In the first of two film projects in the summer of 1983 (the other one being Jokerfejs - Härenstams Blandning), Frida played the part of The Princess (how appropriate!) "La Belle", in the French mini-film, ABBACaDAbRa.

Her role was small but she did get to sing with co-star Daniel Balavoine. The made-for-TV film, shot at the Castle of Ussé in western France, was part of the promotional activity for the album of ABBACaDAbRa. It was of course the "musical fairy-tale adventure", using ABBA tunes with new lyrics. It was set around a story of school children who get transported into a magic land where they meet various fairy-tale characters including Pinocchio, Cinderella and Aladdin.

The French album was the original version of this project. Frida and Daniel Balavoine released a single of Belle and made a PROMO film for it as well as making other promotional TV appearances (Champs Elysées). Not long after Frida recorded the duet Belle with Balavoine, she also supplied backing vocals for his single Dieu Que C'est Beau. 

It was later turned into English and transferred to the London Stage (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith from December 1983 to January 1984) where Elaine Paige starred as Carabosse; Michael Praed was Aladdin; BA Robertson was The Beast and Sylvester McCoy (who later went on to be an incarnation of Dr Who) was Pinocchio.

Recordings were also made in Dutch and Portuguese by other artistes.

French fan, Pascale Ranson, gives a lot of background: "It took a while before ABBACaDAbRa took off. They did this musical as a tribute to ABBA's 10 year career. At the time they thought that ABBA was music for children although they realized afterwards that it was more than that. Daniel Beaufixe is in fact Daniel Boublil himself who plays the part of Aladdin. In fact the whole thing started with the song Mon Nez (Money, Money, Money) hence the idea of Pinocchio and of using fairy-tale characters. However, it is worth mentioning Fabienne Thibault, a French-Canadian singer, who played Snow White. She also played in the same Starmania/tycoon production as Daniel Balavoine. Belgian Plastic Bertrand who played Pinocchio is known for  Ca plane pour moi (1978) covered by President of the USA.

The castle of Ussé was used because it inspired Charles Perrault's version of Sleeping Beauty. In fact, after ABBACaDAbRa, another plan for the children's group was settled and it was La fusée de Noé (Noah's rocket) a musical that used Lay All Your Love on Me (and Frida was credited as the voice of Mary Starlight on the chorus of Etoile Filante) although other songs were not by ABBA even if Waterloo was covered as a single as Gare au Loup (Beware of the wolf) but had, I think, no connection with either musical. La planète amour (cover of  Lay all your Love On Me) is sung by various choirs and has become a popular number. The chorus was even played at mass before the communion!)"

Daniel Balavoine was tragically killed in a helicopter crash on 14 January 1986. A few days later, Frida was in Stockholm to film Tivedshambo and she looked noticeably pale and subdued - presumably still in shock at the news and grieving for her friend.

Frida appears right at the end of the film.  See the VIDEO section for her part, plus the whole film in order (in 11 parts).

Belle PROMO, 1983; 
Daniel Balavoine, ABBACaDAbRa, 1983 (site is in French);

Thanks to Corinne Maes for clarification of this programme, also YJ, Jozsef and Melinda.
Extra thanks to Pascale Ranson c/o ABBAMAIL (no longer online) and Grant Whittingham for information on Frida's further recording with Daniel Balavoine.
YouTube links c/o Philippe Benabes