ABBA mania returns to the Paramount

When music fans hear an ABBA classic they can't help but hark back to a point in time.

Perhaps it was prom or a wedding reception, and the soundtrack was "Fernando" or "Knowing Me, Knowing You." Alison Ward's earliest ABBA memories are based around dust and dirt.

"My mom would blast ABBA during our tidy up Saturdays," Ward said while calling from Bend, Oregon. "I had so much fun cleaning to those fantastic songs."

The association with ABBA hits, such as "Waterloo" and "Dancing Queen," were obviously not tarnished by Ward's memories of wielding a cloth and a can of Pledge while cleaning up her childhood home in Liverpool a generation ago.

Ward, 39, portrays iconic ABBA vocalist Agnetha Faltskog.

"I love ABBA, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy singing their songs," Ward said. "It's so much fun every night performing. Much of it has to do with the audience who share their love of ABBA. I look out in the crowd, and I see couples slow dancing and I see women bouncing up and down when they hear their favorite ABBA songs. It's so much fun singing these songs."

ABBA and the Beatles were in heavy rotation in the Ward home since it's where the Fabs were born.

"My nursery school was actually on Penny Lane," Ward said. "My sister and I would walk home everyday on Penny Lane. My family still lives down the road from the house where Paul McCartney grew up. We were obviously Beatles fans and we still are."

Ward was born well after the Beatles and ABBA broke up.

"I missed it when the amazing albums from those two groups came out, but the music has to be kept alive," Ward said. "That's what we do in Mania. We are all about keeping the music alive."

ABBA sold more than 150 albums and when the group splintered in 1982, there was an instant demand for cover acts.

"The songs sound great on record but you have to experience the songs live," Ward said. "So people come out and see us."

Mania, which will perform Friday at the Paramount Theatre, was created in 1999. The production was on London's West End for 18 weeks in 2000. The band hit the road in 2001, and a quarter century later, the show continues to flourish since ABBA tunes remain resonant.

"The songs never go out of style," Ward said. "ABBA songs follow me everywhere. I hear them in stores. They're on television. It's just like the Beatles in that their songs tell some sad stories everyone can relate with. And then there are the upbeat songs. I'm especially grateful for the ABBA songs since I've gotten to experience much of this country, and I enjoy living here."

When Ward isn't on the road belting out ABBA songs, she can be found in Los Angeles.

"I have a pink convertible VW bug," Ward said. "I drive around West Hollywood like I'm a British Barbie. I love living in California."

Ward also enjoys touring the country, particularly the heartland.

"I love the middle of America," Ward said. "I really like Cedar Rapids. We've been there about five or six times, and that theater (The Paramount) is just so beautiful. We always seem to come to Cedar Rapids in February so it's always cold and usually snowy. It's lovely, and the other thing that makes coming to Cedar Rapids so much fun is that the people there are really into it. They love their ABBA and I certainly understand that. There is simply no group that has ever been like ABBA. Their music touches people like no other songs do. I wasn't born yet when ABBA was around but I love the music, and we in Mania do all that we can to keep their brilliant music alive."