Happy Mame Day!

Forty-five years ago today, Jerry Herman's MAME opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre.  It starred Angela Lansbury as Auntie Mame, Bea Arthur as Vera Charles and Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch.   It moved to the Broadway Theatre on October 6, 1969.   It ran a total of 1,508 performances.  Angela took Mame on the road.  Her Broadway replacements included  Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, Janis Paige, and Sheila Smith.  It ran successfully in the West End of London with Ginger Rogers as Mame. 

MAME won the 1966 Tony Award Best for Musical for its book by Jerrome Lawrence and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.   Jerry Herman won the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist.  Angela Lansbury won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, her first of five.  Frankie Michaels, who played young Patrick, won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, setting a record for being the youngest person ever to win a Tony at the age of ten.  Bea Arthur won the Tony for Best Features Actress in a Musical.  The show was also nominated for Best Scenic Design (William and Jean Eckart), Best Choreography (Onna White), and Best Direction (Gene Saks).  Jerry Lanning, who played older Patrick, won a 1966 Theatre World Award.

Mame is the musical version of Auntie Mame, based on the novels by Patrick Dennis and the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.   The story is about a glamorous, live-loving, madcap single aunt who inherits her young orphaned nephew Patrick.  It's a joyous and life-affirming story, and I myself try my best to emulate Mame's philosophy:  "Life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death."

MAME has only been revived on Broadway once:  in 1983, by Angela Lansbury herself.   While Angela's performance was critically acclaimed, the production was not and ran only for one summer season.    In May, 2006, a limited run of MAME was produced at the Kennedy Center starring Christine Baranski and Harriett Harris.  It was fabulous, but not quite enough so to get it moved to New York.   Last year, Jerry Herman himself stirred up talk that a revival might be in the works in an interview with Broadway World.   Since the brilliant revival of Jerry Herman's LA CAGE AUX FOLLES only recently closed and there is still word on the street that a revival of his HELLO DOLLY! is in the works, one can continue hoping that a full-fledged Jerry Herman Renaissance is in the cards and we will sooner than later get a revival of MAME on Broadway.   Donna Murphy for MAME, anyone?  

Happy Mame Day, Part 2!

And then just hours after I waxed on about my desire for a revival of MAME, Broadwayworld reports:  "[Jerry Herman] has very exciting news to impart: "There's a great interest in doing a new Mame. I have wonderful producers who are interested in doing it and we're going to have a couple of meetings next month to see if we can come up with a star. It's so difficult to cast that show. Of everything I've ever written, I think that's the toughest one. It's because she has to do everything. She has to, first of all, be a LADY and then she has to be a comedienne, then she has to sing her ass of, then she has to dance her ass off. She also has to be a beautiful, sensitive actress. Now where do you find all that in one person if it's not Angela Lansbury? It's very tough."

I say - Jerry, talk to Donna Murphy!

Happy Mame Day!

Last night, at the 55th Drama Desk Awards, Angela Lansbury presented composer/lyricist Jerry Herman with a Drama Desk special award to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater, specifically for "enchanting and dazzling audiences with his exuberant music and heartfelt lyrics for more than half a century". 

On this day, in 1966, his musical MAME opened at the Winter Garden Theatre where it ran until October, 1969.  It transferred to the Broadway Theatre where it ran another six months until January, 1970.   It played a total of 1,513 performances.   It garnered five Tony Awards, including Best Actress for Angela Lansbury, Best Supporting Actress for Bea Arthur, Best Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist for Jerry Herman, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Frankie Michaels.

During the run, Celeste Holm, Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, Janis Paige and Sheila Smith all had a go at playing Mame.   Angela Lansbury herself took it on the road, including a long sit down in Los Angeles. 

MAME has had one revival.  In 1983, an attempt was made to revive it, again with Angela Lansbury.  She was 17 years older and although as fabulous as ever, perhaps couldn't kick quite so high.  For whatever reason, the stars didn't align again and it only ran for a disappointing 48 performances. 

In 2006, the Kennedy Center produced a production of MAME starring Christine Baranski as Mame and Harriet Harris as Vera Charles.   I loved it and hoped it would transfer, although it was not to be.   

However, I've been hoping for a revival ever since.  I know its imperative for a revival to be at least as good as its original, if not better at least completely different.  And for a role of this stature it has to be somebody who transcends the ordinary leading lady.   After seeing Donna Murphy in the Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle at City Center earlier this year,  I've launched a grass roots campaign to see her star as Mame in a revival.

Last year, Jerry Herman was also honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.  Given the fact that his La Cage Aux Folles is a hit on Broadway, it's time the current generation to get a taste of his other shows (his Hello Dolly! was the first big "Broadway" show I saw on tour circia 1995 and its original star, Carol Channing was still touring in it).  If there ever was a time to do it, the time is now - Jerry Herman deserves a renaissance.