New York, July 16, 2008 – The American premiere of Mamma Mia!, the musical comprised of ABBA songs, was as fluffy as the story, with a bright blue carpet evoking the Aegean sea of the Greek Islands where the film takes place.  Hunky shirtless men wearing board shorts with flippers on their feet were stationed along the carpet, bringing that beachy feel to rush hour in Midtown Manhattan at the Ziegfeld Theatre. 

The mood was suitably upbeat, too, with Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth joking their way into the theater – these actors are not known for singing and dancing, and they embraced that.  Brosnan admitted that a part of him was terrified by the prospect of singing and dancing.  “But I didn’t have to be a pitch-perfect singer; I just had to sing with a bit of heart, and act it.   And I think that’s the joy of this piece for all of us”, he told us. 

Star Meryl Streep, of course, has already sung successfully in flicks like A Prairie Home Companion, and original ABBA member Benny Andersson, who was also a producer, called Streep a “real singing star.”  Streep not only had daughters Mamie and Grace Gummer in tow, but her husband, sculptor Don Gummer, made a rare appearance for the frothy confection of a movie. 

Executive producer Rita Wilson was sad that her husband Tom Hanks couldn’t make the premiere, but she wasn’t alone.  “I actually have my whole big fat Greek family with me, just not my husband”, she told us as the movie was about to start.