Can we get MAME starring Elaine Hendrix and Lisa Ann Walter now?

Lisa Ann Walter is joining Heathers and her bestie Elaine Hendrix wrapped a production of Hello Dolly last month... I've never had the pleasure of seeing the show live before, but I just need them in something together now. lol.

Updated On: 3/17/26 at 10:19 AM

Try Lesley Ann Warren and maybe you’d be on to something.

That sounds like a sound investment. Quick, someone call their agents; I smell a hit!

Mame with Lansbury and Bea and Jane was wonderful. I fear the show is now too dated in the references which are almost 100 years old. That Bohemian lifestyle has been overtaken by billionaire conservatives showing off. The score is still fun, but I think it is better as a memory of a classy musical from a classic period.

Jerry Herman said many times that he thought Catherine Zeta-Jones would make a wonderful Mame. I completely agree.

So many have said that the lyrics and book scenes are "dated," and the same can be said for so many classic musicals. "Carousel" with domestic violence, "Oklahoma" with Curley encouraging Judd to kill himself, "The King & I" with slavery and beating women, "South Pacific" with racism. The list goes on and on. All these musicals are classics for a reason.

I've expressed this opinion before, and I stand by it: those shows are masterpieces exploring dated themes and social mores in timeless ways. Mame is a masterful but ultimately slight show that is very much of its era, and survives primarily on a mix of nostalgia and diva worship. Everything it does well, Hello Dolly does better.

Mame the musical (which bears rather little resemblance to the pleasantly barbed dark comedy of the novels) was probably a cultural escape valve for pre-Stonewall gay men of a certain era. The title character is both the fabulous diva they often wished to be (especially in a pre-trans-awareness time when assumed female identity was more a part of gay parlance), and the loving, open-minded mother they wished they'd had. After sixty years of queer liberation, openly gay theater characters, and more overt camp, will Mame still resonate the way it used to? Will it feel necessary, rather than simply cute? I'm not sure it will, hence my belief that Dolly is the stronger show.

The 1966 Broadway musical MAME features several dated plot elements centered on 1920s–1940s social norms. Key dated aspects include the caricature of the butler Ito, the intense focus on social class and "traditional" upbringing, outdated gender roles, and a rushed romantic subplot involving a Southern gentleman.

• Racial Stereotypes: The character of Ito, Mame’s butler, is often cited as a racially stereotypical depiction of a Japanese man, common in older works but outdated today.
• "Traditional" Upbringing Focus: The central conflict revolves around Mr. Babcock trying to enforce a rigid, Protestant, wealthy "traditional" upbringing on young Patrick, contrasting with Mame's eccentric, bohemian lifestyle.
• Class Consciousness: The subplot with the Upson family emphasizes class anxiety, with them representing white-bread conformism in contrast to Mame’s artistic, diverse circle.
• Gender Roles: The plot includes dated views on marriage and women, with Agnes (a pregnant secretary) seeking an unwed mother's home.
• The Southern Gentleman Tropes: Beau Burnside's quick marriage to Mame, his sudden death, and his role as a wealthy protector are seen as archaic plot devices.
• Hitchhiking: Young Patrick is able to hitchhike from his school to New York City safely, reflecting a different era.

Kad said: "Oh no he’s learned how to use ChatGPT"

p*uck dat. A simple Google search. Stick to the basics, mon ami. None of this ChatGPT bulls**t.

I saw a high school production that made an interesting choice with Ito: he was dressed in realistic Asian clothes and spoke his lines not in Engrish but in untranslated Japanese, which the other characters all reacted as if they understood completely. It became about the unexpected eccentricities and wide knowledge base of the bohemians, not about “silly yellow man can’t talk English.”

BrodyFosse123 said: "p*uck dat. A simple Google search. Stick to the basics, mon ami. None of this ChatGPT bulls**t."

It's clear that what you quoted was the AI summary at the top of almost any Google search. Saying that it's not ChatGPT is making a distinction without a difference.

I agree that this is for Catherine Zeta Jones. I think she is the one person who could play Mame at the level the role requires and also meet the box office demands of a big Broadway revival. Her kids are grown, but I don’t see her moving her eighty two year old husband to New York to do eight shows a week at this particular point in their lives. However, if she were to find herself single within the next decade, I could see her wanting to return to her roots to take this on. Broadway loves a narrative, and a return under that kind of circumstance would result in a big embrace from both the community and the audiences.

BrodyFosse123 said: "For your viewing pleasure, here’s a 1994 production of MAME starring Juliet Prowse and costumes by Bob Mackie:

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joevitus said: "pmensky said: "However, if she were to find herself single within the next decade."

Don't make the man live out Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct."

I’m not sure anyone would kill to star in Mame on Broadway, but it sounds like a good idea for a series starring Lisa Kudrow and set on Staten Island.