Tania Garbarski in Mamma Mia! at Forest National: “I want to steal Abba’s outfits”

Big year for the actress Tania Garbarski who starts it in the 100% Belgian version of Mamma Mia!

© Pamela Bercovic

It’s a secret you won’t tell anyone, but you’ve been involved in Oh mama! while you hate Abba…
(Laughs.) But no… I must confess that I adore Abba…

You say that for the promotion…
But no… So I don’t listen to Abba every day at home, but it’s hard not to fidget when you hear Abba.

Which Abba song do you like the most? Dancing Queen, Money, money, money ou Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man ?
(Laughs.) I love this interview… Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man – ­évidemment.

In the show you sing Does Your Mother Know? And? What does your mother think?
For her seventieth birthday, I took my mom to see Oh mama! in London she was in tears. She told me that everything that happened on this Greek island was her life… I don’t know what message she wanted to send me, but in any case, she opened a door…

Are your daughters proud? Perhaps they would have preferred to see you in a musical on Angèle or Damso?
No, they are proud. In addition, I took them to see everything that was done in comedies since their birth, so… But there, on the other hand, with my rehearsals all day at home, my whole family wants to knock me out.

Where were you in 1974, the night Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest?
In my crib, I was one year old…

Abba’s look, which is the result of a head-on collision between a nuclear power plant and a curtain shop, do you like it?
(Laughs.) Yes, unfortunately. I adore. And that’s where I admit my bad taste… The light bell bottoms – not too light, the dolman sleeves, I love them. And the more rhinestones and sequins there are, the happier I am. Recently, I saw Abba’s show in holograms, and Agnetha and Frida had outfits… I wanted to steal them!

Apart from Abba, what do you know of Sweden?
Ikea and a former lover.

I was told that you started in the business with a musical…
Yes, it’s true, when I was 14 or 15, I don’t know anymore…

Was it a school show?
No, it was a musical at the Jacques Franck Cultural Center in Brussels. It was A fiddler on the roof, I played Hodel, one of Tevye’s three daughters. A wonderful memory…

You would have preferred to play La La Land with Ryan Gosling or Singing In The Rain with Gene Kelly?
It’s cruel, but why choose? Alright, come on, I’ll take Singing In The Rain because the girl does a lot of tap dancing and tap dancing is good for the rest of my career.

For your singing ability, give yourself a mark out of ten…
Seven… No, six… Let’s say, between six and seven.

What was the hardest part of working on Mamma Mia!?
Dance. I had more steps to learn than I have feet…

Mamma Mia!, 20 and 21/1. Forest National, Brussels.

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