All we can say is “Thank you for the music”, Abba! My partner and I did something almost unprecedented last night…went to a movie, a real movie. Well, I’ve wanted to see the Broadway production of “Mamma Mia” since feet hit the boards but not the easiest thing for us to do. I remember a couple of years ago wishing aloud…upon hearing another great review of the musical…that one day soon they’d do the movie. Not the same thing, quite…but enough. I have to confess I really don’t even care for musicals. Love a great movie, love theatre when it’s drama, farce, anything but musical but this was ABBA!! LOLOL…I’ve loved Abba’s music since I first heard “Fernando” in the mid-70’s, bought all their albums (remember those big black vinyl discs before CD?)…even a second, Spanish, version of their gold hits. When I finally heard about the movie version it was a long wait but, finally, last night was THE night.
As I said, we don’t go to movies. We buy or rent DVD’s…or choose “On Demand”…sit on our comfortable furniture with popcorn, beverage of choice (for me a ‘biggie’ since the cinemas haven’t gotten round to selling coffee) in front of our own big screen…usually seeing two movies for the price of one at the theatre. We’ve heard the horror stories of what it costs to go to a movie theatre these days and it just never seemed like a better value than we had at home. It actually wasn’t quite that bad, though. Afraid we’d have to stand in line forever and then the movie sold out, I bought our tickets online before 8am yesterday morning (THAT’s new!! Technology at it’s finest!), we got there as had been suggested…forty-five minutes before showtime to collect our tickets and get in line. My other half so excited about ‘finally going to a movie theatre’ she refused dinner before leaving so she could enjoy the appetite for a junk food nosh…buttered movie popcorn (B-I-G!), a drink she could swim in and she did get me a box of Dots and Milk Duds since I couldn’t decide which I wanted. (She didn’t even mind that she was going to see “Mamma Mia” instead of “The Dark Knight”!) I really leaned toward the Milk Duds…choc covered caramel/toffee has always been a favourite of mine but Dots a close second and I hadn’t had either in yonks. I soon found out why…remember the recent post on Affordable Dentistry?? After popping two Milk Duds in to savour…and spending the next half hour trying to ‘unstick’ them from my new teeth…ahem…I said a sad, silent farewell to ever enjoying those morsels again. The Dots weren’t much better. At any rate, prices weren’t as bad as we’d anticipated. Vanity, at times, keeps me from taking advantage of a senior discount. I mean, for one thing I just barely make senior status chronologically and mentally….ummm, probably never…but I figured it might be worth it yesterday so getting the tickets online cost $18. The dinner of popcorn, soda and unchewable candies was $12.50….less than we’d expected…so for thirty bucks we had a fine evening out. And it was worth every penny and more!
The story line was insipid but the music and the ’camp-ish’ style more than made up for that even if it wasn’t the collective voices of Abba. My particular favourite scenes involved any which featured Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters (especially Julie Walters). I laughed and lip-synched my way through almost two hours of delight…would have sang along, loudly, but couldn’t quite face the embarrassment of being thrown out by an irate audience. Had my fellow movie-goers been up dancing in the aisles, however, I certainly would have joined them. As it is, as the curtain call was being shown during the final credits, we got up to leave and I just couldn’t…so I stood at the end of rail going towards the exit, still lip-synching but adding some fancy footwork. Soon I was joined by a woman about my age doing likewise and next came another woman who had looked around, saw us there, joined in. It was really hard to leave…lolol.
So…if you know who Abba is (or even if you don’t) and ever enjoyed their music, go see the movie. Just a couple of hours spent watching a movie…or, as in my case…reliving moments in a life where an Abba song is embedded with personal memories of time, place, events, special moments and having so much laughter (and a few tears) doing it. Now I’m waiting for the release of the DVD to add to our collection but, in the meantime, I have my own dance party to attend. Last night I didn’t come home to look out my Abba collection for nothing. The Dancing Queen is reborn!
UPDATE: 07/20/08
Listening to a couple of reviews of the movie and seeing it’s being seriously panned, I’d just add this. If you were/are an ABBA fan and would feel cheated not hearing their voices…don’t go. Serious critic of “Dancing With The Stars”? I’d stay home. And in the words of one reviewer “definitely for you…if you are seriously seeking anti-enlightenment”. You know what…every once in a while two hours of fluff is good for the soul; it’s entertainment. Sheer fluffy entertainment with a capital E. That’s all it is…nothing more, nothing less than “feel good”. Uplifting gives us pleasant respite from enlightning, n’est pas? ;)
