MAME REVIVAL!!! Needs to happen! — Page 2

newintown said: "Maybe a real out of left field choice, like Amy Poehler, Jane Lynch, Toni Collette, Kristen Wiig, Amy Adams?



Why should Toni Collette, well known, much loved and highly acclaimed, Broadway credits, musical, Tony and Oscar nominated, and seemingly perfect for the role be considered "out of left field"?

Updated On: 8/18/16 at 03:39 PM

I never knew I needed Toni Colette as Mame until this moment.

Nathan Lane as Mame, obviously. Make it happen.

True, true.

Miss Colette has proven she's a good singer and her work on United States of Tara just prove was a wonderful actress she is. In my opinion, she is one of the most under appreciated actresses at this time. I would love for her to head a big Broadway show and become a staple in the theatre community. I have a feeling she would have done so after Wild Party if it weren't for Mr. Patinkin's antics.

Also, someone do Follies and cast her as Sally. Or Phyllis. I actually think she could play either and be fantastic. She is simply a wonder.

Oak2 said: "Nathan Lane as Mame, obviously. Make it happen."

This. Also, I'm not super familiar with Mame's character having listened to the cast album only once a few years ago. What about Sutton Foster? Or Idina Menzel? (this is literally me being a troll and throwing out names to stir the pot a little)

Updated On: 8/18/16 at 04:53 PM

Folks on the board: would you want "Mame" to have a revised book or be left as it is?

I feel that Mame's relationship with Patrick is horribly underwritten. I don't have a sense of who he is or why he turns on her in Act two. That's always a challenge connecting the dots when two actors play one role (See "Damn Yankees," "Grey Gardens," certain revisions of "Little Me."

Most people leave remembering Vera and ignoring Patrick entirely, but Mame without Patrick is another Vera. The relationship is what gives her heart and purpose. It seems to collapse late in Act One after "We Need a Little Christmas."

To be fair Patrick's love of Gloria Upson was undercooked in the novel and play as well.

Updated On: 8/18/16 at 05:36 PM

I think Sutton Foster would be amazing in the title role.

I think Patti could make an interesting Vera.

Jan Maxwell could be great too.

Lansbury was perfection in the role. She had it all. She owned the stage for two and half hours. I use to take my high school dates to see the show and all three times she totally mesmerized the audience. She was only forty when she opened in the show in a role where she was seldom off stage. In fact I recall reading at the time that the role was so strenuous that she had oxygen tanks waiting for her in the wings. However I fear the show was a product of its time. To think that performers like Celeste Holm (her vacation fill in), Janis Page, Jane Morgan and Ann Miller succeeded her truly surprised me since I felt (other than Miller who you could shoot and she still wouldn't fall down) seemed poor choices for the role lacking energy and zip. Especially when compared to its originator.



When I was in Seattle I caught a production at the 5th Avenue Theater that starred Dee Hoty. She lacked the class and regal stature the character calls for looking matronly and more like your aunt from Poughkeepsie than a resident of Beekman Place. Years before I saw a Long Beach production with Terry Ralston who had none of the vulnerability that the character called for. But in both cases the show seemed terribly dated. The musical numbers came off more like something you see on YouTube from a bad sixties TV variety show. And the director was John Bowab who was familiar with the show having directed the Broadway revival duplicating much of Gene Sak's original direction yet it still had no charm.



There used to be clips on YouTube of both Ebersole and Baranski in the role and neither impressed me (as well as lackluster bootlegs starring Carol Lawrence and Juliet Prowse as Mame). Maybe the show should just be left alone as the relic from the end of the golden age of musicals which it was. Put it to rest.

Jane and Toni would both be excellent in the role.

As many have said, the book needs a revision. It's never been good and gets worse with every passing year. Gypsy it is not. That score, though...it deserves to be heard by a new generation.

Characters flit in and out of the libretto, in imitation of the book's episodic structure, but it does make for a weak through-line. The other thing that messes with "Mame" a little bit is the number "That's How Young I Feel." It's a showpiece for the actress playing Mame, but it establishes her as a "woman of a certain age" who surprises herself and the crowd with her vitality and youthful nature.

But Mame begins the show at about 37, and tops out at a very youthful early 50s. Angela Lansbury is a Broadway legend, and she knocked the show out of the park. But one thing she never was, is the one thing Mame in print typified before it was a word: a MILF. You need someone in what is today early middle age, not a senior grande dame.

Pippin said: "Three Christines come to mind: in order of preference



Ebersole

Baranski

Andreas

other options:



Bernadette

Donna McKechnie

Patti

Beth Leavel

nancy Opel

Imelda Staunton (she's my top choice for every female part in the history of musical theatre)

The first time I saw Mame with Angela Lansbury was June 25, 1966, about a month after it opened. That performance (and performances) may be the single most memorable in a long lifetime of attending musicals. I was delirious with 15 year-old happens. I am very protective of it, in a way that I am not with Hello Dolly, because I have seen a lot more good Dolly's than Mame's. It is a harder role IMO, and more essential to the entire show working.

I saw Baranski when she was in DC 5 - 8 years ago and thought she was terrible. The basic problem: she would make a great Vera and they cast her as Mame.

I love Bernadette and Patti, but they are too old for Mame. She ages 30 years over the course of the show. Also, IMO it is IMPORTANT that Mame dance -- the title number just would not be as effective if Mame wasn't out there kicking as high as the chorines (not to mention That's How Young I Feel, It's Today and Open a New Window) -- and I don't remember either one of them ever really dancing. Christine Ebersole might be a possibility -- don't know if she can dance, but its moot. None of the others have the combination of talent and star power necessary to pull it off.

I do believe a big talent with huge charisma is needed to make it work. Re Broadway talents, I can think possibly of Sutton Foster and Audra MacDonald when she gets past her current project and is ready to work 8 shows a week again. She demonstrated in Shuffle Along that she can do anything and can be a big box office attraction in the right vehicle. I'll throw one more Broadway veteran who is probably too old, but how about Donna Murphy? She has charisma, can do comedy, has a better voice than required, was great in Lucy and Jessie at Encores. Been away long enough that she is not going to sell a lot of tix in advance, but her reviews will help after it has opened.

Other possibilities: Jennifer Lopez has said she would like to do Broadway...I think she could pull it off. She is glamorous, does light comedy well, can dance and can sing pretty well. AND she would sell tickets. Also, how about Amy Adams? I don't know if she is interested in doing Broadway, but she was excellent in Enchanted, and is about the same age Angela Lansbury was when she was cast. I think she would sell tickets also, though she probably doesn't have the rabid fans that Lopez does.

Having seen Carmen Cusack on the road in South Pacific, and based on her recent reviews, I'll bet she would be terrific, but this probably a non-starter unless it was done at the Roundabout and didn't need a name. Finally,

Re other comments, Megan Mullally is a Vera and would probably be a very good one. Jan Maxwell IMO could not pull it off. Hell, despite the undying love a lot of people here have for her, she couldn't get through Lucy and Jessie without practically falling on her face. Toni Collette sounds interesting...maybe this could make her a star the way the original did with Lansbury. She was a name before, but not a star. I am not a huge Krakowski fan, but she can do comedy, she can dance, and a lot of people feel she has enormous charisma, so it would be interesting...although, to adapt someone else's suggestion, maybe a Krakowski led production would need to be via Roundabout. (Plus, she might be a better Vera).