Review: AUNTIE MAME at Brookfield Theatre

Michelle Leigh directs the play version of Auntie Mame, which is seldom presented on stage these days. Thank goodness patrons of the Brookfield Theatre can rediscover this delightful play.

It is 1928 and Nora Muldoon (Alexa Wild) brings orphaned Patrick Dennis (Ari Shelley) from Chicago to live with his aunt Mame Dennis (Gillian Holt) in New York City, as per his father’s last will and testament. Naturally, both Patrick and Nora are out of their element when they step foot in Mame’s glamorous duplex apartment, but they are immediately drawn into the whirlwind of his aunt’s lifestyle.

Patrick takes to Auntie Mame’s world, which includes her servant Ito (Andrés Idrovo Castillo) and close friends Vera Charles (Becca Lynn) and Lindsay Woolsey (Tony Benedetti). It’s party after party, and when Patrick must attend school, Mame enrolls him in the progressive school in Greenwich Village run by Ralph Devine (Edwin Rodriguez) instead of the prestigious Buckley School. When Mr. Babcock (Craig David Rosen), the priggish executor of Mr. Dennis’s will finds out, he blows a gasket and sends Patrick to boarding school to be away from Mame’s influence.

The following year, the stock market crashes and everyone’s lifestyle is wrecked. Mame tries to get work but is not good at anything but hosting parties. Just before floor walker Mrs. Loomis (Rachel Ames) fires her, Beauregard Jackson Picket Burnside (Jon Barker) walks in with a request of 24 pairs of roller skates for an orphanage in the South. He searches everywhere in Manhattan for her and finally shows up at her apartment.

Beau insists on bringing Mame and Patrick to his home, Peckerwood Mansion, in the South, where the city-bred Mame quickly learns to ride and hunt – or at least survive a horse with a mean and stubborn streak. She must win over the formidable Mother Burnside (Susie Hackel) and cousin (Julia Ilea) and Sally Cato (Tina Morrissette), her rival for Beau’s heart. After their marriage, Mame and Beau adventure at the Matterhorn until Beau has a fatal fall off the mountain.

So, it’s back to New York for Mame. She starts to write a memoire with the help of literary consultant Brian O’Bannion (Liam McGrath) and homely typist Agnes Gooch (Jennifer Baran-Pesaud). The adult Patrick (Colin McCloone) comes back to New York City to introduce his giddy fiancée, Gloria Upson (Lizzy Booth) and her snobbish parents, Claude and Doris (Vinnie D’Ambrosio and Jessica Ryan). You don’t get snotty with Mame, who plans a party of her on that will put the Upsons in their place. She gives Agnes a makeover and sends her to a different party and instructs her “to live.” Mame even brings decorator Pegeen Ryan (Rebecca Annalise) to spiff up her already beautiful apartment.

You just know that the Upson family hightails it out of Mame’s apartment and that Patrick falls in love with Pegeen. Fast forward. Mame now introduces Patrick and Pegeen’s son to her world of adventure.

Auntie Mame is an ambitious play to stage, but director Michelle Lee, her excellent cast, and her creative team swing it. It would have been nice if the scene changes were faster because the play is about two hours and 45 minutes. That said, the Brookfield stage has a periaktos to accommodate the scenes inside and outside Mame’s apartment. Bob Lane’s set is impressive. Carolie Stanton’s lighting was beautiful for the various scenes which included a theater and the Matterhorn). Becca Lynn (yes, the one who plays Vera Charles) is the Costume Designer (and those clothes are to die for!). Alli Holden is the wardrobe mistress and Charlie Wills Galitzer is the wardrobe master. There are many costume changes, so the play requires a skilled team to handle them. Maya Bosco-Schmidt handles props. Rob Kruzykowski (stage manager) and Jean Mazzilli (assistant stage manager) did a good job putting it all together. Okell family members Lou (producer and technical assistant) and Andrew (set design and builder) once again delivered. Bill Sopchak’s sound design needs some tweaking because it’s sometimes hard to hear the punch lines delivered by the actor. This is a problem almost everywhere. The sound checks bring different results when there is a nearly empty theatre and when people are there for sounds to bounce and absorb. Dan Carriero (front of house manager) is not to be ignored. The Brookfield Theatre draws huge crowds, and many shows, such as Auntie Mame, have a full house. Although the lobby of the Brookfield Theatre is spacious, a full house means it gets crowded. But it’s all good.

Auntie Mame runs through July 18th. If you’ve seen the play, the movie, or the musical, you know it has witty dialogue and fascinating characters. If you’re unfamiliar with the play, book your tickets now. Although it was written in the 1950s, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s story and dialog feel contemporary (especially if the market crashes again). Visit www.BrookfieldTheatre.org. Mark your calendars for the rest of the 2026 season (69 years!). Kate Hamill’s Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really plays from September 17th through October 5th. This play combines horror and comedy, classic and contemporary storytelling, and gender bending. You don’t want to miss it. The musical Amélie, an adaptation of the French romantic comedy about an imaginative, shy Parisian waitress who performs secret acts of kindness to bring joy to people. Amelie runs from November 12th to December 5th.

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