BWW Reviews: A 'Just Sensational' MAME Plays at Allenberry

Jerry Herman's MAME is the stuff of legend. First came Patrick Dennis' 1955 novel that became the Broadway play and Rosalind Russell movie, AUNTIE MAME, still itself a stage stalwart, and then came Jerry Herman, Jerome Lawrence, Angela Lansbury, and Beatrice Arthur in 1966, along with eight Tony nominations and three wins, including for Lansbury and Arthur. (We'll be polite and ignore the 1974 film, allegedly of the same musical, starring Lucille Ball, a legend of its own kind.)

On stage now at Allenberry Playhouse, directed and choreographed by Dann Dunn, who knows a thing or two about putting on a musical and has staged MAME before, its only serious flaw is that it ends on September 28 rather than having a longer run. There's everything to love about Jerry Herman's classic songs (MAME is the origin of the Christmas song "We Need a Little Christmas" and the ever popular women's cabaret duet, "Bosom Buddies" as well as its namesake tune, among many others), clever sets by Dan Daly, and some serious costume magic by Kurt Alger, whose 1920's cocktail finery for the women dazzles as much as Dunn's choreography. Particularly check Mame's cocktail dress in the opening scene, which is a true knockout that's still worth seeing on a rack these days.

Also requiring notice is this cast, in which the surprise knockout is Greta Kleckner as Mame's "nanny in law" and faithful assistant, Agnes Gooch. Kleckner's delighted audiences in featured parts all of this season, especially as the masseuse in LADIES' NIGHT IN A TURKISH BATH, but here she not only gets all the laughs but proves she can sing. She's a second generation Gooch, her mother having played the same role in the past, so perhaps it's in her genes.

Mame Dennis, freethinking and freewheeling aunt and guardian of the young Patrick, is played by Allison Mickelson, who pulls off her cocktail-drinking, dancing, and generally celebratory lifestyle on stage by living up to Mame's motto beginning "Life is a banquet" - she's full of energy, and so is her sometimes-devoted (but never a "frenemy") sidekick of sorts, Broadway star Vera Charles, played by an equally delightful Sabra Michelle. The classic "Bosom Buddies" duet in the second act is in good hands with these two. Mickelson also gives a fine performance of "Open a New Window" that's worth catching.

Patrick Dennis, both the younger, played by Matthew Peterson, and the older one, played by Steve Cargile, is a joy as the young boy who can mix a martini and the gradually-declining post-collegiate prig who nearly marries into a horrid wealthy suburban family until saved by another dose of his aunt's sage (and well-displayed) advice. Both Peterson and Cargile have very fine voices, and that Peterson's a very young but very seasoned professional can never be in doubt from the minute he arrives on stage to the transition scene at the beginning of Act Two.

Jeff March makes for a charming plantation-owning Beauregard Burnside, and Ed Cohn an equally charming M. Lindsay Woolsey, publisher extraordinaire, Mame's two main adult male companions. It's Beauregard who marries her, though, allowing Jane Heinze a moment of playing the infamous Mother Burnside who becomes smitten with both Mame's charm and her assumed talent. It's at this point, when the cast breaks into "Mame," the show's titular number that closes Act One, that the stage feels too small to hold all of the choreography that Dunn's given the show, though the ensemble does pull it off in fine fashion - this and "It's Today" earlier in the show are two of the best ensemble dance numbers of the past couple of seasons at Allenberry.

If there is any serious flaw beside the short run of this show, it's that Mickelson, who shines in "Open a New Window" and "We Need a Little Christmas," doesn't bring the same dynamic to the eleven o'clock number, "If He Walked Into My Life." While a performer should rarely do a full impression of another actor's work on stage (unless they're playing that performer), there's no way around the fact that Angela Lansbury nailed the emphasis in this song, and one could wish that Mickelson had heeded that same phrasing - it's simply correct. This delivery is somewhat lacking in the gut-wrenching that Mame should be feeling at seeing Patrick's being happily co-opted into a family that wants to make sure Patrick and his wife-to-be live in a properly "restricted" (no blacks, no Jews, possibly no Irish) upscale community well outside the city - the very sort of thing Mame's tried to teach him to reject all his life.

Despite that, overall this production is a rousing, toe-tapping - and a sing-along if you know the words - success. It's exactly what you want to see when you see MAME, glitz, glitter, over-the-top sparkle, and choreography that doesn't stop. If you want to catch a second performance you're not alone. But do it now - this is one of Allenberry's shortest runs of the season.

At Allenberry Playhouse only through September 28. Call 717-258-3211 or visit www.allenberry.com for tickets and information.

To post a comment, you must register and login.