MAMMA MIA!/SUNNY SONG AND DANCE

What is going on? How does a Brit, Bristol’s Phyllida Lloyd, get to shoot a $90 million film starring Meryl Streep, produced by Tom Hanks? And it is her first feature film. This is unheard of!

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That little number has done rather well to say the least so it is safe to say that she knows the material fairly well and might be trusted to do a decent job on the film version, even if it is her first time in charge of such a project.

If you are one of the two people in the world who have not seen the stage version, you might want to know that Mamma Mia! is based on a slew of Abba songs (see below) but has nothing to do with the story of the band itself

Rather the plot has been adapted, by Bristol playwright Catherine Johnson, from a 1968 American film, Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (written, interestingly by another Brit Denis Norden), which starred Gina Lollobrigida as an Italian prostitute with a heart of gold but no money and a daughter, who convinces not one but three of her GI clients to help support “their” child.

Even the best of prostitutes would always be a challenge for the sunny songs of Abba so Johnson shifted the scene south to Greece with Streep as simply a frisky lady, no fees charged.

But the complicated family business is still there, with Amanda Seyfried playing a 21-year-old American girl ready to marry her fiancé Dominic Cooper and trying to discover which of Streep’s three former and mislaid lovers is her father in order to have someone to give her away.

Alas, Streep has not only been free and frisky but ecumenical and the men have to come to Greece, 20 years after their first, amorous visit, from around the world: Pierce Brosnan from America, Colin Firth from Britain and Stellan Skarsgård from Sweden (all pictured arriving, above).

It is a formula that has "super duper" success written all over it and, with a stellar performance from Streep, it will be.

And if you are looking for familiar landmarks from your own escapades in Greece, note that most of the location shots were done on Skopelos, with pick ups on Skiathos, around the habour and in the bell tower, and at London’s own Pinewood Studios.

As for those songs, nearly every Abba hit is there, starting with I Have a Dream, Honey, Honey, Money, Money, Money, Chiquitata, Dancing Queen and, naturally, Mamma Mia.

Mamma Mia opens Nationwide on Thursday, July 10, 2008.

Posted June 30, 2008>