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Responsible! Yet fun

Mame and her nephew Patrick learn from each other in the classic story offered at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre through Nov 19.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published September 29, 2006

Broadway has had some great roles for women - Hello, Dolly's Levi, Sweet Charity's Valentine, My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle, Gypsy's Mama Rose.

But none is more heartwarming and lovable than Mame, the eccentric, sophisticated lady who parties all night and sleeps all day, but turns into a mother hen when her brother dies unexpectedly and leaves her with a little boy named Patrick to raise on her own.

Mame arrives at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre tonight and will stay there through Nov. 19.

"It's a show about saving people," said Matthew McGee, the show's director. "In the first act, Patrick saves Mame. In the second act, Mame saves Patrick."

McGee is right. As the show opens, Mame (Jan Leigh Herndon) is at loose ends in her fancy New York apartment, living a free and fun-filled life, but one without real purpose.

During one of her legendary parties for her eccentric pals, who should arrive on her doorstep but young Patrick (Kristopher Hamlin), the offspring of Mame's late brother. Suddenly, Mame's life is transformed.

And so is Patrick's.

The two immediately bond and then begin to learn from each other about whole new worlds; for Mame, it's about responsibility, for Patrick, it's about having fun.

Mame is challenged by the stuffy banker Lindsay Woolsey (Eric Jon Mahlum), who controls Patrick's money and is not pleased with the free-wheeling lifestyle of Patrick's guardian. Then she's challenged by poverty when she loses her fortune in the stock market crash.

Her faithful household staff, the butler-gofer Ito (Troy LaFon) and diligent secretary Agnes Gooch (Catherine Rogers, Viva Vegas!), don't desert her and neither do her friends.

Mame is ultimately rescued by Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Roy Johns), a wealthy Southerner with a demanding mother (Nikki Savitt) and a neighbor, Sally Cato (Lisa Katt Watson), who hopes to marry him. Mame prevails, her dignity intact.

She also comes out on top when Patrick grows up and becomes entangled with the silly and snobbish Gloria Upson (Andrea Eskin) and her blithely racist parents, Doris and Claude (Barbara Wells and Bob Wells).

Through it all, director McGee says, "Mame is never cruel, never a caricature. She's a gracious lady and a gracious hostess."

The show has some of Jerry Herman's best music: We Need a Little Christmas, Bosom Buddies, If He Walked Into My Life, to name a few.

Preopening ticket sales have been brisk. The show has already outsold any other show in its time slot, according to Nick Sessa, Show Palace co-owner.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Mame, a musical

WHERE: Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson

WHEN: Tonight through Nov. 18. Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays and 1:30 p.m. some Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Doors open two hours before each show for dinner and full cash bar.

TICKETS: Dinner and show, $42.50; show, $31.45; children 12 and younger, $24.95 and $19.95; all plus tax and tip. Call toll-free, 1-888-655-7469.

[Last modified September 29, 2006, 06:13:12]