It's always been my opinion that Sparks music or roots don't necessarily go back to rock but to theater music. Ron Mael and Russell Mael are in the same school as the Gershwin brothers, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart and Stephen Sondheim. Although their medium can be considered, and more likely pop or rock, but I have always thought of them as the American brothers of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil. "The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman" is very much in line with something similar to Brecht/Weil's "Three-Penny Opera."
The narration of this radio and stage musical (and hopefully film) is about Bergman being trapped in Hollywood and dealing with the nightmare of working in a film factory of not his choice or temperament. Isolated from his world, he plots his escape, but can one flee from a living nightmare? This is the first theater project that came to fruition by the Mael brothers, and it's an essential Sparks' recording. The album is truly a soundtrack to the entire production, including some dialogue. Still, the music is excellent, and of great wit and beauty. The melodies are perfectly beautiful, but it also serves as a critique or commentary on the nature of an artist dealing with an industry that seems supportive, but in actuality, it's restricting the filmmaker's vision.
Ron Mael who is usually silent sings lead as the Limo Driver, but the rest is sung by Russell, as well as actors singing various roles, such as Jonas Malmsjö as Bergman, and a beautiful vocal from Elin Klinga as the ghost of Greta Garbo singing the heart-stopping "Garbo Sings." Superb brilliance.
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