Mame needs a revival!

[AnythingGoes23]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 6:48pm

Just listening to the cast recording, this show must return to Broadway soon! Long overdue...

Who would be a good Mame both artistically and commercially do you think?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 6:53pm

It's a BIG show so you need a BIG name. Lots of people would be great but for a MAME revival to be at all successful, you'll need a Queen Latifah or a Dolly Parton or someone who could on name alone sell out an entire run.

[Knowitall]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 7:53pm

Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Catherine Zeta-Jones

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:07pm

Catherine Zeta-Jones couldn't sing MAME if her life depended on it. Maybe she could do the ballet.

Personally, I don't think Glenn Close would fare much better, but she could probably hit most of the notes. I must admit I've never been a fan of her singing; I know others disagree.

Meryl Streep would make it work, but doesn't she always?

[random person 112]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:13pm

I really want Cher to play Mame. Sure she's a little old but she's so perfect for it.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:16pm

CZJ has more singing ability than Close and Streep.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:17pm

Beth Leavel as Vera Charles if not the lead.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:17pm

Mame was not a huge success because Lansbury was a megastar. She was a star but not a BIG star (which is why she didn't get the movie). It was a huge success because people loved her in it. Neither Dolly Parton nor Queen Latifah are the first woman who come to mind when I think of sophisticated madcap comedy. Both are much more Dolly than Mame.

Ann-Margret should have played it years ago. I've said this on many other threads before but Toni Collette is hands down the best choice for Mame right now. Kristen Johnston should be her Vera.





Updated On: 12/29/12 at 08:17 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:36pm

Right but Broadway is a bit different now than it was in '66. And I just picked two names that I'd heard before when casting comes up, to show the star power that they'd need to have a financially successful run.

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:45pm

If we're talking pie-in-the-sky, don't worry about being realistic, I could see Bette Midler killing it. Mame has a light touch I can't see CZJ or Latifah pulling off and as much as I love Dolly- well, sorry, no way.

I do think you need a name. A star. And Mame ranges over 30 years or so, so age doesn't really matter.

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 08:45 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:53pm

Just to be clear, I wasn't saying Latifah or Dolly should do it, just that teyre the type of stars you'd need. Midler would be my first pick if I could choose anyone.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 8:55pm

CZJ has more singing ability than Close and Streep.

Actually, no. Close and Streep have sung leads in Broadway musicals, CZJ has danced in them and sang two-and-a-half songs written for non-singer Glynnis Johns.

I have it on good authority that they had to put together CZJ's tracks for CHICAGO one line at a time.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 9:08pm

I can't imagine Bette Midler wants to work that hard when she can make more money in Vegas. But I understand the point is that she could sell the revival.

I'm not a huge fan of Toni Collette's singing voice, but, damn, the woman can play anything! I don't know whether she's a big enough draw. (I'm not saying she isn't; I really don't know. She would be for me personally, but I never miss the MURIEL'S WEDDING girls if I can help it.)

henrik is right that MAME made Lansbury a star more than Lansbury's name alone made the show a hit. (If the show had a star in the beginning, it was Jerry Herman.) But that was almost 50 years ago. I don't know a revival without a star would run; it's really the opposite of an ensemble show.

What the role does require is a sort of larger-than-life Hollywood glamour and I'm not sure THAT exists any more. (Except for Cher and Streep and a few others who are actually 20 years too old for the part.)

[After Eight]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:01pm

"It was a huge success because people loved her in it."

It was a huge success because it was a wonderful show with a great score, and it continued to run long after Angela Lansbury departed the cast.

And of course, Angela Lansbury was wonderful in it.

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 10:01 PM

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:01pm

Didn't CZJ star as Peggy Sawyer in the West End production of 42ND STREET in the 1980's?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:16pm

Yes.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:16pm

^^^^Sounds familiar, though I don't keep track of the West End. CZJ certainly has a background in musical theater. I have recordings of her singing a small role in two productions of STREET SCENE.

But I am told by someone who would know that she can't really sustain a demanding vocal number.

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 10:16 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:10pm

Catherine Jones lacks the charm to play anyone's Auntie Mame.

She's better suited to Gloria Upson.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:20pm

No.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:30am

Lady GaGa

[AnythingGoes23]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 7:06am

Beth Level as Vera is a must, I agree ...!

Give it a few years and Kristin Chenoworth?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 10:33am

"It was a huge success because it was a wonderful show with a great score, and it continued to run long after Angela Lansbury departed the cast."

If the show is that good, then it doesn't need a star. In my opinion,
the show might have merit, might be solid, but it is heavily dependent on the right casting. What I was referring to is casting someone who's right for it and not nec. a megastar is what's required. Was it Ann Miller and Celeste Holm who took over for Lansbury?

Having said that, few would argue Lansbury's contribution to making Mame a smash.

Martin Gottfried (*) wrote: "It was at the Winter Garden Theatre, where Mame was playing previews, that Angela finally got to have a star dressing room on Broadway.".
This shows how Mame brings fame to Angela: it was the great musical for the GREATEST actress!
She conquered Broadway in the part of a great, vivacious force of nature: this is one of the classic tales of show business, and Gottfried recounts its drama in rich detail.

***

Jordan, I didn't quite understand your point about Parton and Latifah, obviously, but I do now.

Still I have to question this notion of Broadway's current status being all that different in terms of BIG star-need than it is now. Some of the most successful musicals have not needed huge stars to be successes. Including revivals. Chicago is still running without BIG stars in it and it opened with leads who were knowns but not BIG stars. Once is a hit without big stars. Of course it's always a plus to have a huge star who is right for the role. But the necessity of it is overstated. My point is that casting the right person in a good show can make the show a smash, get the reviews, make the show's star a star, or that star a bigger star, as it did with Lansbury.

If a revival of Mame could be as successful as the revival of South Pacific it would be a huge success. O'Hara and Szot made that show work and got the reviews, as did Lupone and Benanti in Gypsy. These are not household names.

[After Eight]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 10:46am

"In my opinion, the show might have merit, might be solid, "

"Might?"

No "might " about it. Of course Angela Lansbury was wonderful. Of course she contibuted to its success, just like Mary Martin contributed to the success of South Pacific and Sound of Music.

Yet all of these shows were still good with other people in the roles.

[Far From Home]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 10:52am

^
Janice Paige was Lansbury's replacement.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 11:19am

After Eight, you may be unqualified in your love of MAME, but not everyone is. Look no further than the fact it lost the tony for best musical to, of all things, MAN OF LA MANCHA. A show which depends even more keenly to work on having a great star, meaning a star who is magically cast, not a household name, a show which like MAME gave Broadway one of its most legendary star turns from a great performer who was not a superstar.

My point is that somewhere between the notion that the show would need a superstar to work and the show is so solid it doesn't need a superb choice for its leading lady, is the truth.

The show is not such a draw that it is casting-proof. Nor is it a show that couldn't thrive in large part due to the quality of its casting (assuming good direction, design, etc.) rather than the name-recognition and megapopularity of its star.

If it's good, people will want to see it. And for it to be good requires a Mame who is a fabulous actress, a deft comedienne, a woman who knows how to sell a song, with an engaging warmth, and a sense of madness mixed with an eccentric and imperfect maternal quality. As good as Lady Gaga - whom Lansbury has proposed - might be in the role, the woman who takes Mame on need not be that kind of automatic draw for the show to succeed.

In other words, if Mame premiered today with someone as perfect for the role and with the same degree of box office power as Lansbury had then, it would be a success. The same goes for a revival.



Updated On: 12/30/12 at 11:19 AM