Mamma Mia! ****

This is how enjoyable "Mamma Mia! is: I didn't want it to stop, and at the credits (which you must stay for), the audience applauded. The movie version of the world-wide and long-running Broadway hit featuring the infectious music that Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote for ABBA bursts with energy, color, wit, and feeling. Meryl Streep, who we found out can really sing in "Prairie Home Companion" (2006) is particularly good with the songs.

The situation: a girl (Amanda Seyfried) on a Greek island holiday villa, raised by her single mom (Meryl Streep), is getting married and wants her father at the wedding. But after she reads her mother's diary, she realizes that there are three, yes, three candidates, all of whom she invites to the wedding, sure that she'll know the one at first sight. The candidates: Pierce Brosnan, who does a fine job singing; Colin Firth, who brings some repressed levity to the picture; and Stellan Skarsgard, of the "Pirates" series appropriately enough on a sailboat, all show up.

And mom has her support group, the backup singers from her flower-child all-girl group: Julie Walters (Mrs. Beasley in the "Potter" series), and Christine Baranski (probably best known as Cybill Shepherd's best friend in the TV series "Cybill"). These ladies provide humor, balance, and contrast. All in all, it's a stellar cast, and behind the scenes it's the same three ladies who put the stage show together. Director Phyllida Lloyd, well-known for work in opera in England, brings a sure hand to putting the scenes together. You'll leave the theater smiling and singing.

PG-13. 108 minutes. Phyllida Lloyd - Director, Catherine Johnson - Writer (writer), Judy Craymer - Producer, Gary Goetzman - Producer, Haris Zambarloukos - Cinematographer, Stig Anderson - Composer, Benny Andersson - Composer, Björn Ulvaeus - Composer, Maria Djurkovic - Production Designer, Lesley Walker - Editor. Distributed by Universal Pictures.

Principal actors: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, and Christine Baranski.