Nearly everyone involved with the new movie version of “Mamma Mia!” faces some sort of on-screen humiliation — even the wonderful Meryl Streep comes off badly in the starring role of a frenetic old hippie — but what director Phyllida Law does to Pierce Brosnan is unforgivable.
A non-singer (to say the least), Brosnan is generating shocked (and mocking) audience laughter for the sounds that come out of his mouth when he is called upon to sing in the role of Meryl’s old rocker boyfriend.
Say what you will about ABBA — whose 1970s pop hits make up the song score for the stage-show-turned-film — but their lushly produced ditties were always gorgeously sung and featured harmonies worthy of comparison with The Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas.
The Broadway production of “Mamma Mia!” opened in 2001 with a cast of strong singers that included musical theater powerhouse Judy Kaye, among other gifted performers .
The strong presentation of the music in the stage show overshadowed the rather ludicrous plot about a girl’s determination to find her real father just before she gets married on the Greek island where her one-time rocker mom runs a hotel. Mom slept around when she was a hippie singer and isn’t sure which of her three sexual partners that year fathered the girl.
The plot was ripped off from a long-forgotten 1968 Hollywood comedy called “Buena Sera, Mrs. Campbell.” On stage, the songs keep coming so quickly and so cleverly that we ride right over the dumb (and rather offensive) plot.
The program for the theatrical version of “Mamma Mia!” doesn’t have an ordered song list, so part of the fun of the show is wondering how the heck they are going to work tunes like “Chiquitita” and “Take a Chance on Me” into the story and who will get to sing them.
The movie literalizes everything about the ridiculous storyline and sets the shenanigans in a real place, so the songs have to carry more dramatic weight than they do on stage, and the whole thing collapses.
Even the great actress and pretty good singer Meryl Streep looks unsure of herself as she is directed to hop and jump around her character’s hotel like a chorus girl on speed. The frenetic attempt to make her character seem “youthful” actually makes the beautiful Ms. Streep look older than her real age (59) — it’s like seeing one of those desperate suburban moms who decides to dress like her teen daughter.
When the action stops for Streep to sing an overwrought solo (“The Winner Takes It All”) she carries on as if she is singing the death scene in “La Traviata.”
But it is Brosnan who suffers the worst treatment in this poorly put together musical. When it became clear the actor can’t sing — but his star presence was needed for international box-office insurance — couldn’t his vocals have been discretely dubbed by an anonymous vocalist?
There was a time when audiences accepted the notion that movie stars sometimes needed help when they were asked to star in musicals. Marni Nixon made a nice career out singing for actresses such as Audrey Hepburn (“My Fair Lady”) and Natalie Wood (“West Side Story”) and doing it in the style of the performer’s speaking voice.
Surely, in this age of electronic wizardry, someone could have helped Brosnan out — it’s truly terrible to sit in a theater and hear an audience laughing at a good actor who got in over his head.
Joe's View
With Joe Meyers, entertainment writer
Hi Joe,
My family saw the movie last night…and left the theater humming ABBA and feeling sorry for Mr. Brosnan. SOS, indeed!