereotypes linger long after they cease to reflect reality. Most rock fans think of English bands as being edgy and morose, like the Cure or the Smiths, while Swedish bands are all as happy and sappy as ABBA.Not true. Just look at the Swedish double bill coming in to the 9:30 Club in Washington this Tuesday. Headlining the show are the Cardigans, a quintet whose dreamy, disco-inflected 1997 hit ``Lovefool'' seemed to support the Swedes' ABBA image - until you noticed the dark sarcasm in the words Nina Persson so sweetly warbled.

Only cool-tempered Swedes could take a hot-blooded Italian expression like "Mamma mia" (imagine Anna Magnani saying it) and use it without any syllabic stress in a light, snappy song, as if the value of the two words derived from their alliterative appeal alone. But Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson knew just what they were doing in generating that song, and a whole bunch like it, for their famed group ABBA. The way those guys could match any string of words to magnetic melodic hooks proved magical in the 1970s and early 1980s, leading to a pop music phenomenon of global proportions.

Only cool-tempered Swedes could take a hot-blooded Italian expression like "Mamma mia" (imagine Anna Magnani saying it) and use it without any syllabic stress in a light, snappy song, as if the value of the two words derived from their alliterative appeal alone. But Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson knew just what they were doing in generating that song, and a whole bunch like it, for their famed group ABBA. The way those guys could match any string of words to magnetic melodic hooks proved magical in the 1970s and early '80s, leading to a pop music phenomenon of global proportions.

"Mamma mia, here I go again / My my, how can I resist you?" If only you could. But, oh, those alliterative "m's," those 17 syncopated syllables - chances are that by the time you reached the end of the first sentence, ABBA's familiar melody had forcibly taken possession of every single one of your brain cells. And there it will remain, until it is driven out by a different tune that's equally ... er, unforgettable. "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line / Honey, I'm still free, take a chance on me."

JERUSALEM - Israel will release about 150 Palestinian prisoners, including perhaps a couple of prominent ones, at the end of this month as a gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, officials from both sides said after a meeting yesterday between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. The meeting, part of an effort to create a peace framework between the two sides before President Bush leaves office, was the first since Olmert announced that he would be stepping down in the coming months because of corruption investigations.

It only takes a single exposure, and in an instant, your whole day can change. The infection is rapid and feels potentially unending. One minute you're minding your own business and the next you find that you can't stop thinking, humming or singing "Dancing Queen." Friday n ight and the lights are low... No matter what you try, you can't shake it. In fact, once you start thinking about ABBA, you're a goner. Next thing you know, you've moved to this: If you change your mind/I'm the first in line.

JERUSALEM -- With help from an Egyptian cease-fire proposal for the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded the U.S.-backed Palestinian leadership yesterday to resume peace talks with Israel. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had halted the negotiations Sunday over an Israeli incursion into Gaza and had rebuffed Rice's entreaties Tuesday to change his mind. But after speaking to Abbas by telephone yesterday, Rice announced here that the talks are back on track.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas suspended peace talks with Israel yesterday amid growing international criticism of the Jewish state's incursion into the Gaza Strip. Mounting casualties in Gaza drew protests from European and Arab capitals and sent thousands of Palestinians into the streets across the West Bank, where Israeli troops killed a teenager during a demonstration. The spike in violence during the past five days is a setback for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had hoped during her visit here this week to advance peace talks that President Bush helped launch in November with the aim of an accord on Palestinian statehood by the end of his term.

Mamma Mia! is a hokey musical - unabashedly, proudly, brazenly and manipulatively hokey. And the hokeyness works. Stitching together two dozen songs by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of the former Swedish pop group ABBA, playwright Catherine Johnson has concocted a plot that combines a Jerry Springer-style "who's-my-father?" mystery with the reunion of a 1970s girl group and an account of wedding preparations. It's a bubblegum story set to bubblegum music and, as the touring production at the Hippodrome Theatre proves, it's a good fit. In case there's any doubt, the sheer silliness of director Phyllida Lloyd's staging and Anthony Van Laast's choreography ensure that fun is the show's primary objective.