Re-Interpreting MAME

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 7:10pm

Following the lead of the ANNIE thread...

For the revival of MAME perhaps little Patrick can also wake up to find he is only a Depression era orphan having dreamt about a fabulous make-believe Aunt.

Just a thought...

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 07:10 PM

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 7:45pm

Or the actress playing Mame can take the Douglas Hodge approach and deconstruct the character to death.

Mame will now be a slightly self-loathing, dim-witted hedonist who under-plays everything.

Alcoholic too perhaps.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 7:48pm

Keep going, Almira, you're digging a hole that's getting deeper and deeper. Soon you'll find yourself mired in oblivion.

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 7:57pm

Well... if we are being completely honest.. posting on a broadway message board IS finding oneself "mired in oblivion."

anyway...

Don't get me wrong Dollypoop, I love MAME.. but I'm not a fundamentalist like yourself. I can actually have fun imagining what a crackpot director or actor might do with the material.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:34pm

Mame is actually dirt poor. Her home contains two chairs and Hugh Jackman. However, using opium, she convinces everyone they're at a fabulous party. But, she's actually poor....and minimalist...and EDGY.

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:39pm

*chuckles*

I love it. MAME is now black box drug-induced hallucination!

Don't be surprised, theaterkid1015, when The Menier Chocolate Factory does that next season!

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 08:39 PM

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:42pm

Although....a house with only two chairs and Hugh Jackman might not be all that bad.

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:45pm

Jackman would be great.. but wasted.. Beau is a pretty thankless role.

I think...


Vera should be re-conceived has a hardcore lesbian secretly lusting after Gooch!

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 08:45 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:45pm

Tom Hanks as Mame and Peter Scolari as Vera. Now that's a show you can bank on.

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:46pm

I'm waiting for them to do the never-gonna-happen revival of SUGAR!

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:47pm

No, Hugh Jackman just plays Hugh Jackman in Mame's House, a role created specifically for this production. He's also the orchestra.

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:49pm

LOL!!!!

I get it.. sorta like Che in EVITA. Jackman just hangs around all night.

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 08:49 PM

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:51pm

With Ke$ha as Vera Charles, to draw in the youngins.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 8:52pm

Jackman hums the score while Mame sings. It'd be a show-stopper. The minute he stops to take a breath... the show stops!

[Almira]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 9:06pm

Of course the whole thing could be turned upside down and told from Ito's point of view.

It could be a sort of Marxist revolt as we watch him slyly comment on Mame's useless and frivolous lifestyle. Or even better.. undermine Mame and her privileged cohorts.

I'm surprised that has been done yet!

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 09:06 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 11:34pm

I heard of, but did not see, a production in which one man played Beau, Ito, and most of the other "little featured guy" parts. I know it involved a LOT of quick changes, several within a single song.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/24/10 at 11:53pm

Perhaps Mame sexually abuses Patrick, and shares him with her friends. Bosom Buddies is actually sung in front of him, whilst the ladies are topless.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 12:33am

"Whilst," Phyllis? When did you become Madonna?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 1:02am

Wait, wait, what was I thinking? Naturally:

Mame: Madonna
Vera: Cyndi Lauper
Gooch: Gaga
Hugh Jackman in Mame's House/The Orchestra: Hugh Jackman
Beau: Highly Respected British Stage Actor

Updated On: 5/25/10 at 01:02 AM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 3:21am

Maybe Mame is like a Batman villain. You know, since they're often really upper-class socialites with heavily ironic names? She can maim people. That can be her gimmick.

[Urban]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 7:44am

Lucille Ball's singing was a horrible enough re-interpretation...

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 8:02am

I'm sorry, but this whole thread is a lot of crap, especially when read at 8:00 in the morning. And, yes I do have a sense of humor. After 10 am.

[myshikobit]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 10:42am

Oh boy do I approve this thread :) especially Hugh Jackman as the orchestra.

I think they should set it in an insane asylum. An insane asylum on a cruiseship. Or at least, as it is dreamed up by Angela Lansbury.

And then with this production, they'd add a third act. And this third act would start out by taking us to a fictitious "Mame" rehearsal, where the lead actress is suddenly flung into the rapturous story of what happens to "Mame" after the original ending. Which of course makes her end up in a giant garden where a god-like figure named 33 tries to save her soul from evil. And at the very end (after the rape ballet) a large, white staircase will descend, and Mame will be killed by Patrick, who will be wearing a skimpy black negligee.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 11:59am

Gypsy9, I promise you that all of this is supposed to be a load of crap.

[jovie27]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 12:51pm

Victor Garber as Beau!!!!