1983 MAME broadway revival with Angela Lansbury

[morosco]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:49am

It closed after only 41 performances. What went wrong? I've never seen any discussion on this revival.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:54am

Although I knew the (former)ballet dancers who played Junior Babcock and Gloria Upson, I never went to see it. Is it possible that shows such as DREAMGIRLS and NINE made MAME seem old fashioned and not the show to go see?

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:58am

Wow, I typed the proper name in and the board must have automatically changed it.

[kjklo]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:12am

Isn't it bizarre and depressing how words and names like "cocktail," "cockerspaniel," and "Hitchcock" are automatically censored by some primitive computer program?

I didn't see the "Mame" revival, but it was amusingly referenced in one of the Forbidden Broadways, with a parody of "I Don't Want to Know" from "Dear World."

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:14am

Hitchcock
Pussycat

Hmmm. Interesting.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 01:14 AM

[Phantom487]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:15am

I love that parody!!!!!


If music is no longer tuneful,
If lyrics are no longer witty,
If theatre is no longer thrilling,
Then I don't want to go!


Christine Pedi's impression of Angela Lansbury is frightfully amazing!

[etoile]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:19am

No, kjklo, what is depressing is that softwear is needed to block certain words because some here can't be trusted to use words in a responsible manner.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 5:41am

I saw that revival and there wasn't much wrong with it, per se (though perhaps the production values were a bit "bus-and-truck" as I recall, giving the proceedings a bit of a "stale" quality). Lansbury was absolutely brilliant. I think the show's failure was somehow a timing thing -- I may be wrong but I think that if it had come a year or two later or a year or two before, it may have had a decent run.

Posted: 8/21/04 at 5:50am

Margo - I've always been curious - since they revived it with the original Mame, was Bea offered the chance to reprise Vera, or were her TV days inhibiting that option?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 6:07am

I don't have any info on that, but I would assume that Bea Arthur was asked, but turned it down because she was living in LA doing TV at the time (in between Maude and Golden Girls -- she was probably busy with "Amanda's By The Sea"). If I remember correctly, the revival cast was brought into town intact from a mini-national tour of the show just prior to coming to Broadway -- Anne Francine was a very good, very dry Vera Charles (reminiscent of Coral Browne in the "Auntie Mame" film with Roz Russell). And Jane Connell stopped the show as Gooch.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:20am

The Forbidden Broadway spoof for this was great.

"Let Lucille Ball wreck it all again! No more revivals!"

[magruder]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:23am

I saw it too, at the Uris/Gershwin, with about 100 people in the audience on a Saturday matinee. Still, Lansbury gave it her all, performing as if the place was packed to the rafters. She's just amazing. What I recall is that producer Mitch Leigh rushed it to Broadway with little advance notice, and I think in August, to capitalize on the "Jerry Herman is back" hoopla that greeted La Cage aux Folles. Good idea, but badly planned, from what I gather...

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:11pm

I saw it, too. The ticket sales were soft, and Lansbury had only closed in SWEENEY two years before--so though she's a treasure, she hadn't been away long. The production was adequate, but I think the Gershwin worked against it, the slightly scaled down show not really designed for such a barn (the sets didn't entirely work, and seemed too far from the downstage line, if I recall--remember, most of Mame is very intimate, two or three people on stage at a time.) I'm surprised, however, to read someone saw it with a mere 100 people. I recall the theater being half full.

My own personal bit of trivia: I saw it the 2nd night of Diana Ross's infamous Central Park Concert, after it was rained out the night before. Anyone remember that? The "wilding" (a phrase not used much since) episode around Tavern on the Green? I came home from seeing the charming world of Mame -- only to discover Miss Ross's 2nd attempt had caused big problems.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 01:11 PM

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:56pm

Though I had no intention of seeing the concert, I spent the day in Sheep's Meadow playing frisbee. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I watched people trickling into the park all day and left to go have dinner on Columbus Ave in the very late afternoon. As I was finishing dinner it started raining, a major down pour! People running all over the place. It was wild.

The Diana Ross/Central Park Concert came just a few weeks after I had experienced some unpleasant professional dealings with Diana Ross. Though I had not yet learned the word, I am now certain I was feeling Schadenfreude.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:02pm

Glebb: You're describing the first concert, right? The one where she stood on stage in the rain and sent folks home? (Capturing brilliantly in the Craig Lucas play, BLUE WINDOW.)

The next night she returned with a new opening -- "I'm Coming Out!" and scrapped the African dancers that had opened her rained out show. It was the 2nd night that provoked the 'wilding'. It was on SHOWTIME, by the way. But I've never seen it repeated or on DVD.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:08pm

Yes, I was in the park the day of the first concert. BTW, The Great Lawn is gorgeous now!

I vaguely remember it all on the news. Didn't she wear some kind of orange glittery pants suit on the first night and then the same design in purple the next night?

I believe she still got her namesake playground in Central Park, no?

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 3:40pm

i loved the revival............my friend Marshall Hagins was in the chorus and appeared as the elevator operator....................he said it was "rotten business planning" that caused the brief new york run......

the show had been on a national tour and there were constructions problems at a theater in some city prior to New York............

the production came to New York earlier than it had originally planned..............thus,,,,,,,,

no theater parties had been sold
no advance at the box office

a rapidly thrown together "videotaped" tv commercial made it seem the production would likely appear cheesy and cheap (it was it fact sumptuous and elegant.)

this was a production that should not "have missed." a classic case of a show and the lives of all involved, being victims of some circumstances of fate, lots of poor management and bad business sense.

If I remember correctly, the entire original cast of primary leads was there with the exception of Frankie Michaels and Bea Arthur.

p.s. Marshall told me that everyone in this production fell madly in love with Angela Lansbury. He said she is a genuine dream version of how down to earth, friendly and caring you would want a star to be.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 3:42pm

MAME and GYPSY with Angela are two that make me wish I had a time machine.

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 4:02pm

Glebb, I saw Angela in GYPSY twice,,,,,,,and it was thrilling........at the time Zan Charisse (Cyd's niece) played Louise.......and Rex Robbins played Herbie.............this followed Mr. Robbins mostly nude performance in the Broadway production of THE CHANGING ROOM which also featured a rather young John Lithgow (if memory serves me correctly.)

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 4:04pm

Damn you! (Just kidding) The GYPSY recording I've listened to most is the Angela/Zan version. It's the best IMO.

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 7:00pm

While I am a huge Merman fan, the Lansbury GYPSY recording is also my favorite. She is such an amazing communicator. She sings those numbers with more passion and depth than I ever heard.

[magruder]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 7:06pm

I love Lansbury's tracks on that recording (even though the keys are altered), but the rest of it is very tough sledding. Some terrible supporting performances, and the Overture is so slow and plodding...

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 7:09pm

I really like Tessie Tura's voice on that recording.

[Barihunk]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:59am

I have fond memories of this revival. Margo hit the nail on the head with the "bus and truck" aspect of the proceedings, but the performers were all top-notch. Lansbury was transcendent as expected and looked smashing in her Bob Mackie originals. The early 80s were not a good time for revivals in general. "My Fair Lady" "Camelot" "Mame" and "Oliver" all received little attention at the box office. It wasn't until the 90s that the musical revival really took off with "Guys and Dolls" and "Carousel" leading the way. In fact, before 1994 there was only one category for Best Revival (Musical or Play) and even that was started in 1977.