Anyone questioning if women have life, charm, chutzpah and sex-appeal after 50 needs to hustle down to the local multiplex and get a load of a perfectly cast Meryl Streep as the the matriarch in “Mamma Mia,” singing, dancing, falling out of windows and jumping on beds. Wow. She outshines her screen daughter and just about everyone else in the cast. She made me want to go find my old character shoes. (I have dibs on that blue peasant dress with the boho trim.)
And the girl has some pipes! (She apparently began her career out of Yale Drama School singing in musicals on and off Broadway.) The critics have been savaging poor Pierce Brosnan for his singing voice, which is at least as good as Springsteen, IMHO. Heck, give the guy a break. I’ve done a LOT of performing, and I guess I’ve listened to too many pear-shaped tones over the course of 30 years. I like real voices, from real people. A little Melissa Etheridge really clears the mind and the soul.
Forget the guy in black. (Three frackin’ hours of mayhem and nihilism. Sheesh.) I’ll put my money on Meryl.
Update: Body acceptance activist Kate Harding has a somewhat long but fun take on “Mamma Mia.”