Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre, the current venue for Mamma Mia! in London
Music	Björn Ulvaeus Benny Andersson
Lyrics	Björn Ulvaeus Benny Andersson
Book	Catherine Johnson
Basis	Songs of ABBA
Productions	1999 West End 2000 Toronto 2001 Chicago 2001 Broadway 2001 Sydney 2002 Melbourne 2002 U.S. Tour 2002 International Tour 2003 Las Vegas 2003 Netherlands 2004 Madrid 2004 Germany 2005 Seoul 2005 Essen, Germany 2006 Antwerp 2006 Moscow 2006 Tokyo 2006 Hong Kong 2006 U.S. Tour 2007 North American Tour 2007 Sweden 2007 Ireland 2007 Australian Tour Germany 2008 Australaisan Tour 2008 Greek Tour (May 2008) 2008 Hong Kong 2009 Dutch Tour 2009 Spanish Tour 2009 Mexico City 2009 Oslo 2009 Tokyo 2010 Sydney 2010 Serbia 2010 Switzerland 2010 South Africa 2010 Melbourne 2010 Paris 2010 São Paulo 2011 Shanghai Chinese Edition 2012 Buenos Aires 2012 Manila + Several other International productions in major cities across the world.

Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not biographical. Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, who composed the original music for ABBA, were involved in the development of the show from the beginning. Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been involved financially in the production and she has also been present at many of the premieres around the world. The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love On Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take A Chance On Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All", "Voulez Vous" and "SOS". Over 42 million people have seen the show, which has grossed $2 billion dollars worldwide since its 1999 debut. A film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters was released in July 2008.

Background[link]

The original home of Mamma Mia! The Prince Edward Theatre

Mamma Mia! is based on the songs of ABBA. ABBA was a Swedish pop/dance group active from 1972–1982 and was one of the most internationally popular pop groups of all time, topping the charts again and again in Europe, North America and Australia. Following the premiere of the musical in London in 1999, ABBA Gold topped the charts in the United Kingdom again. This musical was the brainchild of producer Judy Craymer. She met songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson in 1983 when they were working with Tim Rice on Chess.^[1] It was the song "The Winner Takes It All" that suggested to her the theatrical potential of their pop songs.^[2] The songwriters were not enthusiastic, but they were not completely opposed to the idea.^[2]

In 1997, Craymer commissioned Catherine Johnson to write the book for the musical. In 1998, Phyllida Lloyd became the director for the show.^[2] It is unusual for three women to form the collaboration behind a commercial success in musical theatre.^[2]

Productions[link]

Original London production[link]

The musical opened in the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre on 6 April 1999 and transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre on 9 June 2004, where it is playing as of 2012. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast, the original cast featured Siobhan McCarthy, Lisa Stokke, and Hilton McRae.^[3][4] The show will move to the Novello Theatre in September 2012 after the 2012 Olympics.^[5] This new production will contain most of the original London cast in their original roles. It is yet to be confirmed, but a "sprinkling" of the film's cast will also be included in this new line-up.

Toronto production[link]

It opened in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre on 23 May 2000, directed by Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast, with the production designed by Mark Thompson and lighting by Howard Harrison. It closed on 22 May 2005.^[6][7]

Original Broadway production[link]

Prior to the musical's Broadway engagement, it made its US debut in San Francisco, California at the Orpheum Theatre from 17 November 2000 to 17 February 2001,^[8][9] moving next to Los Angeles, California at the Shubert Theatre from 26 February 2001 to 12 May 2001,^[10] and finally to Chicago, Illinois at the Cadillac Palace Theatre from 13 May 2001 to 12 August 2001.^[11] The musical opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on 18 October 2001 and is currently running, as of 2012. The director is Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast.

Las Vegas production[link]

In the United States, Mamma Mia! played in Las Vegas, opening at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in February 2003 and closing on January 4, 2009.^[12][13] In June 2005, Mamma Mia! played its 1000th performance in Las Vegas, becoming the longest-running West End/Broadway musical in Las Vegas. The clothes and scenarios from this production are now used in Brazil.^[14]

Touring productions[link]

Mamma Mia has a North American Tour, Spanish Tour, Dutch tour, South African tour, Japanese tour, Korean tour and an International Tour. The US tour started in Providence, Rhode Island in 2002, and has since played more than 120 cities as of its 6th anniversary in 2008.^[15] The 10th anniversary Australian Tour has just finished its run in Brisbane. There was also an Australasian Tour from 2001–2005, and a Dutch tour in 2009 - 2010. The International Tour has visited Dublin, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Estonia, Lisbon, Brussels, Paris, Cologne, Oberhausen, Munich, Erfurt, Vienna, Liepzig, Frankfurt, Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, Belfast, Edinburgh, Pretoria, Manchester, Doha, Dubai, Copenhagen, Riga, Helsinki, Tel Aviv, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Bristol, Vilnius, Horsens, Glasgow, Athens, Monte Carlo, Paris, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Turku, Helsinki, Istanbul, Malmo, Kuala Lumpur, Vienna, Milan, Geneva, Trieste, Florence, Aalborg, Forli, Lisbon, Bangkok, Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Taiwan, Newcastle, Baden Baden, Hanover, Munich, Nurnburg, Graz, Basel, Liverpool, Belgrade, Cork and Linkoping.

A South African tour is beginning at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town on 11 August 2010, and will be followed by 3 months at The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg. The production stars an all local cast.

Mamma Mia! Poster in Glorietta 5 (Jan 2011) to promote the Manila-leg of the International Tour.

On 24 January 2012, Mamma Mia! opened in Manila at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The show was originally set to stay only for a week but with the positive response, the organisers decided that it would play until 19 February 2012. The show features Sara Poyzer as Donna Sheridan and Charlotte Wakefield as Sophie. The cast also included Kate Graham (Tanya), Jenny Dale (Rosie) and David Roberts (Sky).

International productions[link]

Cirkus in Stockholm

As of 2011, the musical has been performed in sixteen languages: English, German, Norwegian, Japanese, Dutch, Flemish, Korean, Spanish, Swedish and Russian, French, Danish, Italian, Portuguese Indonesian and Chinese. In addition to the tours, the show has had (and in some cases, still has) permanent productions in London, Toronto, New York, Hamburg, Rome, Tokyo, Utrecht, Las Vegas, Seoul, Stuttgart, Madrid, Osaka, Daegu, Stockholm, Antwerp, Moscow, Seongnam, Gothenburg, Fukuoka, Berlin, Barcelona, Nagoya, Mexico, Milan, and Brazil. Lone van Roosendaal has played Donna in three different countries and in three different languages: English, Dutch (understudy) and German. Jackie Clune has played Donna in the International Tour cast.^[16]

China production[link]

Mamma Mia! Chinese production

The Chinese production of Mamma Mia! debuts on July 10, 2011 in Shanghai Grand Theater and has already run 200 shows for the first season with Shadow Zen leading the role of Donna Sheridan.

Synopsis[link]

Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York City

Act I[link]

On the Greek island of Kalokairi, Sophie, a 20-year-old young woman, is preparing to marry her fiancé, Sky. She wants her father to walk her down the aisle, ("Prologue: I Have A Dream") but doesn't know who he is. Sophie discovers her mother's old diary and finds entries which describe intimate dates with three men (Sam Carmichael, Bill Andersson, and Harry Bright) ("Honey, Honey"). Sophie believes that one of these men is her father and, three months prior to the wedding, sends each an invitation to her wedding writing in the name of her mother, Donna, without letting the unsuspecting latter know.

Poster of the Manila leg of the International Tour cast. The musical was presented in the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Jan & Feb 2012.

The day before the wedding, Donna begins receiving guests at her taverna. The first to arrive are her old best friends, Tanya, a rich woman who has been married and divorced three times, and Rosie, an unmarried, carefree woman. The trio used to be a girl group called Donna and the Dynamos. The three women catch up and talk about how their lives have been ("Money, Money, Money").

Later that day, Sophie's three possible fathers arrive: Sam (an American architect), Harry (a British banker), and Bill (a Swedish writer and adventurer). Sophie convinces them not to tell Donna that she invited them ("Thank You for the Music"). Donna is surprised to see her ex-lovers ("Mamma Mia") and leaves in tears. Donna, crying, explains to Tanya and Rosie the situation, and they cheer her up ("Chiquitita"). Tanya and Rosie try to convince Donna that she can still be the girl that she once was ("Dancing Queen").

Sophie had hoped that she would know her father the moment she saw him, but is now only confused. She tries to tell her fiancé, Sky, how she feels without confessing what she has done. Sky tells her that he will be the only man she ever needs ("Lay All Your Love on Me").

At Sophie's hen night, Donna and the Dynamos don their old costumes and perform a song, "Super Trouper". Sam, Bill and Harry accidentally walk in on the party, but the guests persuade them to stay ("Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"). Sophie first pulls Sam out of the room to talk to him. After he asks why he is here, she is overcome with guilt, and goes to talk to Harry instead. But Harry asks if Sophie's father is at the party, and she tells him the whole truth. Lastly, she draws Bill aside to talk with him. She learns that Bill has an aunt Sophia who left all her money to Donna's family. Bill learns that Donna built the taverna with money she inherited from a friend she lived with when Sophie was a baby; that friend was Bill's aunt. They both think that this means he is her father.

Sophie asks Bill to walk her down the aisle, but Bill wants to discuss it first with Donna. This has been her secret, after all. But no one knows yet that even Donna does not know who the father is, because she slept with the three men in such swift succession. Sophie insists that they must not tell Donna anything ("The Name of the Game") and finally, Bill agrees.

Afterward, everybody crashes the hen party (including the boys from the stag party). During the dance, Sam pulls Sophie aside and tells her that he has figured out why she invited him. He knows that he is her father, and promises to walk her down the aisle the next day. Then, Harry approaches Sophie, apologizing for being so slow on the uptake, and he is also convinced that she is his daughter and promises to walk her down the aisle. Sophie leaves the party, hopelessly confused; she doesn't want to turn any of them down ("Voulez-Vous").

Act II[link]

(Entr'acte) Sophie is having a nightmare, involving her three possible fathers all fighting for the right to walk her down the aisle and wakes up despairing ("Under Attack").

Mamma Mia! at Broadway On Broadway

Sophie is upset, and Donna assumes that Sophie wants to cancel the wedding and offers to handle all the details. Sophie is offended and vows that her children will not grow up not knowing who their father is. As Sophie storms out of the room, Sam enters and tries to tell Donna that Sophie may not be all she seems, but Donna will not listen ("One of Us"). She hates Sam; at the end of their affair, she said she never wanted to see him again. But it seems that Sam was the man Donna cared about the most, and both of them wish they could go back to the start ("SOS"').

At the beach, Harry asks Tanya what the father of the bride ought to be doing for Sophie's wedding. Tanya explains that for her part, her father gave her his advice and then paid. Pepper, one of the guys who works at Donna's taverna, makes advances to Tanya, but she rebuffs him ("Does Your Mother Know").

Sky finds out what Sophie has done in inviting Sam, Harry and Bill to the wedding. He accuses her of wanting a big white wedding only so that she can find out who her father is. He is very hurt that she kept this plan a secret from him. He storms off just as Sam walks in. Sam tries to give Sophie some fatherly advice by describing his failed marriage ("Knowing Me, Knowing You"), but Sophie is not consoled.

Harry offers to Donna to pay for the wedding, and they reminisce about their fling ("Our Last Summer"). Sophie arrives and Donna helps her get dressed. She cannot believe her daughter is going to be a bride ("Slipping Through My Fingers"). Donna admits that her own mother disowned her when she learned that she was pregnant. They reconcile and Sophie asks her mother if she will walk her down the aisle. Sam arrives and tries to speak to Donna again, but she does not want to see him, and asks him to leave. He refuses, and a bitter confrontation ensues. Donna tells Sam that he broke her heart, presumably when she found out he was engaged ("The Winner Takes It All"). It emerges that the two still love each other dearly, albeit against Donna's better judgment.

Rosie is making final preparations in the taverna when Bill arrives. He's upset because he has received a note that Donna will be walking Sophie down the aisle. Bill reaffirms his commitment to the single life, but Rosie has become attracted to him, and urges him to reconsider ("Take a Chance on Me"). They are about to have sex in the taverna, but the guests arrive, leaving Rosie quite stunned.

The wedding begins, with Donna walking Sophie down the aisle. Before the priest has a chance to begin the ceremonies, Donna acknowledges to everyone that Sophie's father is present. Sophie tells her mother that she knows about her father. Donna realizes that Sophie invited them to the wedding for that very reason. The issue of Sophie's parentage is left unsettled, as none of them have any idea whether they are actually her father. Everyone involved agrees that it does not matter which one of them her biological parent is, as Sophie loves all three and they are all happy to be "one-third of a father" and a part of her life at last. Finally, Harry, who has made frequent references to his "other half" throughout the show, is revealed to be in a committed gay relationship with a man named Laurence (Nigel or George in some productions, Peter in the Russian version, José Francisco in the Mexican version and Adamastor Costa e Silva in the Brazilian Production).

Suddenly, Sophie calls a halt to the proceedings. She is not ready to get married and Sky agrees with Sophie about not getting married. Sam seizes his chance and proposes to Donna in order to prevent the wedding preparations from going to waste. He explains that he loved her, even when he left to get married. It is revealed that he called off the wedding with his fiancée and came back to the island, only to be told that Donna was going out with another man (Bill). He went back, married his fiancée and had children but he got divorced. Surprisingly, Donna accepts, ("I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"). In the end, Sam and Donna are married, and at the end of the night, Sophie and Sky depart on a round-the-world tour ("I Have A Dream") .

Finale and bonus[link]

After the usual performers' bows to the audience, the cast performs the following songs together: "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia", and "Waterloo", featuring Donna, Tanya, Rosie, Sam, Bill, and Harry in ABBA-inspired costumes; they often invite the audience to sing along.

Musical numbers[link]

Notes on the music[link]

During the preview period in London, the musical had the song "Summer Night City" just after the prologue. The "Summer Night City" scene was a wedding rehearsal and during the song, Ali, Lisa, Tanya, and Rosie arrived on the island. Now, part of the song is used as underscoring to connect the end of "The Winner Takes It All" and "Take a Chance on Me". You can also hear a couple of lines of "Summer Night City" in the 'Entr'acte' (the most noticeable line is: 'Time to breathe and time to live').

Donna hums a few lines of "Fernando", when she repairs the doors of the taverna just before she sees her three former lovers. In the Mexican production Donna sings a few lines of the original ABBA's Spanish version of the song.

In the German production, Sky (Bernhard Forcher) sang a few lines of "King Kong Song" before starting "Lay All Your Love on Me". In the international tour version, Sky (David Roberts) sings a few lines of "She's My Kind of Girl", a Björn & Benny song.

The wedding march that is played as Sophie walks down the aisle is a slower arrangement of "Dancing Queen".

The creators also intended to include "Just Like That", an unreleased ABBA song recorded in 1982. The song was apparently dropped just before the first public previews in March 1999, though it was listed in the program available during the preview period.

The last three songs, performed as an encore/finale by the whole cast are: "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo". The version of "Mamma Mia" used in the encore/finale is sung by the Company. Then, during the intro of "Dancing Queen", Donna, Tanya and Rosie join the Company (as the girl-power band "Donna and the Dynamos", wearing the ABBA's 70's colorful and flashy costumes). Sam, Bill and Harry join them during the second chorus of "Dancing Queen" (sometimes, wearing male versions of the girls' ABBA's costumes.)

In the Brazilian production, all the three songs from the encore/finale were kept in English. Though "Waterloo" was adapted into Brazilian Portuguese, this version was never used and the lyrics are unknown.

Principal roles and cast[link]

Film adaptation[link]

Mamma Mia! was adapted as a film, produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman, written by Catherine Johnson directed by Phyllida Lloyd and with Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson as executive producers. Meryl Streep stars as Donna Sheridan and Amanda Seyfried as Sophie and Pierce Brosnan as Sam Carmichael. The movie also features Christine Baranski, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters. It premiered July 18, 2008 in the US. Most of the songs remained intact with the exceptions of "Under Attack", "One of Us", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", and "Thank You for the Music". "Knowing Me, Knowing You" was used as the wedding music and "Thank You for the Music" is sung during the second half of the end credits. The first half is occupied with a "Dancing Queen" reprise and "Waterloo". "When All Is Said and Done", a song not used in the musical, was added for the film sung by Sam, Donna, and the company. "Our Last Summer" was used earlier in the movie, with Sophie, Bill, Sam, and Harry singing it. "The Name of the Game" while filmed, was subsequently edited out of the film for the final cut. The song is included in full on the motion picture soundtrack - an abbreviated version of the song and scene appear on the DVD/Blu-ray as a supplement.

Awards and nominations[link]

Original London production[link]

Original Broadway production[link]

Response[link]

Box office and business

On any given day, there are at least seven performances of Mamma Mia! being performed around the globe. On May 15, 2005, Mamma Mia! surpassed the original Broadway runs of The Sound of Music, The King and I, and Damn Yankees with 1,500 performances.^[14] On September 14, 2011, it surpassed Miss Saigon to become the 10th longest-running Broadway musical of all time with 4,098 performances. ^[23][24] When Mamma Mia! opened in Russia, it received a very positive response.^[25] As of January 2008 "Mamma Mia!" became the longest daily running show in the history of Russian theatre.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mamma Mia!

• Official website
• Mamma Mia! at the Internet Broadway Database
• 2008 Moment of Thanks video by the cast of Mamma Mia! Las Vegas thanking the US Armed Forces
• Mamma Mia! at Queensland Performing Arts Centre

v t e ABBA Agnetha Fältskog Björn Ulvaeus Benny Andersson Anni-Frid Lyngstad Studio albums Ring Ring Waterloo ABBA Arrival ABBA: The Album Voulez-Vous Super Trouper The Visitors Compilations Greatest Hits Greatest Hits Vol. 2 Gracias Por La Música The Singles: The First Ten Years Thank You for the Music Gold: Greatest Hits More Gold: More Hits Oro: Grandes Éxitos Thank You for the Music The Definitive Collection 18 Hits The Complete Studio Recordings Number Ones The Albums Live albums ABBA Live Singles "People Need Love" "He Is Your Brother" "Ring Ring" "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" "Waterloo" "Honey, Honey" "Hasta Mañana" "So Long" "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" "SOS" "Mamma Mia" "Fernando" "Dancing Queen" "Money, Money, Money" "Knowing Me, Knowing You" "The Name of the Game" "Take a Chance on Me" "Eagle" "Summer Night City" "Chiquitita" "Does Your Mother Know" "Voulez-Vous" "Angeleyes" "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" "I Have a Dream" "The Winner Takes It All" "On and On and On" "Super Trouper" "Lay All Your Love on Me" "One of Us" "When All Is Said and Done" "Head Over Heels" "The Visitors" "The Day Before You Came" "Under Attack" "Thank You for the Music" Other songs "She's My Kind of Girl" "En Karusell" "Another Town, Another Train" "Nina, Pretty Ballerina" "Rock'n Roll Band" "King Kong Song" "Bang-A-Boomerang" "Rock Me" "I've Been Waiting for You" "My Love, My Life" "That's Me" "Arrival" "As Good as New" "Happy New Year" "Our Last Summer" "Slipping Through My Fingers" "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" "Put On Your White Sombrero" Video games SingStar ABBA ABBA: You Can Dance Related articles Discography Songs Unreleased songs Dick Cavett Meets ABBA Eurovision Song Contest 1974 Mamma Mia! Mamma Mia! (film) (soundtrack) ABBA: The Movie Congratulations Music of Sweden Stig Anderson "Thank ABBA for the Music" A-Teens ABBA: The Tour Book:ABBA

Look up mamma mia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mamma mia (literally "my mother") is an Italian interjection, used in situations of surprise or anguish.

"Mamma Mia" can refer to several works associated with the musical group ABBA:

• "Mamma Mia" (song), a 1975 ABBA song
• Mamma Mia!, a musical based on ABBA songs, which premiered in London in 1999
• Mamma Mia! (film), a 2008 film based on the musical

Mamma mia can also refer to:

• ¡Mamma Mia!, an album by Mexican pop singer Verónica Castro
• "Mama Mia" (In-Grid), a song by the Italian artist In-Grid
• "Mamma Mia" (Frasier), a seventh-season episode of the American television series Frasier
• "Mamma Mia" (30 Rock), a third-season episode of the NBC television series 30 Rock
• "Mumma Mia", a Gogo's Crazy Bones figurine

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up mia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This disambiguation page is currently linked from a large number of articles. Please help direct these ambiguous links to articles dealing with the specific meaning intended. (February 2012)

MIA is a military term for a soldier, pilot or sailor who is missing in action in war, or the status of a missing combatant.

Mia or MIA may also refer to:

People[link]

Music[link]

Artists

• M.I.A. (band), an American punk rock group formed in 1981
• M.I.A. (artist), a British musician and visual artist
• MIA., a German rock/pop band formed in 1997
• Mia (singer), a Lithuanian singer and television presenter.

Songs

• "Mia", by Chevelle on the album Point No. 1
• "Mía", by Tito el Bambino on the album Top of the Line
• "Mia," by Aerosmith on the album Night in the Ruts
• "Mia," by Emmy the Great on the album First Love
• "Mia," by Gorki on the album Gorky
• "Mia," by Paulina Rubio on the album Pau-Latina
• "M.I.A.," by 7 Year Bitch on the album "¡Viva Zapata!"
• "M.I.A.," by Avenged Sevenfold on the album City of Evil
• "M.I.A.," by the Foo Fighters on the album There Is Nothing Left to Lose
• "M.I.A.," by M.I.A. on the album Arular
• "Listed M.I.A.," by Rancid on the album "...And Out Come the Wolves"
• "Le Mia", by the French rap band IAM
• "Mamma Mia", by ABBA

Fictional characters[link]

• Mia (.hack)
• Mia (Dark Tower)
• Mia Dearden, a comic book character
• Mia Fey, a Phoenix Wright character
• Mía Colucci, character in 2002-2003 telenovela Rebelde Way, portrayed by Luisana Lopilato
• Mia Colucci, character in 2004-2006 telenovela Rebelde, portrayed by Anahí
• Mia Toretto, a The Fast and The Furious character
• Mia Thermopolis, a The Princess Diaries character
• Mia Wallace, a Pulp Fiction character
• Mia Jones (Degrassi: The Next Generation), a Degrassi: The Next Generation character
• Mia Ausa, a Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete character
• Mia St. Clair, an American Girl character
• Mia Townsend, a Need for Speed: Most Wanted character
• Mia, a Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance character
• Mia, a Golden Sun character
• Mia, a mouse who is the lead character in Mia's Big Adventure Collection educational software series
• Mia, a character on the show Two and a Half Men
• Mia Lewis, a character in the TV series Californication

Games[link]

• Missing in Action (arcade game)
• Mia (game), a dice game

Airports[link]

• Miami International Airport, IATA code MIA
• Malta International Airport
• Manila International Airport, now Ninoy Aquino International Airport
• Macau International Airport

Organizations[link]

• Macedonian Information Agency
• Malaysian Institute of Accountants
• Marxists Internet Archive
• Messianic Israel Alliance
• Migration Institute of Australia, for migration agents
• Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
• Montgomery Improvement Association, Alabama
• Mutual Improvement Association, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Other uses[link]

• MIA, a common nickname for Miami, USA
• Mia Station, a subway station in Seoul, South Korea
• Magnetic immunoassay, a biochemical test
• Master of International Affairs, a graduate degree
• Medically indigent adult, a person without medical coverage
• Misfits In Action, a professional wrestling stable
• Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, New South Wales

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep in Spain, 2008
Born	Mary Louise Streep (1949-06-22) June 22, 1949 (age 63) Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Vassar College; Yale School of Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1971–present
Spouse	Don Gummer (m. 1978–present; 4 children)
Partner	John Cazale (1975–1978, his death)
Children	4 (including Mamie Gummer and Grace Gummer)

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949^[1]) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented actors of all time.^[2][3][4]

Streep made her professional stage debut in The Playboy of Seville (1971), before her screen debut in the television movie Deadliest Season (1977). In that same year, she made her film debut with Julia (1977). Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), the former giving Streep her first Academy Award nomination and the latter her first win. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Sophie's Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).

Streep has received 17 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and 26 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, two BAFTA awards, an Australian Film Institute Award, five Grammy Award nominations, and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2009 for her contribution to American culture through performing arts, the youngest actress in each award's history.

Early life and background[link]

Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey.^[5] Her mother, Mary Wolf (née Wilkinson; 1915-2001), was a commercial artist and former art editor, and her father, Harry William Streep, Jr. (1910-2003), was a pharmaceutical executive.^[6][7][8] She has two brothers, Dana David and Harry William III.^[9] Her patrilineal ancestry originates in Loffenau, Germany, from where her second great-grandfather, Gottfried Streeb, emigrated to the United States, and where one of her ancestors served as mayor. Another line of her father's family was from Giswil in the canton of Obwalden, a small town in Switzerland. Her maternal ancestry originates in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, and partly traces back to 17th century immigrants from England.^[8] Her eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to settle Rhode Island. Streep is also a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and records show that her family were among the first purchasers of land in the state.^[10][11][12]

She was raised a Presbyterian,^[13][14] and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School.^[15] She had many school friends who were Catholic, and regularly attended Mass because she loved its rituals.^[16] She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971 (where she briefly received instruction from actress Jean Arthur), but also enrolled as an exchange student at Dartmouth College for a quarter before it became coeducational. She subsequently earned an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, she played a variety of roles onstage,^[17] from the glamorous Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream to an eighty-year-old woman in a wheelchair in a comedy written by then-unknown playwrights Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato.^[18][19][20]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Streep performed in several theater productions in New York and New Jersey after graduating from Yale School of Drama,^[21] including the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew with Raúl Juliá, and Measure for Measure opposite Sam Waterston and John Cazale. She started a relationship with Cazale, and was to live with him until his death three years later. She starred on Broadway in the Brecht/Weill musical Happy End, and won an Obie for her performance in the all-sung off-Broadway production of Alice at the Palace.

Streep by Jack Mitchell

Streep began auditioning for film roles, and later recalled an unsuccessful audition for Dino De Laurentiis for the leading female role in King Kong. De Laurentiis commented to his son in Italian, "She's ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?" and was shocked when Streep replied in fluent Italian.^[22] In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays. For the former, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical Happy End in which she originally appeared off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions.

Streep's first feature film was Julia (1977), in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback scene. Streep was living in New York City with Cazale, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer.^[23] He was cast in The Deer Hunter (1978), and Streep was delighted to secure a small role because it allowed her to remain with Cazale for the duration of filming. She was not specifically interested in the part, commenting, "They needed a girl between the two guys and I was it."^[24]

She played a leading role in the television miniseries Holocaust (1978) as a German woman married to a Jewish artist in Nazi era Germany. She later explained that she had considered the material to be "unrelentingly noble",^[24] and had taken the role only because she had needed money.^[25] Streep travelled to Germany and Austria for filming while Cazale remained in New York. Upon her return, Streep found that Cazale's illness had progressed, and she nursed him until his death on March 12, 1978. She spoke of her grief and her hope that work would provide a diversion; she accepted a role in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) with Alan Alda, later commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot",^[24] and performed the role of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew for Shakespeare in the Park.^[26] With an estimated audience of 109 million, Holocaust brought a degree of public recognition to Streep, who was described in August 1978 as "on the verge of national visibility".^[25] She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie^[27] for her performance.

The Deer Hunter (1978) was released a month later, and Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Streep played a supporting role in Manhattan (1979) for Woody Allen, later stating that she had not seen a complete script and was given only the six pages of her own scenes,^[28] and that she had not been permitted to improvise a word of her dialogue.^[29] Asked to comment on the script for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), in a meeting with the producer Stan Jaffee, director Robert Benton and star Dustin Hoffman, Streep insisted that the female character was not representative of many real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles, and was written as "too evil".^[24] Jaffee, Benton and Hoffman agreed with Streep, and the script was revised.^[24] In preparing for the part, Streep spoke to her own mother about her life as a mother and housewife with a career,^[30] and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set.^[24] Benton allowed Streep to write her dialogue in two of her key scenes, despite some objection from Hoffman.^[31] Jaffee and Hoffman later spoke of Streep's tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting, "She's extraordinarily hardworking, to the extent that she's obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else but what she's doing."^[32]

Streep drew critical acclaim for her performance in each of her three films released in 1979: the romantic comedy Manhattan, the political drama The Seduction of Joe Tynan and the family drama, Kramer vs. Kramer.^[21] She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her collective work in the three films. Among the awards won for Kramer vs. Kramer were the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.^[21]

1980s[link]

Streep at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

After prominent supporting roles in two of the 1970s' most successful films, the consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer, and praise for her versatility in several supporting roles, Streep progressed to leading roles. Her first was The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). A story within a story drama, the film paired Streep with Jeremy Irons as contemporary actors, telling their modern story as well as the Victorian era drama they were performing. A New York Magazine article commented that, while many female stars of the past had cultivated a singular identity in their films, Streep was a "chameleon", willing to play any type of role.^[33] Streep was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work.

Her next film, the psychological thriller, Still of the Night (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of Kramer vs. Kramer, and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".^[34]

As the Polish holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise.^[21] William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally exhausting.^[35] Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Roger Ebert said of her performance, "Streep plays the Brooklyn scenes with an enchanting Polish-American accent (she has the first accent I've ever wanted to hug), and she plays the flashbacks in subtitled German and Polish. There is hardly an emotion that Streep doesn't touch in this movie, and yet we're never aware of her straining. This is one of the most astonishing and yet one of the most unaffected and natural performances I can imagine."

She followed this success with a biographical film, Silkwood (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood.^[36] Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."^[36]

Her next films were a romantic drama, Falling in Love (1984) opposite Robert De Niro, and a British drama, Plenty (1985). Roger Ebert said of Streep's performance in Plenty that she conveyed "great subtlety; it is hard to play an unbalanced, neurotic, self-destructive woman, and do it with such gentleness and charm... Streep creates a whole character around a woman who could have simply been a catalogue of symptoms."^[37]

Out of Africa (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes.^[38] Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas Heartburn (1986) and Ironweed (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, Secret Service, in 1977. In A Cry in the Dark (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Chamberlain.

In She-Devil (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."^[39]

1990s[link]

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World Favorite.

In the 1990s, Streep continued to choose a great variety of roles, including a drug-addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel Postcards from the Edge, with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon Thelma and Louise, until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.^[22] They subsequently filmed the farcical black comedy, Death Becomes Her, with Bruce Willis as their co-star. Time's Richard Corliss wrote approvingly of Streep's "wicked-witch routine" but dismissed the film as "She-Devil with a make-over".^[40]

Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of Death Becomes Her, attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties.^{[41][clarification needed]} Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family,^[41] a situation that she had anticipated in a 1981 interview when she commented, "By the time an actress hits her mid-forties, no one's interested in her anymore. And if you want to fit a couple of babies into that schedule as well, you've got to pick your parts with great care."^[33]

In 1995, Streep played opposte Clint Eastwood in the love story The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Based on a best-selling novel by Robert James Waller,^[42] it relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for National Geographic, who has a love affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife in Iowa named Francesca (Streep). Streep and Eastwood got along famously during production and such was their on-screen chemistry that a number of people believed that the two were having an affair off-camera, although this was denied by both.^[43] The film was a hit at the box office and grossed $70 million in the United States.^[44] The film, unlike the novel, surprised film critics and was warmly received. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that Clint had managed to create "a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill", while Joe Morgenstern of the The Wall Street Journal described The Bridges of Madison County as "one of the most pleasurable films in recent memory".^[44]

In 1999, Streep portrayed Roberta Guaspari, a real-life New Yorker who found passion and enlightenment teaching violin to inner-city kids in East Harlem, in the music drama Music of the Heart. A departure from director Wes Craven’s previous work on films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series, Streep replaced singer Madonna who left the project before filming began due to creative differences with Craven. Required to perform on the violin, Streep went through two months of intense training, four to six hours a day.^[45]

In addition, Streep appeared with Glenn Close in the movie version of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; The River Wild; Marvin's Room (with Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio); and One True Thing.

2000s[link]

Streep entered the 2000s with Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a science fiction film about a child-like android, played by Haley Joel Osment, uniquely programmed with the ability to love, voicing the Blue Fairy.^[46] The same year, Streep co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert concert with Liam Neeson which was held in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2001 in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the United Nations and Kofi Annan.^[47]

In 2002, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in The Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.^[48] The same year, she began work on Spike Jonze's comedy-drama Adaptation (2002), in which she portrayed real-life journalist Susan Orlean. Lauded by critics and viewers alike,^[49] the film won Streep her fourth Golden Globe in the Best Supporting Actress category.^[50] Also in 2002, Streep appeared alongside Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, based on the 1999 novel by Michael Cunningham. Focusing on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the novel Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, the film was generally well received and won all three leading actresses a Silver Bear for Best Actress the following year.^[50]

Streep in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2004.

The following year, Streep had a cameo as herself in the Farrelly brothers comedy Stuck on You (2003) and reunited with Mike Nichols to star with Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play Angels in America, the story of two couples whose relationships dissolve amidst the backdrop of Reagan Era politics. Streep, who was cast in four roles in the mini-series, received her second Emmy Award and fifth Golden Globe for her performance.^[50] In 2004, Streep was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute,^[50]. She appeared in Jonathan Demme's moderately successful remake of The Manchurian Candidate,^[51] co-starring Denzel Washington, playing the role of a woman who is both a U.S. senator and the manipulative, ruthless mother of a vice-presidential candidate.^[52] The same year, she played the supporting role of Aunt Josephine in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events alongside Jim Carrey, based on the first three novels in Snicket's book series. The black comedy received generally favorable reviews from critics,^[53] and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.^[54]

Streep was next cast in the 2005 comedy Prime, directed by Ben Younger. In the film, she played Lisa Metzger, the Jewish psychoanalyst of a divorced and lonesome business-woman, played by Uma Thurman, who enters a relationship with Metzger's 23-year-old son (Bryan Greenberg). A modest mainstream success, it eventually grossed US$67.9 million internationally.^[55] In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park.^[56] The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.

Also in 2006, Streep, along with Lily Tomlin, portrayed the last two members of what was once a popular family country music act in Robert Altman's final film A Prairie Home Companion. A comedic ensemble piece featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline and Woody Harrelson, the film revolves around the behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. The film grossed over US$26 million, the majority of which came from domestic markets.^[57] Commercially, Streep fared better with a role in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. Streep portrayed the powerful and demanding Miranda Priestly, fashion magazine editor (and boss of a recent college graduate played by Anne Hathaway), and her performance drew rave reviews from critics and earned her many award nominations, including her record-setting 14th Oscar bid, as well as another Golden Globe. Upon its commercial release, the film became Streep's biggest commercial success yet, grossing more than US$326.5 million worldwide.^[58]

In 2007, Streep was cast in four films. She portrayed a wealthy university patron in Chen Shi-zheng's much-delayed feature drama Dark Matter (2007), a film about a Chinese science graduate student who becomes violent after dealing with academic politics at a U.S. university. Inspired by the events of the 1991 University of Iowa shooting,^[59] and initially scheduled for a 2007 release, producers and investors decided to shelve Dark Matter out of respect for the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007.^[60] The drama received negative to mixed reviews upon its limited 2008 release.^[61] Streep played a U.S. government official who investigates an Egyptian foreign national suspected of terrorism in the political thriller Rendition (2007), directed by Gavin Hood.^[62] Keen to get involved in a thriller film, Streep welcomed the opportunity to star in a film genre for which she was not usually offered scripts and immediately signed on to the project.^[63] Upon its release, Rendition was less commercially successful,^[64] and received mixed reviews.^[65]

Also in 2007, Streep had a short role alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close and her eldest daughter Mamie Gummer in Lajos Koltai's drama film Evening, based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Susan Minot. Switching between the present and the past, it tells the story of a bedridden woman, who remembers her tumultuous life in the mid-1950s.^[66] The film was released to lukewarm reactions by critics, who called it "beautifully filmed, but decidedly dull [and] a colossal waste of a talented cast."^[67][68] Streep's last film of 2007 was Robert Redfords Lions for Lambs, a film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S. senator, a reporter, and a California college professor.

Streep with her fellow cast and all four members of ABBA at the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia! in July 2008.

In 2008, Streep found major commercial success when she starred in Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia!, a film adaptation of the musical of the same name, based on the songs of Swedish pop group ABBA. Co-starring Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth, Streep played a single mother and a former backing singer, whose daughter (Seyfried), a bride-to-be who never met her father, invites three likely paternal candidates to her wedding on an idyllic Greek island.^[69] An instant box office success, Mamma Mia! became Streep's highest-grossing film to date, with box office receipts of US$602.6 million,^[70] also ranking it first among the highest-grossing musical films of all-time.^[71] Nominated for another Golden Globe, Streep's performance was generally well received by critics, with Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe commenting "the greatest actor in American movies has finally become a movie star."^[72] Streep's other film of 2008 was Doubt featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. A drama revolving around the stern principal nun (Streep) of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964 who brings charges of pedophilia against a popular priest (Hoffman), the film became a moderate box office success,^[73] but was hailed by many critics as one of the best of 2008.^[74] The film received five Academy Awards nominations, for its four lead actors and for Shanley's script.^[50]