Well, I saw Mama Mia!, the musical yesterday, and I have to admit I'm glad that musicals are making a comeback, because
I love watching old
musicals on TV, such as South Pacific, Oklahoma!, etc. Mama Mia! kind of reminded me of them, but with one difference. Instead of choosing singers that could act, they chose actors that can't sing, especially
Meryl Streep, and Pierce Brosan in starring roles. That I couldn't figure out for the life of me. Why not dubb other voices in? Amanda Seyfreid of High School Muscial fame of course can really belt those tunes out. Too bad the rest of the cast wasn't of her caliber.
It was great how the music of ABBA, from my '70's high school days was incorporated into the plot. So well, in fact that very little dialogue as used to advance the story along, mostly song, and dance!
The plot consisted of Meryl Streep's daughter Sophia, played by Amanda Seyfried, getting married, and reading her Mom's'60's diary to find out who her father was, and finding out it could be one of 3 men her Mom had a brief affair with(3 men in one week) one summer. Sophia invites all 3 men to her wedding hoping one will give her away at her wedding on a Greek Island, where her Mother owns a hotel.
It was a riot of how the unexpected kept showing up, making the whole thing quite comedic. But the unexpected was a little risque so I don't know if I would take young teenagers to see it.
The time line seemed a little off. Sophia was conceived during the '60's, and she was 20 years old in the film, but the Internet was in full swing in the movie, in 1980? I don't think so. Dress, and other props set it in the year 2008. Can't the movie producers add?
I always loved ABBA, so of course, I loved the movie. Pierce Brosan of course, was mighty good looking for us 40 years old, and Meryl Streep wasn't bad to look at either. I think I would like to see the Broadway stage play to see if they hired real singers; however!
For purchase information for this movie including the Audio CD to the movie and Broadway Version(Yes, real singers!) see
http://astore.amazon.com/lwasauspa-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=1336