Happy 50th Anniversary to MAME!

By the time I saw it ,Lansbury was gone and wound up seeing it with Janis Paige



A first class revival is in order. Midler would have been a perfect fit. Now that she will be occupied, Christine Baranski would appear to be a perfect fit or the Lupone would be good .

Updated On: 7/11/16 at 09:52 AM

I read that there were plans to do a TV version after the success of Gypsy starring Bette Midler, but it never materialized. I wonder if Craig Zadan & Neil Meron would be interested in doing Mame as a live television musical on NBC someday.

Yes, those rumors were in the mid/late 90's. Flash forward to the spring of 1999 when Barbra Streisand's production company Barwood, purchased the rights for a tv movie of "Mame." Then in Aug 2000, it was announced that Barbra would produce the tv movie version of "Mame," and not star in it.

And, here we are all these years later with nothing ever coming to fruition.

Updated On: 5/24/16 at 11:08 AM

Here are some more gorgeous full colour photos:

What did they do to screw up the 1983 revival?

Because despite the barns (3,000 seats where I worked) in which it played, the 1977 summer tour (with Lansbury and Connell) was brilliant!

One difference I've seen in Youtube clips was the size of the ensemble. The 1983 revival chorus looks pretty skimpy in film of the title number. That seems an odd way to economize in a Broadway revival...

GavestonPS said: "What did they do to screw up the 1983 revival?

Because despite the barns (3,000 seats where I worked) in which it played, the 1977 summer tour (with Lansbury and Connell) was brilliant!

One difference I've seen in Youtube clips was the size of the ensemble. The 1983 revival chorus looks pretty skimpy in film of the title number. That seems an odd way to economize in a Broadway revival...



I saw the revival three times and loved it. The audiences at all three performances were atypical for those days. They showed their love adamently...SO for the title number, stomping for one more curtain call.

i think there were a number of reasons for its failure:

-- it was probably too early for a revival (in those days)

-- It opened with no notice...no opportunity to build up enthusiasm

-- it opened in the summer, which was very rare in those days...even rarer than now

-- The Uris was too big a theatre for Mame. The humor got a little lost in that huge a space

-- it was done on the cheap. The sets were mostly spangly drops. Felt more like Summer Stock.



i still loved it. Lansbury was remarkable...still did those high kicks at almost 60. The score was just as good as ever. The book was funny as hell (I do not think the book is dated even today)'

Hopefully, someone will take a look at it and realize that the flop of 35ish years ago was due to a lot of reasons that had nothing by to do with Make itself.