Mamma Mia

Cols and I watched Mamma Mia The Movie at the Power Plant Cinema tonight. Winston gave us a couple of free tickets through his advertising contacts. While the movie is already on regular screening, the sponsored showing tonight blocked off a cinema for private screening of its sponsors.

We saw the play at London West End's Prince Albert Theater way back in 2001. I still remember we were seated at the very last row of the balcony and on the left corner-most seat. And the tickets we got were pretty expensive (can't remember the exact price) because we bought it from scalpers. Mamma Mia was one of the hottest show in West End at that time. And since we were in London for only a few days, we didn't have the luxury of waiting for tickets to be available in the regular box office so we had to take the bait. Anyway, even at the atrocious scalper pricing, I thought it was really worth it.

The movie adaptation/screenplay lived up to the original play's script. It starred Meryll Streep and Pierce Brosnan as its main characters. The movie is executive produced by husband-and-wife Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and co-produced by some people with Swedish-sounding names (maybe the original ABBA members themselves?).

I had no idea that Meryll Streep could sing. I was even more surprised that Pierce Brosnan could sing! (To me, Pierce will always be the quintessential James Bond.) Although I'm sure they took voice lessons in preparation for their role, they sounded very well. Or at least, Meryll Streep sounded really well. Pierce is no crooner, but he could carry a tune. His singing voice seems more apt for rock music though. Another pleasant surprise among the cast is Amanda Seyfried who played Sophie, the daughter of Meryll Streep. At first, I was wondering if she was just lip-synching. But as it turned out, she was really the one singing.

The soundtrack of the original Mamma Mia play is available for online download and purchase from Fliptunes Plus. The album is produced by MCA Universal Records. I'm looking forward to having the original movie soundtrack (OST) of Mamma Mia available from Fliptunes Plus.