By Chris Betros

Arts & Culture Jan. 23, 2009 - 05:07AM JST ( 13 )

TOKYO —

There are times, says Meryl Streep, when you just want to get up, dance and have some fun. The 59-year-old star, in Tokyo for the first time in 12 years, says the musical “Mamma Mia!” makes audiences want to do just that. “I first saw it with my kids on Broadway right after 9/11. Everybody was feeling shaken,” she recalls. “By the end of the show, they were all standing on their seats singing and dancing. I’ve seen old people, young people, cynical teens all react the same way. Today, again, we live in uncertain times, and this musical has the same effect on people who see it. It leaves you with a feeling of joy.”

Based on the hit songs of the 1970s by Swedish pop superstars ABBA, “Mamma Mia!” tells the story of a single mother who runs a small hotel on a Greek island. Her 20-year-old daughter is about to get married and has secretly sent invitations to three men (whose names she found in her mother’s diary)—one of whom might possibly be her father.

Streep, who has sung before in movies, says “Mamma Mia!” was the most fun. “I first heard ABBA in the 1970s when we used to go clubbing. I loved the music. So when they asked me to do the movie, I said ’Good, I know the words.’ I had my own version of the words, but the ABBA guys wagged their finger at me. So I had to unlearn the words I had been singing in my head for 25 years. To help us get in the mood, every day on the set, they had the music being played on giant speakers.”

Streep and the 3 male stars—Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard all do their own singing. When the film came out last year, Brosnan’s singing ability came in for some ridicule by critics. “They gave Pierce a hard time, but you know, he did fine. He sings the way a macho man would sing from the heart.”

Streep does a lot of dancing, too. “I have this reputation, that is unearned, of being a perfectionist in preparing for movies. I didn’t want any dancing lessons. This movie is for all those middle-aged women who dance alright and who just want to rekindle the feeling of fun and abandon they had when they were young.”

Despite being set on a picturesque Greek island, much of the film was actually shot in Pinewood Studios in England. “We used the James Bond set during one of the rainiest summers in Britain,” Streep says. “The rain used to make so much noise on the tin roof that we had to crank the music up. At the end, we went to the Greek island of Skopelos where they were having a hot, dry summer and bushfires. The tourism industry was suffering but I am pleased to say that thanks to ‘Mamma Mia!,’ they’ve had a big infusion of visitors.”

While in Japan, Streep heard the good news that she has been nominated for a best actress award for her role as a nun in “Doubt.” It is the 15th Oscar nomination for Streep who has won twice for best actress.