A Review

Less Than Sensational

By R. J. Donovan

"Mame" is the second installment of the Jerry Herman trifecta at Reagle Players in Waltham this summer.  Lee Meriwether stars.

There's no question that Ms. Meriwether (at left) brings class and style to the stage.  With that big smile and those flashing eyes, she has the dazzle. 

However, leading a large cast and carrying a big musical requires more than just that.  And it's sad to say that she was either under-rehearsed, or just not up to the responsibility on opening night.  From forgetting lines to flubbing song lyrics again and again, she looked neither confident nor comfortable.  But ever the trouper, she kept going.

Auntie Mame burst forth on the literary landscape in 1955 through the Patrick Dennis novel Auntie Mame. (Patrick Dennis was a nom de plume of Edward Everett Tanner, who based the fictional character on a relative of his own.) 

The tale of the madcap New York socialite raising her young nephew was an instant hit with readers.  Such that a sequel novel followed, along with a stage version based on the original and written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee.  Rosalind Russell starred as the avante garde gal on Broadway, later repeating her iconic role in the film version.

In the story, young Patrick Dennis and his mouse-like nanny arrive in New York City fresh from a funeral.  Patrick's father has died, leaving the boy's upbringing to his lone aunt, Miss Mame Dennis. Mame's fashionable townhouse at No. 3 Beekman Place is the location of endless parties and frivolity populated by an array of artsy, intellectual friends ranging from renowned publisher Lindsay Woolsey to boozy Vera Charles, the self-proclaimed "First Lady Of The American Theatre."

The free-thinking Mame digs right in to broaden Patrick's horizons, however, his executor, Mr. Babcock of the Knickerbocker Bank, wants the boy's life to be conservatively rigid. A clash occurs, of course.

When the Great Depression hits, Mame's fortune is lost. Patrick has been sent off to a boarding school by Mr. Babcock. And alone in Manhattan, Auntie Mame is reduced to a series of low paying jobs, ranging from manicurist to bit player. She fails, comically, at all of them. However, everything is changed when she meets Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, a rich Southern gentleman who marries her and sweeps up her little family to make them his own. When Beau accidentally dies on their honeymoon, Mame is back in the bucks.

By the time we're into the second act, Patrick has grown up and proposed to an insufferable, snobbish debutante.  He quickly falls in with her bigoted family, rejecting his aunt and her flamboyant lifestyle, which he now finds embarrassing.  But fear not, a happy ending awaits.

Auntie Mame got "musicalized" in 1966 by Jerry Herman, who was riding tremendous success as the composer of "Hello, Dolly!"  Here was yet another larger than life lady who sang and danced and kicked up her heels to the delight of audiences.

Angela Lansbury won a Tony Award for her performance in the musical, which much later came to the big screen starring Lucille Ball.   The run of Auntie Mame's success diminished somewhat with that final film, which critics dismissed as strictly for Lucy fans.

At Reagle, the chorus of singers and dancers shine as they always do.  And delivering one of the best performances of the night is Troy Costa (at left with Meriwether) as Young Patrick.  For a seventh grader, he's got great stage presence and emits tremendous confidence.  

As Mr. Babcock, Rick Sherburne projects just the right amount of financial bluster.  And as Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, R. Glen Michell sings the title number with a booming voice. Grown up Patrick is Curley Glynn, and in small but memorable turns are Thayer Surette as Gloria Upson, Patrick's feather-brained fiance, and Kai Chao as Ito, Mame's houseboy.  As inhibited nanny Agnes Gooch, Tony nominee Maureen Brennan is on target, particularly in her comical solo "What Do I Do Now."

Although several of the supporting players are strong, the show has to be powered by the dynamic performance of its energetic star to succeed. That's the pizzazz that drives it. And unfortunately, that's the muscle that's missing.

I walked into the theater expecting to have a soaring evening with Auntie Mame and her spirited cohorts.  I'm as disappointed as anyone to say the flight never really left the runway.

"Mame" is at Robinson Theatre in Waltham through July 25. For information, call 781-891-5600.

-- OnStage Boston