MAME ~ The Kennedy Center

[CherylA928]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:45pm

I hope everyone who was seriously thinking about going to The Kennedy Center to see 'Mame' has already purchased their tickets because the show is now completely SOLD OUT!

One more reason to find this production a home on Broadway.

Cheryl
MaxvonEssen.com

[philcrosby]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 8:41am

And what a wonderful show it is.

I have been thinking since I saw it last week -- and what struck me as interesting is that MAME is about being a liberal -- not a popular position among some these days. Accepting all types of people, not being afraid of the unknown, grabbing at the untried. The Upsons and Babcock clearly represent the conservatives (the script refers to it many times) and Mame's humiliation of them, and reclamation of Patrick from their clutches, is the penultimate moment of the musical.

How radical!! And how wonderful.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 8:46am

Think so? This conservative had a pretty good time at the show, you know. I don't think of it as being about literal political divisions, or even about reality as we know it. After all, how many of us, liberal or conservative, would REALLY send our kids to a school where all the students ran around naked? It's more a sort of fairy tale about getting out there and daring to live your life than a political diatribe, I think.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 8:52am

A fairy tale?

It's based on a true story.

And I agree with philcrosby. The '20s were a time of liberation after WWI. Not until the '60s did we have another widespread period of free-thinkers and self-expression... the period when MAME the musical was written.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 8:55am

I'll be there this weekend!!! So glad the show is doing well.

Updated On: 6/15/06 at 08:55 AM

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 8:55am

Based on a true story, yes. But it has that fairy-tale quality about it.

I'm just saying, I think when you try to draw those political lines in a musical, you limit its appeal, and for no good reason. There are conservatives who are in many ways like Mame (I've known several who'd have bought the land and built the home for single mothers on it just as she did), and believe it or not, there are liberals who are like the Uptons. Political divisions aren't everything.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 9:19am

Well, I think the show has a message of acceptance. These characters aren't "all things to all people," and Mame Dennis isn't the "norm." Is she the embodiment of a movement? Perhaps, but I don't see that as her intention. She makes her statements about tolerance through the way she lives her life, not from behind a pulpit or inside a voting booth. She's not a political activist. This isn't "Republican" vs. "Democrat" here, and that's where I think you're getting tripped up a bit.

She's a very unique lady who marches to her own drum beat, and yes, she's very liberal-minded. And I too have known a "real" lady like her (no joke).

Mame opens Patrick's eyes to tolerance and acceptance, but also to different and new ways of thinking about people and life. And that "last part" is not a characteristic trait of conservatives.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 9:35am

Well said, 12Bars, well said.

I have an aunt who would indeed have sent her kids to a school where they ran around naked! She did sit-ins in the 60s, and had very little patience for what she thought of as "narrow thinkers." She certainly had some Mame in her!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 9:42am

I'm so glad I got my tickets when I did (which was many, many months ago).

[BT]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 9:52am

It is nice to see the Kennedy Center continuing to develop quality shows. I loved the Sondheim celebration a few years ago. I also look forward to seeing Assassins here at the Signature.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:04am

"Well, I think the show has a message of acceptance. These characters aren't 'all things to all people,' and Mame Dennis isn't the 'norm.' Is she the embodiment of a movement? Perhaps, but I don't see that as her intention. She makes her statements about tolerance through the way she lives her life, not from behind a pulpit or inside a voting booth. She's not a political activist. This isn't 'Republican' vs. 'Democrat' here, and that's where I think you're getting tripped up a bit."

On the contrary, that's EXACTLY what I was trying to say. Sorry if I didn't say it very clearly!

"Mame opens Patrick's eyes to tolerance and acceptance, but also to different and new ways of thinking about people and life. And that 'last part' is not a characteristic trait of conservatives."

Oh, you might be surprised. Don't tar all members of any movement with the same brush. All you end up with is a bunch of useless generalizations.

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:38am

Mame WAS NOT based on a true story. The author had a series of short stories about a madcap woman, and on the advice of his editor, turned them into a novel, using the framing device that the woman was his aunt and the "Most memorable character" he'd even known, to use the Reader's Digest phrase.

"Patrick Dennis" was a nom de plume and Mame was named "Mame Dennis" to add creedence to the tale. The author occasionally said that Mame was based on his actual aunt, but she wasn't. He was notorious for furnishing mis-information like that to amuse himself.

He did see Mame very much as a progressive liberal and did create the Upsons and Babcocks as conservative Republicans. The Upsons repeatedly rail against FDR and Babcock calls anyone he disapgrees with a "Bolshevik." On top of that, they are racist and anti-semitic. (I'm not calling all Republicans that, just describing the charcters.)

The final confrontation with the Upsons ends with Mame building a home for unwed mothers in their "Restricted" neighborhood, but in the book, she builds a home for Jewish war refugees.

[tophertilson]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:42am

Just a small correction - it is NOT based on a true story. It's based on a book that purports to be a true story, but is not. Sort of like a literary THIS IS SPINAL TAP. The person "Patrick Dennis" never actually existed. It was essentially a nom de plum. (He changed his name several times and created new lives for himself at regular intervals.) The "real" Patrick Dennis was actually an interesting fellow. His life has been chronicled in the book UNCLE MAME by Eric Myers. Quite frankly, it would make a terrific Jerry Herman musical of its own. :)

TT

[tophertilson]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:42am

Ya beat me to it, Joe!!! :)

TT

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:52am

It's based on a true story as much as "Anna and the King of Siam" is based on the life of Anna Leonowens (who also "invented" herself, her own back-story, and her name). And as much as Gypsy the musical is based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee.

And the opinion that Mame is not a true story at all seems to be based on one book of rebuttal... Uncle Mame. I don't usually arrive at what is and isn't true historically on one person's perspective of anything.

But it definitely wasn't a fairy tale.

I agree that with Mame, Gypsy and The King and I, these fictional stories were based on true stories... and spun into fiction and "legend" from there.

How far they went with it, is not for us to say, unless we were there.

EDIT: I also think that this subject would make a REALLY good musical. The "truth" behind Mame, The King & I and Gypsy? Fascinating subject matter for three shows, or even one.

Updated On: 6/15/06 at 10:52 AM

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:56am

Just to clarify, I didn't mean "fairy tale" literally.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 11:00am

MCfan2 --- I know you didn't mean it literally, as with witches, spells and unicorns. I took it to mean a frothy work of complete fiction, though. Something sprung entirely out of an author's imagination with no "grounding" in reality.

But... If that's still not what you meant, then it wasn't a great choice of words.

[BT]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 11:03am

But - back to our reguarly scheduled programming ... i take it that those who saw it thought was a good production? I know that Baranski got dinged a bit in early reviews as not really owning the role, but then again she apparently didn't have much time to ease into it.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 11:34am

"Frothy" works, best12bars. It's a "fairy tale" in the same sense that most musicals have a "fairy tale" quality of being removed from reality, with people doing and saying (and singing) things they wouldn't normally.

Anyway . . . yes, I loved the production! With the exception of the problem with Baranski's voice I mentioned a couple days ago -- she had a lot of depth and feeling but not much volume the night I went -- everyone did a beautiful job.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 11:36am

It is a marvelous production. Every bit of money spent on it is seen on stage, with glorious sets and costumes, a huge ensemble and 24 pieces in the orchestra playing the original orchestrations.

Baranski can sing, dance, act comedy brilliantly. Her MAME is very unlike (what I have heard about) Lansbury's. Baranski is cool as a cucumber, but her passion for Patrick is real and extremely touching. Harriet Harris' Vera is also very different than Bea Arthur's -- much less icy deadpan, and more of a gregarious lush. They also have an obvious affection for each other and are a delight onstage, especially during "Bosom Buddies."

I think Baranski got unfairly dinged in the reviews ... she only had three public performances (with the scenery not always working up to and including opening night) before critics arrived. By the time I saw it, she owned the stage every minute she was on it.

I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, and I am glad I got to see a production that is a "big 60s musical" in the best sense of the word. It was a total delight!

[tz0o]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 12:10pm

I so badly want to see this, it isn't funny.


A bit off topic, here: Wouldn't Patti Lupone be great at the title role?

[ben1986]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 12:23pm

I have been thinking that all week. I could just see her coming down the stairs in her entrance. Also she just has that flair about her, that would rule the stage. Anyway I need to get back to work.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 12:25pm

Bleh, I put off getting tickets for this months ago because I figured I'd have time later, then never got around to it. And a part of me was bitter about all the Kennedy Center calls waking me up and asking me to become a member (No means NO!).

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 12:38pm

I waited too long as well, and just barely managed to get mine. And then I was in the very last row of the balcony! It's too bad you didn't make it, orangeskittles.