Reviewed by Tony Annicone
The Roaring 20’s are alive and well at Reagle Music Theatre’s 51st season opener “Mame.” This musical version was originally titled “My Best Girl”, which became a hit song in the show. “Mame” is based on the 1955 fictional novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and a 1956 play starring Rosalind Russell. The musical version by Jerry Herman opened on Broadway on May 24, 1966, ran for 1,508 performances. It starred Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur who both won Tony Awards for their roles as Mame and Vera. Mame Dennis is the leading character, who lives a wild and carefree life in 1920’s New York until she unexpectedly becomes the guardian of her ten year old nephew, Patrick when her snooty brother passes away.
The show is set in New York City and Georgia after she meets her soon to be husband’s Southern family. “Mame” spans the years from the Great Depression to World War II and her famous motto to her nephew is “Life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-a-bitch are starving to death.” We meet all the crazy characters in her bohemian life including her “bosom buddy” Vera Charles, the actress, her personal secretary, Agnes Gooch, the overbearing executor of Patrick’s estate, Dwight Babcock, the Southern aristocrat, Beauregard Burnside and the obnoxious Gloria Upson and her bigoted parents. But Mame survives all obstacles and overcomes all odds. Director Eileen Grace infuses her cast with the keen insight into their roles while musical director Dan Rodriguez taught them all the intricate and difficult Jerry Herman score that soars off the charts with a multitude of high notes. Grace, who is also the choreographer, devises many different dance styles which are brilliantly executed in perfect unison by the cast and are breathtaking to witness. Their combined expertise wins them many accolades and also propels the audience to their feet at the close of the show.
Bob Eagle celebrates his 51st season of producing quality musicals at Reagle Music Theatre. “Mame” opens the 51st season with a bang with two more summer blockbusters to follow. Grace does an excellent job directing “Mame”, creating many impressive scenes along the way with the especially funny “Open a New Window” chase where she has people running up the side of the proscenium wall. This musical is high energy and there is great exuberance from the cast all night long. Dan conducts a spectacular 18 piece orchestra which brings you to tears and tugs on your heartstrings in the emotional ballads “My Best Girl” and “If He Walked into My Life” while the 9 brass players sound phenomenal and they wake you up and take notice in “It’s Today”, “Open a New Window” and “Mame.” Grace also creates stunning kick lines, cake walks, tangos, ballet and the Charleston to Jerry Herman’s musical numbers. The beautiful two story sets are by David Allen Jeffrey with an impressive spiral stairway while Costume World Theatrical handles the numerous gorgeous costumes that Mame and the cast wear especially impressive are the colorful ones in “Open a New Window”, the Southern ones for the chase and the chorus’ for the Upson party.
Leading this talented cast is Leigh Barrett as Mame who returns to Reagle in triumph after her portrayal of Reno Sweeney last year in “Anything Goes.” She captures the essence of this hard drinking bon vivant perfectly, proving why she won has won IRNE and Elliott Norton Awards. Barrett commands the stage in a tour-de-force performance, capturing Mame’s motto of live your life to the fullest splendidly as her life is turned upside down when she becomes guardian to her young nephew. Her comic timing is terrific as she persuades everyone around her to enjoy every day. Barrett’s powerful voice is heard in many songs including “It’s Today”, where she entertains her drunken guests, “Open a New Window” while she takes Patrick on a tour of Manhattan and eventually gets them arrested at a speakeasy, the heart wrenching, poignant “My Best Girl” and her best number “If He Walked into My Life” which stops the show with her powerhouse rendition, punch and poignancy. She also sings the upbeat “We Need a Little Christmas” with Beau, Ito, Gooch and little Patrick as well as the big dance number “That’s How Young I Feel”, dancing a Jitterbug and Lindy with the teen crowd in Connecticut. Barrett once again stops the show in “Bosom Buddies” with Mame’s best friend, the drunken lush, Vera. This version will definitely make you forget the awful 1974 movie version. Kudos on a job very well done.
Mame’s heavy drinking best friend, Vera is excellently played by Maureen Keiller who sounds and looks like Bea Arthur at times during the show. Her caustic one liners are delivered with excellent acidity. Keiller also plays the leading lady astronomer in the operetta “The Man in The Moon” which stops the show with hilarity. The girls sing in the background while both the girls and boys do a comic ballet during one of the funniest numbers in the show. She also does a nice turn in “Bosom Buddies” with Barrett. Her funniest lines are “The man in the moon is a bitch” when Mame is fired after ruining her number and “Tell her to get her ass on that moon” when Mame is late for her entrance on the crescent moon.
Agnes Gooch, Patrick’s drab and decidedly repressed nanny is terrifically played by Katie O’Reilly who is married to Dan Rodriguez. She is a very pretty girl in real life who is dressed down, walks with pigeon toes and snorts when she laughs as the downtrodden Gooch. Her glorious soprano voice soars in “St. Bridget” which opens the show as she leads Patrick through the evilness of NYC. Then in “Bosom Buddies” she is turned from a frump into a bombshell after Mame and Vera advise her. O’Reilly then appears in a tight red dress while doing a vampy dance to the number. After Gooch lives life to the fullest she returns pregnant to stay with Mame and then captures the hearts of everyone with the show stopping “Gooch’s Song” which soars off the charts up to a high B flat. Ito, the butler is well played by Simon Rogers who wins many laughs with his madcap antics as he helps Mame take care of Patrick for many years. I last reviewed him in “1776” at New Rep last December.
The person who steals many a scene in this show is 11 year old Ben Choi-Harris, who plays Patrick as a boy. He returns back to MA after being in The National Tour of “A Christmas Story.” Choi-Harris is a hoot as he mixes a martini for Mr. Babcock with the gin and vermouth like a real bartender and recites the dirty words which he doesn’t understand from his pad. He also has a marvelous voice which he displays in “St. Bridget”, “It’s Today” and “Open a New Window.” His most poignant and best done numbers occur in “My Best Girl” when he comforts Mame after she’s fired from Vera’s show and at the end of “Mame” when he runs to his aunt declaring she’s is still his best girl which tugs on the heartstrings of the audience. Choi-Harris is also a marvelous dancer and although he may be young has a very bright future in show business. Older Patrick is well played by Will Burke. His strong baritone voice is heard in both renditions of “My Best Girl” which brings the audience to tears when Patrick comforts Mame after his uncle’s accident and when he finally repents his idiotic college ways. He is a dummy about the wealthy Gloria and her bigoted family but Mame sets him straight in a kick you in the butt way. The bubble headed Gloria Upson is wonderfully played by Casey Schryer while the bigoted Upsons are played by Kevin C. Groppe and Tracey O’Farrell who win many laughs as the villains of the show. Libby Rosenfield dons a red wig to play Patrick’s soon to be wife who is down to earth and sensible unlike bubble brained Gloria.
Another spectacular performer returning to Reagle is Mark Linehan after playing Harold Hill in “The Music Man” last season. He does a terrific job as Beauregard Pickett Jackson Burnside as he gives a leading man quality to this Southern gentleman ala Rhett Butler unlike his foppish turn as Sir Evelyn last year in “Anything Goes.” Linehan first appearance is as one of Mame’s casualties in the beauty shop then brings Christmas cheer to Mame and her clan. Beau then brings her to Georgia to propose to her in the show stopping closing number of Act 1, “Mame” with his powerful baritone voice. In this closing segment, Linehan and the Southern Aristocrats dance and sing up a storm, leaving the audience cheering for more. Playing the bombastic Mr. Babcock is Rick Sherburne who reprises it from the last time Reagle did the show. However although he puts Mame in her place several times during the show, he receives his comeuppance when Mame tricks Babcock and the Upson family in “It’s Today” reprise. Another comic performer is Jonathan Tillen who plays Peter Dennis and when he quotes Mame’s naughty motto received a great deal of laughter. He last played Winthrop in “The Music Man” last year. Karen Fanale also is a scene stealer as Mother Burnside with her comic antics during the Georgia sequence. Kudos to the dancing and singing chorus with their topnotch prowess. So for a magnificent rendition of the classic Jerry Herman musical that will leave you cheering in the aisles, be sure to catch “Mame” at Reagle Music Theatre before she cakewalks her way out of town. It is one of the must see musicals of this season. Run do not walk to the box office and tell them Tony sent you. This musical brought back happy memories for me, having played Ralph Devine in it back in 1984.
MAME (13 to 23 June)
Reagle Music Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA
1(781)891-5600 or www.reaglemusictheatre.com
