Schmamma Schmia!

we give yesterday's pop culture today's takes. I'm as always roseam you, and I'm Fran Torodo. You're freakingly Fran I frequently, Fran, that sounds like a really bad, like kind of reality show that I would host. Frequently, Fran. No back to or like a or like a nineties sitcom. Frequently, Fran. That's what it's giving. It's giving like an I car. It's about a cross dressing person, yeah, who is frequently

presents as a woman. It's Hannah Montana. It's actually Hannah Montana, but like it's Montana, Frando Montana, oh my god, or or Hannah Montran. There's multiple ways to make it work. Oh, okay, frequently Fran coming to CBS this fall. Yes, we saw frequently, Fran frequently, Fran, Fran frequently saw you this weekend. Actually, yeah, I saw Fran frequently over the past week. The first time was the surprise because we both showed up to the same film event without knowing that we were both

going to be there. Yes, and we both looked at each other and we were both like, of course you're here because we were there, of course to see Tony Collette's Mafia Mama, which is Tony Collette and Catherine Hardwick's month right right, Catherine Hardwick, the director of Twilight, which I was, which which you informed me as we were there. She looks insane and she was there at the premiere. Everyone was there at the premiere at this very Tony

Collette was there in a gown. Was there? Teresa Judice from Real Housewives of New Jersey was there with their family. We were She was actually in the row between Fran and I, So we were sharing space with Catherine Hardwick, Tony Collette, and Teresa Judice in one room. Oh yeah, incredible. Just to paint the scene. Tony Collette was wearing a wedding gown pretty much like a wedding and you know,

like a like a white gown. It was a white gown, a white gown with flowers and sheer elements that dragged on the floor. That's a wedding gown. I don't know. Didn't read wedding to me. I had read Spring. I'm not insulting her. It's I mean, Muriel's wedding like it's a reference. Sounds a little bit like you are. No, it's a reference. It's a reference, of course to Tony

Kolet of your Teresa Judaice. I got to skip her in the AMC concessions line because I was an a list rewards member, So that wow, very gratifying moment for me, I will say, But I also just like didn't realize until it wasn't only until I checked out when I like walked past her and I was like, oh my god, is that Teresa Judice? And I don't watch Jersey, so I like wasn't sure, and I was like, it could just be a woman from Jersey, very well could be, but she's so short in person. I was kind of

shook by that. And then Catherine Harden, her hairline, her hairline is even shorter. Yes, oh my god, yes, she has a she has a notoriously tiny for well, we we came to discover that she got she got her forehead surgically large, sturgically enlarged. I guess she got her hairline race. She she got reverse f fs is what we talked about. She got she got uh f mm yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, facial mascotolism because because her forehead is small, her forehead is just freakishly feminine

and danty freakishly. But we should say I loved the movie. I loved Mafia Maa. It was so fun. It's very ridiculous, very silly, very lots of action and gore. I would definitely compare it to Spy starring Melissa McCarthy, one of my favorite films, and it has that similar like, you know, sort of a uh like downtrodden woman having a an action adventure. It's about this woman who discovers that she has ties to a mafia family in Italy and she becomes the dawn of the family and is just like

weirdly good at it. It was super fun and I love like movies like that that don't take themselves too seriously and it just I had a great time watching it. Ye did you like it? I? Well, uh, before, I mean I liked it. I thought it delivered what it promised, just in the whack a doodleness of it. And I I mean my favorite I love underdog tropes in any

in any forms. So like, yeah, this like use of like mousey, soft spoken woman who like doesn't control her life, like kind of stumbles into you know, being a high profile like you know, dangerous woman. And I yeah, it is very much so like Spy. And I didn't really draw that comparison until we got some of this kind of absurdist violence. And and to me, the absurdest violence was the best part of the movie. I thought it

was like so funny. I immediately saw a Spy. I was like, now this is the movie that I wanted to see. And I think I think I was just I personally so I liked it. Is it a movie I would like totally recommend. I didn't think it was

that funny. I think it was the issue. I thought the physical comedy was funny, and I thought that the violence was really really funny, but I didn't think that jokes were that funny and I kind of just wanted a little bit more for a bit, but like, but I love I mean it's like, how could you not

love a movie called Mafia Mama. It's called Mafia MoMA, Like it's a mama and she, you know, is in charge of the mafia and she has this her Tony Klutz character is this kind of like midwestern like white girl, like bright, bubbly, like how would you describe her? Like it was such an interesting you know, she's just like a very normy, middle aged woman, a in a in a disappointing marriage, her husband cheats on her, her son just left to go to college, and she's has this

job that she hates. And then she goes on this trip to Italy and like all of a sudden is like sexy and powerful and she gets a makeover and she has a very sapphoic vibe with her like number two woah yeah by Monica Monica Balucci, who the whole movie, you're waiting for them to hook up because the vibe is like so overt and it seems like in a Tony Collette movie directed by Catherine Hardwick in twenty twenty three,

like that would actually happen. Like I, as we got further into the movie, I was like, Oh, they're actually gonna do this. She's gonna and especially at that I mean spoiler alert at the end, she like breaks up with the guy she's been seeing, and I was like, Okay, this is now, She's finally going to hook up with Monica Balucci in her prosthetic leg, which was one of the major gags of the film. It was really but then but then it never happened, and it was disappointing.

So like, yes, there are some tweaks that could be made, but it was a very fun movie. It's the kind of movie that my mom will probably watch every time it comes on TV and love it. And uh yeah, I had a great time. I thought the Monica Bluegi lesbian stuff was like for comedic effect, but yeah, no, they should have. They should have hooked up. But you, to be fair, you kind of walk out of every

movie saying, you know, they should have hooked up. Yeah, but but this was this was different because Monica Bligey was literally like she was she was going in crawling all over to yes, and it could have happened, And I was just disappointed that it didn't but still loved it. Speaking of crawling all over, can we talk about Sasha Colby crawling on top of that giant coat Diva for the finale lip sync of Drag Race. Oh my god,

she is incredibly mean. She's queen. Like, I know that it's so cliche to like come out of these like episodes of TV and be like, oh my god, mother, queen, you're the mess. But like, no, like like epithets and cliches and like gay aphorisms like have nothing on Sasha Colby, who is a real, actual legend in the grand scheme of like people we've seen through this competition, like next to Jinks, the one of the greatest performers the show

will ever see period. Yeah, and more than any other season of Drag Race, this finale felt like a coronation rather than you know, any sort of competition like this whole this for Sasha, this season has truly just been a straight shot to the crown. And you know, I think some of the other I think the other queens were a little gagged. Not not the they expected to win, but I think especially Mistress and Lux probably were upset

that they didn't make it to the top. Two that after a season of everyone having so much thought about who was like runner up in the challenges, that to me really translated to the finale, especially because I think everyone knew Sasha was gonna win. It really meant like being number one meant being the person who got to lip sync against Sasha at the end. And even though it was kind of it became obvious at a point in the season that the final two were going to

end up being Sasha and Anetra. I think Mistress, especially Mistress, like, I don't I don't think luks you know, really, I don't think she should have even really been in the top four. But that's you know another uh yeah, well, I mean I guess I think it should have just been a top three. Yeah you are, Yeah, exactly, it

should be. It should have been. I mean, I really warmed up to Lux towards it's the end of the season, I think after she had her moment of reading Lucy Laeduca like that was incredible, But I it took me a while to warm up to her, and then once I did, I liked her, But I just like don't think she needed to be in the top four on the Sasha Kolby of at all, I think there needed to

be a top four. Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be nice to go back to top threes, like just you know, in general, because the top four it's like it's never going to be it's like, surprise, it's a top four, and it's like it's not. It's not a surprise, Like, yeah, but the surprise, especially considering they didn't do they didn't do the the the lip sync setup they've been doing for the past couple of seasons where each of the team's lip sync and then the winners of those go

head to head. Then if you're not going to do that, what's the point in having a top four? Yeah, And what's the point in Yeah, I guess it's because they really want I don't know, but there was a lot more like programming in this finale because unecessary programming. Well okay, well, first of all, let's start with the necessary programming jinks singing Mama, Mama will provide her whatever Mama will provide.

That's once on this island. What is it called? Yeah, yeah, that was mom And let me tell you she finished her number. I immediately bought tickets to see her at the Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Kings Theater during her tour. I was like, she is such a performer, and yes, we want to see her perform. We did not, however, need the Orville Peck tribute to drag loving police officers.

What the fuck? It was like, we are so insane, Like obviously it makes so much sense because of like Rue the because of Rue Paul level queer politics, that they would include cops in that. But it was just wild. What was the point? Because like that I'm doing a PSA on the show is necessary? Right, Like it I think that that is not, you know, wasted space. I think it's a platform where you can educate people that are allegedly fans of drag and help them understand that

this is about trans people specifically. But like why police officers Like literally, like I know, like it feels like redundant and like totally like it just like feels like I'm like, you know, throwing stuff into the echo chamber at this point, but like literally, like the the queer historical legacy of drag artists in this country is in opposition to the police every decade. It's galling. But it's the kind of queer politics that RuPaul has such a

heart office for. It's like it's like even police officers are gay, because it's still it's like it's like finding the most like socially acceptable quote unquote person possible and being like, even he's a fat yeah yeah, Like that's what RuPaul's version of queer politics are. And that's the thing though, like queer quote unquote, it's a gay politic, okay, Like police officers can be gay, police officers can't be

queer period. Like I'm sorry, I'll say it right now, Like police officers literally cannot be queer, and that to be queer the definition of queer, what the word queer means in this country in opposition to authority, is antithetical to the work of police. And I honestly I have no problem saying that, and I have no problem gatekeeping.

Yeah no, that's I one hundred percent agree. I don't think any if you actually don't agree with that, like you should not be listening to this podcast, Okay, to get into the nitty gritty Rose I So, I was happy actually to see lux in the finale because I think she gave pretty much the best number next to Sasha Colby's like, I think she came second to Sasha in terms of her original number. I thought Mistress had fear in her eyes, and as soon as she finished,

you could tell totally you could. And that's the it's the it's literally the first time we've ever seen Mistress like scared on stage because and I don't honestly know really why. I mean, it had to have been a Korea thing, but like as soon as the performance ended, you could see the resignation in her demeanor, in her voice, in her eyes that she didn't do the best she

felt she could have done. And Anitra I felt her original performance was also like I mean, the song for the most part, the song just like wasn't that good. And Lux's song was really good, you know what I mean, But Anitra apparently there was like drama about like a backup dancer that got like a broken foot or something like that. All that is to say is like also

the thing. Of course, it was always I was just gonna say, of course it was always going to be a Nature versus Sasha, but like if they were giving

a real judging, it would have been Lux versus Sasha Colby. Yeah, I could see that, but I do think these things were decided before the finially and even with a Nietra like I do think at a certain point in the season, a Nietra very much proved herself to be a one trick pony, Like you know her she was a lip sync assassin, but you know, she was pulling the same

moves every time. Like, yes, her jumping over Marcia to the third Power was gaggy, But obviously she did well in some of the challenges, although some of the later wins I don't necessarily agree with. But yeah, she had a stick and it you know, she brought it in literally the first episode and then kind of did the same thing throughout the whole competition. I'll agree with you to Nix, I like obviously would die for a Niitra slash, like I want her to like be my wife and partner,

and I would take care of her. But I feel like you think you think she's hot. I think a Nietr is so fine and so beautiful. But I was gonna say I would I would say Anitra's not so much a one trick pony as her performance style is just not as rounded as the other girls, like Lux Mistress and Sasha are all giving triple quadruple threat kind of scenarios where Anitra is really only giving us dance and performance. And she because she has this really really

kind of lovable, endearing underdog story. I think that's like a big reason why people were so gagged that you know, she could do karate and do a duck walk and jump over Marsha and all the different stuff. Like I think that is like worthy of someone going all the

way to the end. But we have to say, and if I haven't said this before, I must say on the record, her runway over and over again was rotted like rutted, rutted, routted, and the judges just ignored it over and over again for her finale runways and looks amazing the crystal gown that she did with like the Chris little spine down her back or whatever, that was

also nice. All of her other runways were giving dolls kill latex jumpsuits like Vegas core patent leather like ugly, ugly, ugly garments and flat wigs and the and the judges ignored it because they loved Antra And that is fine, because I love a Nutra too, but like it has to be said, yes, well that that was such the glaring difference watching Sasha versus a Nutra in that final lip sync is just, you know, it confirms more than

ever that drag is a woman's sport. And you have you have like the doll of all dolls up there against you know, Anitra in her like Vegas body suit. I just Sasha like that there's a reason why she you know, took all those clothes off. Like yes, part of it is like political because of everything that's happening. Like I think she even said an interview with Entertainment Weekly, like she wanted to like put out on stage like

what everyone is so scared of. But it's also like, as she said earlier in the season, like she's the only one who could turn up there and give body,

and that's what she did. And like watching her up on that stage is like watching so many trans drag performers who I've seen, like watching Charlene do a number and like strip down to nothing and like a crowded bar or a club, and like there's just something different when it like yes, we love like the artifice and transformation of drag, but like when that has like crystallized into someone's final form and then it's like the realnessness

just sick. It was hilarious that Drag Race decided to give Bob Mackie, it's giving us Lifetime Achievement Award when in reality, like Sasha Colby was the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Like that's really what it felt like. I thought Bob Mackie was dead. I kind of did too. I'm not gonna When they said they were doing a tribute to him, I was like, oh did Heah? I was like I would have heard if he died. It was. Yeah, it was kind of bizarre. I guess it's like because

they were whatever anyways. But yeah, the coronation you were talking about with Sasha was amazing. Virgins, if you have any any opportunity to see Sasha Colby perform in person during one of her many, you know, cross country performances, you have to because seeing her in person is a completely different experience than seeing it on TV. She does it like no other queen can, and oh god, it was just it was It just made me proud to

love the art form that I love. And I think that every drag artist watching her felt that way too, even Mistress, who I don't know if you saw that clip of them watching the finale reveal together and mistresses in that room, and as soon as they announce that it's Slasha Colby's, Mistress turns like this really funny like canned,

and she goes, what what the fuck? Boom, Like it was so it was so knowing because they all knew that she was gonna win, But it was also like, Mistress is such a good sport because and I think you'll agree with me, Rose, like she Mistress is on like that level, Like she is maybe not as good as Sasha Colby, but she is as like well rounded as Sasha Colby. She is such an expert in drag and I wish I could have seen her even more of her. But she she's gonna, you know, hopefully murder

All Stars at some point. Oh yeah, mistress will she will be winning Stars, you know, fifteen or whatever. Yeah, she has to win. She has to win. Can you believe we're getting All Stars in like two weeks? Two or three weeks? Yeah, I'm surprised it's not starting this week. Yeah right now. M after after rewatching Mama Mia last Night. It's a very horny movie. But I think Abba is very horny music. Well okay, okay, it is thematically horny, yes, but it's not music that makes you horny. Nor would

you fuck to Abba? Would you see the face that you just made? That was like I would too. Yeah, I would fuck to a selection of ABBA's music, you know, not all of it, some maybe I would fuck to Gimme gimme gimme on the loop for you know, six hours. Yeah, I mean that whole album, to be honest, it is gim me give me, give me your favorite Abba song? Yeah, okay,

that whole album is definitely. That album is definitely my favorite album, Like Vulie Voo is so like transcendent, and the first like the first song as Good as New is probably one of my favorite Abba songs, though I'm pretty sure my favorite what's your favorite song? Probably Dancing Queen, which is so so so pathetically basic. I just know I have when it's right, it's right, I have like a really really fierce, like lifelong, like literally lifelong attachment

to that song. And and then I also really love Chita. It has like a lot of course emotion. I'm getting emotional even talking about it. But that's the thing that it's so emotional. It's such emotional music. No, it is. Last night when I was watching Mom and Mia during the Dancing Queen sequence, I cried. I teared up. Of course,

I was also very stoned. I wanted to I wanted to be I wanted to like have that moment of watching it and then be able to get stone this morning and like flash back to where I was last night. But but here's what I don't understand. You love Abba, you love your music. How have you waited this long to watch Mama Yea because I knew I wouldn't like it? And did you not like it? I enjoyed it for what it was, everything that it brought to the table,

everything that it promised it delivered on. It's just it was not it was. It's so confusingly crazy. It's so crazy to me, and I think it's just a gag. I would watch it anytime, honestly on background. Okay, well it is transcendent. Yeah, and it's just an extremely be positive romp of a musical. And h it's not I don't think it's a movie that has to be looked at in a through a complicated lens. And that's what

I love about it. It's about, you know, being on the beach in Greece and not knowing who your dad is. I just looked up how much money Mama Mia made at the box office, and it made six hundred and eleven million dollars on a fifty two million dollar budget. It was a and that's good hit. Yes, it was a hit. It was a hit. I remember when it came out, they were doing sing along screenings. It had a sort of it had an extended release. It was in theaters forever because people just loved it so much.

It was a phenomenon. I mean every time it's every time Abba comes back into the culture, we're like glad for it because Abba is just like so omnipotent in pop music and influences so much pop music, and yet like nothing sounds like Abba, you know what I mean? Yeah, it just Abba. Their music just makes you feel good. Yea. It is feel good music. It is. It is in

the same category as Fleetwood Mac. You know, it's music that is makes mostly makes you feel good and happy, but it is still very deep and emotional and like well made. But it is just like good vibes. Yeah, and and also like the fact that like so many of their songs are so like bright, happy, upbeat, Like a lot of the times they're like lyrically like dark, complex,

like sad, like despondent. Like this songwriting is so it's so often like juxtaposed to like the emotionality of you know, and the brightness of like the actual feeling of the song. It honestly reminds me of like Carli Rai Jepson or like Robin totally totally like Robin oh Swedish like that kind of like sad, sad, sad lyrical songwriting and then like really upbeat, bright pop. You know. So Mama Mia is God. Did we say that we're high? Oh yeah,

did we tell the virgins? Okay? So it is this right that Abba won Eurovision and that's why they're famous, right Yeah. In nineteen seventy four, Abba were Sweden's first winner of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Waterless. So but before Waterloo they did have a lot, They still had a lot going for them. You know, they were still like in I think they were still they were still making hit. They were still Yeah, but that was their breakout. Yeah, I guess it was God. Okay,

what actually plugged? For the Virgins? Dj Louis podcast Pop Pantheon does an amazing breakdown of Abba that I'm all not remembering, which is great and Virgins, you did not come here for a you know, timeline breakdown of ABBA's career, and that's certainly not where you're going to get. So I so here's a good starting point. I was first introduced to the music of is Abba Abba? You say Abba? I say Abba? What's right? What's wrong? I don't know,

it's Abba, just it's I think it is Abba. I think it's whatever you want, what you feel in your soul. I was first introduced to their music, not even by them, but by the A teens. Do you remember the A Star teenes? They are very yeah, yeah, of course and they covered up. They covered it right. They released an album called The Abba Generation and it was all all

covers of Abba songs. And that's why first, that's why I first was introduced to their music because I bought the CD like f Ye at the mall and there was one summary Sleepway camp where I would if I was doing anything, if I wasn't on stage, rehearsing for whatever play I was in. I was sitting in the woods somewhere, bumping the Alba Generation in my CD player and reading and reading, you know, a Harry Potter book probably yeah, yeah, or some kind of like well, you

didn't have anything. I was gonna say fan fiction, but they were no, like you know, no, there was. I was going on fan fiction and that we had a computer room at camp and I would get there. I would go there and sit there for hours and read fan fiction. But you know, but I but I like just that summer, I listened to that CD so much and I didn't even realize that they weren't the band that wrote those songs. I didn't realize who I didn't know who Abba was. And it was until later that

I found out. I have a vivid memory of this is really embarrassing. But speaking of just like, you know, being young and not knowing music. I when Lindsay Lohan released that album Confession, the one with daughtared Father dddard Father. Yeah, it is it's a little more personal. Yes, parentheses raw because she yeah, and the one the one where the cover is her it's like her back and there's like a red image painted on it. Yeah, yes, that's so she did an album. So she does a cover of

Edge of seventeen. And I thought that Lindsay is very familiar with I thought Lindsay Lohan wrote that song well because I because I didn't grow up. Was she not Matt Oh she did, Oh absolutely, I was. I just didn't know. I didn't know who Steve Enix was. I didn't know. Yeah, oh, but I think I feel like I was always known who Steve Vienix is. Like no, Leewood Mac was definitely played in my in our house like Saturday mornings by my by my parents, and I

always remember that from growing up. So I think I always knew who Stevie was, But I did not always know who Abba was clearly, and I think I I think maybe it was explained to me. I think at some point I was like, Okay, well who's there? This

is the Abba generation? Who the fuck is Abba? Or I found out what Abba was when the musical came out, because it came out on Broadway like two thousand and one, two thousand and two, so not long after, you know, when I was listening to eighteen's and it was a huge Broadway sensation. So you saw, So you saw Mama Mia.

I saw a touring production of Mamma Mia. I never saw it on Broadway, but it was like a blockbuster musical because you know, it's of course, it's such a smart musical, because it's a jukebox musical with the most record niceable like feel good music in the world and totally sing along with any any song or at least

know it. I'm so curious how the process of writing the musical came about, Like what was the one lyric that they were like, Oh, it's about a girl who's getting married and doesn't know her dad is because her mom was a slut. I think like that. You know, whoever who wrote this musical, The book is by like I want to say, like Catherine Johnson. She wrote the book for the musical and the screenplay for the movie.

I'm sure then, if you're asking what the process of writing this was, I'm sure they all did like lines of coke and k one after the other, like in a row on vacation probably, But also the guys from Abba the Fuck are their names, Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvus. You know, we're very involved in the music in the movie. And actually they both have cameos in the movie. Oh did they really? Yeah? In Dancing Queen, there's a guy singing on a boat playing the piano, and that's one

of them. And then in the post credit scene when they're singing Waterloo, there's a shot where it like goes up to the heavens and the Greek chorus are like performing and there's one of the other guys from ABBA is dressed up as Zeus and he's like, that's presiding overall. Yeah, it is beautiful. I'm happy they were involved, although I wish the girlies had also been involved. Yeah, that would have been nice, because that's kind of the thing with ABBA is like the men write the songs and the

women perform them. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's how music should be. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, tell me more. Tell me wor about your views about the binary roles for for gender and music. So okay, so we're talking about like before before the movie came out, because this movie came out two thousand and eight, but Mama Mia loomed large in the culture for a very long time, and especially in the theater community. And you know, everyone virgins

know that I was a musical theater girl in high school. Yes, and one year at a theater competition. So when you go to these theater competitions they have they also in addition to the competitive part of it, they have workshops that you can go to. And this one that I went to had a dance workshop. And listen, I'm not a good dancer. I never was. I was in a tap musical once and I was like feeling myself, and so I went to this what tap musical, Dames at Sea.

It's sort of an anything goes rip off. I was an attack which tap musical Crazy for you, Crazy for you? Beautiful, beautiful, oh beautiful? Are you a good are tap dancer? No? Not at all. That's why I didn't get the lead. Do you remember many episodes ago when I told you that story about the theater teacher that was, like I gotta tell you, almost it was between you and Luke. It was between you and Luke, but Luke got it because he can suck Luke. And that was what is

a fuck Luke? Luke, wherever you are out there, I hope you're dead. He's probably He's a really nice what I remember fuck him? So so anyway, at this theater competition. I went to a workshop where they taught us the dance, the official choreography to Dancing Queen and that's wait, wait from like the music from the musical Yeah, no, from the from the Broadway music A music this is you know, early two thousands, I see Broadway camp. So I did learn that dance. I was not very good at it.

I would not say that I slayed, because I again, not a good dancer, don't. I don't really have rhythm, and picking up choreography has always been, let's say challenging. Although the tap numbers that I learned in high school I still remember. It's like muscle memory. No, I will never forget how to do those. Okay. I have some questions about the movie Mamma Mia, and okay, I just so for the virgins. I just watched it on a cruise, the perfect place to watch it besides a Greek island. Yes,

Laurel and I sat down. We were like, okay, we're gonna watch this. I can't remember if we were high. I would assume you were, and I feel well. The

thing is, we were running out of meat. If you remember from last episode, we were like rationing it and I don't know if we were out by then, and I should remember, But anyways, my experience the movie was just like I realized that I had seen it before, or that I'd seen it in parts or in background, or I swear I watched a lot of it with you, Oh we have never watched fifteen minutes of because you've

always refused. I thought we watched the first fifteen minutes of it after Drag Race one time, and anyways, it doesn't matter. But like I my having rewatched it now revisited it with this mindset, I was just like, it is pretty perfectly silly and the pure sprasm. It is so so distractingly bad as a singer, and wait, actually did they make these girls sing live? I feel like a lot of them sung live. No. No. The live singing musical of our time was Layz Yeah Lame, which

was horrible. This No, This was all you know, recorded in a studio, and the soundtrack does slap and huge hit as well. I feel like some of them were singing on set if a lot of it felt like, well, maybe they were just really bad. But oh god, Pierce Brosnan, Oh my god, he was so he was so sexy. He was extremely sexy. Which one of the three dads would you want to fuck? Oh I'm so glad you asked this because I did think about it last night

and it is one hundred percent selling Stars Garden. Oh what he was really giving for me on this viewing. I thought for sure you were going to say Colin Firth. I love Colin Firth, and I think this is such a great Colin Firth role because he's usually so serious and he's so goofy and silly in this movie. And he's gay and he's and he's gay. I mean he's blind and he's gay, I mean gay, I mean blind. I mean he's blind, I mean blind. Yes, he's gay. And he even gets to get booed up at the end.

There is a scene where after the dads have found out that they're like, they all think that they're Amanda Seyfried's dad, when Stellen, scars Guard and Colin Firth are on the boat, I mean they all stand up to

disrupt the wedding. No, no, no, I know an earlier scene than that when they're on the boat together, and it's when Stellin is like kind of being like, so you're gay, right, without saying it, but like there is there is a vibe between them, and I think they should have ended up together instead of Colin Firth ending up with the random ensemble member and Stellen Scar's guard winding up with Julie Waters aka Missus Weasley. Missus Weasley.

It was so random, Like that's the thing is like the way it was all tied together at the end. I was just like, this is wild, and like the wedding scene is crazy, and everything about that musical is absolutely bonkers, like the like the narrative, like yeah, they're the best example of a use of musical theater logic. It is like nothing makes sense and all of these

crazy things happen and people just accept them. Like when when Donna finds the three men there and they're like, oh yeah, we all just wound up here and we're staying up in this attic and your goat shed and She's like, well that's weird, you know. Mama Mia is kind of giving Shmiga dude. It's giving well yeah Shmiah, Yeah, I mean yes, brand Swiga dude is Swiga Dude is like parodying though crazy and I say logic of musical but it's almost like Mama Mia is parodying itself that

it is a musical, like it's it's crazy. It's like it feels like, I mean, I'm so glad that we're stone because I feel like it needs to be listened to high. Okay, another another question I have about this is how old is Meryl Streep supposed to be in this movie? Because they're like amazing because they're like, Sophie

is twenty years old. So this movie came out in two thousand and eight, so that means that she would have had Amanda, sayf reed in nineteen eighty eight, and like, I think we're supposed to believe Donna is like forty, like mid forties, and she's not. Like they could have just made twenty five and it would have been more believable. And also, like they're supposed to there's so many references in the songs to the fact that like this all happened in the seventies, but like that doesn't make any

sense either. And then like let's not even introduce the like Meryl's wig into the equation because then it gets really hassy. I loved Meryl's wig. I think she looked I think she looked amazing. Oh, she does look amazing, but her wig is extremely clocky and also tea shot Mama. See, I thought it was amazing. I did. I thought she was unlockable. And and I have to say that as interesting.

It sounds like it sounds like you're following the weird musical theater logic where nothing makes sense because that hairline was was rough. It's too low? What I need to look at it. It's it's not too low. It's just like it is a wig in a very visible way. But Meryl is so good in this movie that she's so fun and like she's always on and like what when when the her divas came in off the boat at the beginning and they had that moment of meeting

up again together, like they're all so good. I believed that they were friends, like I believed the relationship between Meryl and Amanda, Like, Meryl is just incredible. I know this is such a hot take. Meryl Streep is a good actress, but no, but it is she is. I think I think the thing is about it is just that the rest of the movie is not giving what Meryl's giving, Like Meryl is giving ding. Sorry, Meryl's giving acting down like and in the singing she's giving acting.

She is giving character like her. Her vocals are emotional and our meeting with the character like she's to me, the only one that is actually doing it. Amana Syfreed is obviously amazing, but she I don't think, is this is not like Amanda Sufried's like that, Like Amanda was I think playing more into the parody, you know what I mean. Like I feel like everyone on set was

not taking the movie very seriously. I think they're having fun, but they're still, you know, all like doing it like they're ye all committed, even to even to the parts that I don't like, like Christine Baranski's number that's all about her being a cooper and how the young guy wants to fuck her. I'm like, oh my god, I mean that's that song is it's I think that could have been cut from the movie. But but she's still selling it. She's still giving a thousand percent. Yeah, she's

giving one thousand percent. I mean she she was also incredible. Okay, So in this movie, even though obviously Colin Firth is gay, there's the scene where Amanda goes on the boat and like spends an afternoon with them, and they're all like being dad like, but also like they all obviously want to fuck her because they don't know yet that she could possibly be their daughter. But that is very much the vibe, Like except for Colin Firth because he's gay.

But even then I think a little bit, they're like what if what if we? I just like gang banged you right now. I just love the mechanations your head makes and like like interweaving all of these characters to the point of homosexuality, no matter what homosex. But also just like that is your take behavior every culture. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just characters on screen. I'm like, would they fuck or wouldn't they? And for the most part, like nine times out of ten they would. Maybe I was high

because like I do not remember anything. I don't remember, or rather I I at no point was like thinking about the characters or what they wanted. It was just to me like a series of music videos and and like some light narration in between and I and I loved that, And god, I honestly didn't even know sometimes what the character's relationships were together, and I was often confused, especially since we don't know who the daddy is. But that was But that's so annoying to me. It's supposed

to be like who who done it? Who Daddy? Well, who do you think it is? Who daddy? I think? Yeah, which daddy do you think is the daddy? Who daddy? What are the threes? So it's it's Colin Firth, Stellin'scar's card and Pierce Brosman. I think I think it was Stellin's. I think it was Stellen's guard. I agree, Yeah, I think I think he and Amanda maybe look alike a

little bit. I thought, I thought, just because like the two other heart throbs would be too obvious and it had to be the one that looked like a dad. Did they find out who the dad actually is in the sequel? I don't remember literally. I hear we go again? Were you? Probably? But I've only seen it once and have never wanted to watch it again. No, I didn't watch it. I opened it up on a plane, watched the first like thirty seconds, and then skipped to the end to when Share comes in, and then it was

that's the only part worth watching. I mean, I know the general plot of it. I know that Meryl's dead, it's like a lot of flashbacks Lily Lily James is in it, but I don't remember. The intricacy is of the plot. And I think that's fine. Meryl's Meryl's dead, right, She's dead in the in the first scene, it's like her, she's dead the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, but she has doesn't her spirit come back or something? No, No, it's just most of the movie is flashbacks of her, of

the young version of her. Meryl was like, I'm good, love enjoy. I do think in the in the post credits musical number, she's in it, but otherwise she is. She said, not again, I'm not I'm not I'm not strapping into the overalls again. You can't pay me enough. I think she's in the overalls. I think she's absolutely said the overalls and like all the time she jumped in the air well. That's kind of like the iconic image of the movie as her within the overalls, her

like spread like touching her toes. Oh my god, I mean honestly, like I'd rather watch her in this than her in prom Oh remember her that a thousand she was. I mean that the movie was rotten, and Meryl suffered for that I feel, But like, what other musical has Merril done another musical? She was in the Mary Poppins movie. What Yeah? Yeah, she was in the second the Mary Poppins Movie with Emily Blunt. She had the topsy Turvy song. She has an orange wig. Oh yeah, Oh she was great.

Yeah she's slowly. I forgot it was It was a it was a surprise cameo along with Angela Lansbery. Okay, Phoebe wants to know what her favorite Meryl performances are besides Sophie's Choice. I've actually never seen seeing Sophie's Choice me either. I do not want to. I do not wish to. Okay, favorite Meryl I'm looking at the IMDb right now. We still haven't seen Silkwood. I still haven't seen it. You still haven't seen it, right, let's watch

it together. Yeah. Oh it's complicated. Yeah, hands down, hands down my favorite maryl performance. I don't even know if I'm joking. Yeah, I don't, I don't. I don't think I'm joking. It might be it's complicated. I fucking love that movie and her embodiment of that movie. I love

that for you? What about you? What about you? So I know everyone's gonna expect me to say the dev wors Prada, and she obviously is iconic in that, but I'm gonna throw you and say I prefer her in Lemony Snickets, a series of unfortunate I say that I knew you were gonna period period And they also had Jennifer Coolidge, they had Oh it was that was a place for legends. But Meryl is so good in that movie. Jude Law, Jim Carrey, Right O'Hara, Joan Cusack, I think

Joan Cusack, John Cusack. I need to watch more John Cusack movies. What's the what's the movie where she's a therapist? Oh, it's Prime, where she's a therapist and Uma Thurman is fucking her son and Uma Thurman is her patient. What yeah, what yeah? Prime? It's not very good. No, No, I mean god, I mean actually would watch. There are a lot of merryl movies that I feel like I need to watch, starting with Sophie's Joyce. Evidently she really tears

up these abba songs. Money, Money, Money is one of the high points of the film for me, really, the whole beginning of the film, like Honey, Honey Tour, Money, money Money, slade down Mamma Mia incredible, Like gim Me gim Me Gimme is that No, Gimme Gimme gimmey is at the bachelorette party and it's kind of like almost a background number, but it still tears. Any abba song that repeats one word three times, you know, is gonna do. It's the magic formula, sister, that's the magic yes rule

of threes basic. Basically, that's just chanting. That's that's witchcraft, witchcraft, that's right. These songs are spells. Absolutely. Meryl's giving witch she has many times, as she has several times in her career, well only only one one into the Woods another musical adaptation that is not good and way worse than Mamma Mia is she kind of she's kind of witchy in Mary Poppins. Yeah, there's something you know, magical going on. She's got miss Frizzle vibes in in that.

Holy fuck, she would slay as misfress plays any role live action Miss Frizzle. You know what there should be I thought about today, total tangent. There should be a live action legend of Zelda. Did you ever like I've never played, you know, I'm not I'm not a video game girl. Yeah. Yeah, that's why. Honestly it should be made from as a movie or series so that you could consume the lore of it, because the lore is really beautiful and all the characters are really hot and horny.

Do you think it's adaptable? Oh one hundred percent. Oh one hundred percent. And they could cast like the hottest little twinks in all of these roles. They should cast an envy to be linked like it should be like Emma Darcy or something like that. Link should be. There should be a mashup and link should be link Larkin from the movie Hairspray. Yes, yes, yes, they should cast a woman like uh allah May Martin and Peter Pan. Is that what her name is? May May Martin's the

girl that famous May Martin one like Mary Martin. That's so funny because I get that a lot. No, you're think about Alison who played Peter Pan. That's really live version which I never saw. Yeah, her name is Mary Martin. She's iconic. I watched that musical a Ton Royal. Do you remember anything else about like the time that you found was like the time of a Mama Mia. You like alluded to like being at you know, camp and stuff like that, like any other memory association or like

do you have an Alba breakup song? No, but ABBA's definitely like the ABBA is definitely the music that I put on, like on a trip, when you're like in a house of a bunch of people and you need to put something on that's gonna please everyone. Abbas the perfect go to, you know, like when you're like like us in like Joshua Tree, making breakfast in the morning, like you're putting on Apps, You're putting on Abba, You're putting on Dolly Parton, You're putting on or Share. But

ABBA is really universal. Share Share is a little less. The first three are like per yeah, a little more polarizing. The first three are like exactly what you described, this kind of like perfect like music that no one will complain about. Shaw Day I feel is also in that category, but different genre, completely different vibe. Yeah, and it's more evening when you're making dinner in the evening and everyone's

hanging out. Yeah, there should be a shaw Dai musical. Honestly, your storyline be it would have to be the horniest fuckiest musical. Oh my god, I want to do that. That would be what else would you want to make a musical of their music? Shaw Day really is a good one. It could honestly be like a trans story. Of course, of course it could be you know what I mean, like God, I don't know. Do you have an immediate answer to that? I definitely feel like not. Well.

I mean, Ryan and I have joked for years that Gaga should write a My best Friend's Wedding musical, but it wouldn't be a jukebox musical my best friend's wedding. I do think there could absolutely be a Madonna jukebox musical that would be incredible. Yeah, it could never it would never happen. No, it wouldn't ever happen. But I still think if it could happened, it would be great and she be just dropped in the chat tailor. A tailor musical would be incredible. So many of her songs

are already stories. They are They're already stories. There you could do. You could do a musical where act one is ever Act one is folklore, Act two is ever more. Look, just because in the words of what you're gonna do isn't necessarily what you think you're gonna do like that is that the no I never want to do. Yeah, I don't feel like in the word the rue Paul, we're all born clothed and the rest is piss. Yeah, that's that's actually I mean, that's that actually is true. Yeah. Oh,

a Kate Bush jukebux musical. That's what I thought when I saw that would be incredible. When I saw the Weathering Heights quote unquote musical that was at San Anne's warehouse last year, I was so shocked that it wasn't a Kate Bush jukebox musical, because you absolutely could make a Weathering Heights musical out of Kate Bush songs. Yeah, and that is not what they did, but that should happen, and I would love, I would love to write the

book for it. All of our songs are so cinematic, like so grotesque theater kid like powerful grotesque theater kad like like ooky, spooky, Like the costumes would be immaculate and like big and like like I don't know, like surrealist, like Yeah, that would be really fun. And there were so many numbers that would make great musical theater numbers like what do you think is though? Like rubber Bond Girl. What's the log line. The log line is, no, it's

it's Weathering Heights. Oh, it's just what it is, a weathering It is a Weathering Heights musical with the songs of Kate Bush. If you feel like you could thematically align the lyrics with what's going on in every step of that book. I don't even remember what the book is like really about it's about, you know, I feel like you've even summarized it for me before on the podcast. Yeah, it's about lost multi generational love and all the twisted ways it gets fucked up, death and longing. Yeah, it

is very dark. I mean, okay, So if I could write, if I could do, if I could adapt a musical, my first instinct was like Selena like King Tania like, and I feel like that could be draggy. Don't be mad at me. Yeah, no, that's that would be so fun. I feel like there's there's like a kind of yeah, you think I'm trying to ban drag. No, well, sometimes you know it's sometimes I think drag. Well, actually, here's

something I think. Drag in musicals is often a bit like choogy, Like it's not really it doesn't feel like drag in any way, Like there hasn't actually been a powerful or honest depiction of drag in a musical. I don't know. I mean, you have Harris Andre, you have La Kasha Foe, Lakaja Foe. I've never seen so but Matilda apparently, I've actually never seen thee Buffs. I've only seen the movie. But yeah, in the musical, trench Pull is played by a man. What you didn't know that? Yeah,

that's kind of crazy, okay, I uh uh. Selena I think would be really cute. I think there's like a drag narrative there. I honestly like have like written I've like I've I've always wanted to do something around in narrative like that involves Selena and Selena fandom a true

Selena fan. But Donna Summer Musical would be incredible, Like I would absolutely lose my mind honestly, just a musical, a musical that is literally just bad girls, like like just that album like that would be phenomenon because it's like a full sequence album, like it's gorgeous, Like yeah, that's a full story. I do think most divas have the catalogs where you could make their their music into

a musical. That's why Titanique worked so well. Yes, I you know a Share musical would be fab I mean nine the nine to five musical, a Dolly Parton jukebox musical or did she write original music for it? I have no idea, but I do know that there is a Share musical that I didn't see. But oh the Share show, I heard it was horrible. I heard it was great, but from fans. Well, I heard it from people who like see a lot of musical theater and said it was terrible. Also, Adele Adele would be a

great musical. It would be very sad. Yeah, it would be so sad and then occasionally horny. Would you do like a Fiona Apple musical or something like that? Sorry, I think Fiona could write an original musical, but I don't know about jukebox. Yeah, it's not you know, you don't gather around the speaker to sing some Fiona Apple together. Maybe a Whitney Houston musical Divas Again, that would fuck, It would fuck and suck MGMT the musical, No, what was that would be horrible? Yeah, we need a panic

of that. Discuss sky Perera a musical. But like, there's no second act because you'll never release another album ever again. Oh, Brittany, there is a Britney musical. I think it's Baby One more Time. Yeah, it's like it's out also apparently bad. I would love Panic of the Disco and a musical that's just a fever you can't sweat out. Oh my god, so hard because that is such such like narrative and it's so pan sexual. It's like it would be the most pan sexual ship. And he would write off on

it because you know he is pan He's bye. No, he's famously pan I thought he was by but you would you would probably know better. I would know better. I actually don't know for sure. But the last yeah, I don't know. Phoebe. Look it up, Phoebe. Everyone's bye. Okay, Panic people dot com. Panic of the Disco's Brendan Ury comes out as pan sexual. Period. Oh great, love that for him. Yeah, anyways, I need to write that. You

do need to write that. I honestly, I like I feel like he and I understand each other lyrically, dramat like, sensationally like I understand. I feel like I understand him as an artist. Do you know what I mean? Ah? God, I've like, I've like really really I know we've talked about this during our Indiesley's episode, which everyone should listen to, but I've like really reconnected with that album. Like as of last year and this year, I'm still a fever.

You can't sweat out a fever you can't sweat out. Yes, I'm still listening to it. Yeah, that, I mean, there's such a narrative already built into it, and I would be there Opening Night with my flat iron bangs, my parachute pants. Okay, So who in who in Mamma Mia is bisexual? So definitely Stalone Scarsguard's character because he obviously hooks up with Colin Firth at some point. Christine seems like she would fuck anything for sure, and I think

she and Meryll have probably hooked up. And Meryl is the Meryl's Donna is the one who you think she would be by, but she's actually secretly extremely hetero and tries to pretend that the time she and Christine Baranski hooked up never happened. Really, she's also a terf I feel like she's giving lesbian. I'm saying Amanda Seyfried's fiance bisexual. Obviously all of the Greek chorus members are bisexual. They

probably all pumped up like on production totally. The young guy who wants to fuck Christine Baranski is gay and that's why he's like chasing Christine because he wants to fuck her. He's gay. He's like yes, He's like, I don't belong here. Off, get me off this island and give me off this bye island. Afridaites fountain bisexual. What's that? It's the fountain that explodes the end of the movie

when they're all dancing. Meryl goes, yeah. At the beginning of the movie, they're like, there's legends that aphrodities fountain is on this island and then it explodes at the end. Is the musical kind of magical? No, but it's just kind of gave magic for me, and it was kind of confusing. I was like, is this supposed to be like a magical realism. I'm not. It's just another like

musical theater logic thing. It's like, oh my god, the fountain, oh yeah, okay, okay, And it's a Chekhov's gun, you know they mentioned at the beginning, so it has to I am the boom boom gun at the end exactly. Yeah, oh god, I can't. I literally like this musical is so confusing, and I feel like it's actually extremely simple. It is very easy, easy premise, no correct, right, It's really actually extremely simple. It's just like the tale is all the time. It's confusing how it all came together

and got made the way it was made. That's why it's beautiful, because it's psycho it's and it just works so well. The casting is Bzonkers. It is you know how you always talk about people's Q score like Mom and me at the musical has a Q score of I don't know whatever is high, but it has like a similar C score to Adele yeah to ad In the music it is universally beloved international sense say Mama Mia.

The musical is the Dbadal herself. And as we always say, as we always say, next week we will be back with an episode all about Ugly Betty featuring Ugly Betty star Margan Delacato. It might be one of my favorite episodes of all time top five probably This is a Fran episode. This is this is the making of my this is Fran's Birthday Spectacle. Yes my Birthday Special. Yes, yes, yes, slide into our DMS and let us know what's your favorite Abba song? Are you more of a Meryl or

an Amanda Say Freed? Who do you want to be? Your daddy? Colin Firth? Stealin Scar's Guard or Pierce Brosnan And make sure to become a Like a Virgin Patrion at patriot dot com, Splash like a Virgin, follow us on Instagram at Like a Virgin forty ninety sixty nine by our merch at Like a Virgin FOURT twenty sixty nine dot com. I'm your co host Rose Doom. You can find me anywhere online at Rose Doom you and I am Frantrando. You can find me at n switchgo Emily.

Life Like a Virgin is an iHeartRadio production. Our producer is Keeping Hunter with support from Lindsay Hoffman and Nikki Or until next week. Show May