Sparks are writing and producing an original radio musical for Swedish radio, which will be broadcast in August.

Entitled “The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman” Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael have written the musical fantasy in Swedish, although an English version will be released after.

Speaking about the Sveriges Radio commision, Ron Mael says: “As Americans we have almost abandoned radio drama and it was truly exhilarating for us to work in a medium where the imagination of the listener is so integral a part of the work. Aside from our love of Bergman, we have a love of Orson Welles and his use of the medium of radio was something that inspired us in this work.”

Russell and Ron also see the radio musical easily transferable to the stage and they hope to stage a theatre show based on the play.

Russel Mael explains: “Although The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman was commissioned as a radio musical, we always saw it in cinematic terms. We hope that the listeners will be able, in their own minds, to see the same movie that we wrote on hearing it on the radio and that at some point an actual film can be made of this piece. We would also like to present The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman as a theatre piece and perhaps this will be the next stage show for Sparks.”

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