It's the Intermission
A Creative Coffee Break

While I’m not sure Pierce Brosnan should ever be allowed to sing in public, I loved the film version of Mamma Mia! I was worried because so many film adaptations of musicals fall flat, and even more worried because we ended up at a film house not known for its sound system. I’d see it again even in the same place, as it overcame even a rotten sound system, something Hairspray and (quite sadly) Sweeney Todd could not do.

Several years ago, the Beloved dragged me kicking and not quite screaming to the stage show in S.F., prior to its Broadway debut. She has a thing for Abba. Apparently a lot of people do. I was pleasantly won over by the musical’s infectious good-nature, surprised by a basic plot line that kinda worked, and thrilled to see so many women on stage in primary roles. I discovered that I, too, knew the words to most of the songs. (Oh dear, when and how did that happen?)

The book of the musical was written by Catherine Johnson, a British playwright. In an American Theater Wing symposium, Catherine said, prior to Mamma Mia! she said, “my work previously has always been in fringe theatre, and its sort of four actors and a budget of about 450 pounds.” She got to write the screenplay, too, and did an outstanding adaptation of her own work. She made it even funnier.