The Swedish glam rock band The Ark caught the eyes of Europe in 2007, when they represented their country in Helsinki with the fun filled 60s themed rock number “The Worrying Kind”. Despite only come in at 18th place in the Eurovision grand final, the band, and especially its frontman Ola Salo, had a memorable stint in the contest. And now Ola has his eyes set on the theater stage in Göthenburg with a one man show based on The Ark’s hit songs.
The show has been given the title “It takes a fool to remain sane” in homage to one of the band’s songs. To direct the show, Ola has called in none other than writer-director (and Eurovision and Melfest funny man) Edward af Sillén. So people can expect the show to not only be musically diverse, but also funny as hell.
But why a show based on “The Ark” songs? Speaking to Aftonbladet, Salo said:
“That was a suggestion that came from 2entertain, the production company behind the show. Those are my most famous songs and there is still a lot of interest surrounding them.”
“But I thought it was vital to seek permission with the band before I decided to do this, and they thought it was okay.”
Although “The Ark” split up in 2011, Ola has been quite busy. He’s been a judge on the Swedish version of “The Voice”, recorded three solo albums, played the lead role in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and written his own radio rock opera for Sveriges Radio. So it’s safe to say that he has not been sitting at home bored. But Ola’s twenty-year career with “The Ark” is near and dear to his heart, and that may be the main reason he is going through with “It takes a fool to remain sane”.
“It will be fun to base a show around the songs, because I really care about them. There’s a lot of stories surrounding each song. They’re about my life and my thoughts.”
“It takes a fool to remain sane” is set to premier in Göthenburg’s Rondo on January 24th next year, and the first batch of tickets has already gone on sale. And even though Ola’s former band mates of “The Ark” will not be joining him on stage, he will not fly solo all the time. “I have a six-man band with me, along with some dancers to help to create whatever will happen on stage”, Ola says. He promises a bulletproof show in January.
I remember that song. Great title. I wish The Ark would have ended up higher in 2007. The ONE time Sweden sends something different and they didn’t get rewarded. The literally sent the same song every year back then. 2006 with the witch and 2008 with the bimbo.
Agreed, it should have placed way higher. Maybe if the juries were around back then they would have done better. Benjamin Ingrosso will be remembered as finishing 7th despite a terrible televote result – it seems unfair that The Ark will be remembered as a flop when they actually did better than him.
Totally should be the other way around.