Tidbits from our recent conversation with Christine Baranski:

The stage version of Mamma Mia!: “I didn’t see the show until I got cast in the movie. I know my daughter Lily went to see the show and I went to see some high-brow thing called Metamorphoses based on the poetry of the Ovid and thinking, ‘Oh my daughter is going to see this silly musical, why isn’t she coming with me to this really, truly wonderful piece of theater?’ [Laughs] So little did I know that years later I would be in it.” (Subsequently, Baranski has seen the show several times and loves it).

Warbling ABBA’s hits: “I really enjoyed the challenge. I’ve never sung a score like that. I have a T-shirt that says 'Rock Chick Supreme-O' and I used to wear it when I was doing my numbers or at the recording sessions. So I was Rock Chick Supreme-O [laughs]. Judy Craymer,the producer, gave it to me. It’s a white shirt with pink letters and I still have it and now I call myself an ex-Rock Chick Supreme-O.”

Her character Tanya, a wealthy thrice divorcèe: “I play the glamour queen yet again. I was always either in high heels or sequined ballet flats that had no support and no traction and I’m on the dirt or on the beach and I’m dancing on the sound stage up and down stairs with high heels. I’m always like the Ginger Rogers person who has to go backwards in high heels. My next role I want to be in sneakers.”

One of her many favorite memories working with Meryl: “We spent one afternoon on a boat with Phyllida [Lloyd, the director]. It’s the boat that’s in the movie and it’s called The Fernando and it’s the boat that Stellan’s character has. So Phyllida invited us to spend the day on the boat and we brought a picnic and we just were sailing all day on our day off lounging on this boat. It was just dreamlike, it was so wonderful. And I remember giving Meryl a foot massage and we were just hanging out.”

What’s next, career-wise: “I’m actually in rehearsals for a Broadway play called Boeing, Boeing and it’s really fun. You know putting a farce together is always very challenging because it quickly reaches heights of absurdity. But you have to pin it down with a great sense of truth and conviction and energy, but ultimately when it plays it’s kind of like serving dessert to an audience. So that’s going to take up a lot of my time, I have at least a six-month contract on it.”