40 years' on and I am fortunate enough to be able to witness the first professional revival of this Muscial in this country since its West End run, some 50 years ago, and I don't think I have ever been so excited at seeing a musical as I have been with this since my teens! I still remember all my dialogue, all the songs and most of the dances... I wonder what Hope Mill and Aria Ents have done with it? Only one way to find out......
The year is 1928 and the height of extravagant fashionable excess knows no bounds when dealing with New York high society of the time. Mame Dennis lives is a luxurious apartment with her Japanese man-servant Ito, and hosts nightly parties which would put the Vanderbilts to shame. [as I shamelessly reference a more famous musical by the same composers, Hello Dolly!]. An almost permanent house guest at Mame's is a once famous, and now a little-down-on-her luck actress Vera Charles, once the doyenne of the silver screen and now enjoying New York's high-life and becoming famous as "the world's greatest lush", never quite realising that the booze and liquor she imbibes is actually detremental to her career. How Mame Dennis became the society viveur she was, and where all her money came from is never made fully clear, but that doesn't really matter... the Wall Street Crash happens, and she loses everything, and is forced into taking on menial jobs for which she is totally unsuited to try and pay her way out of the mire. That is until fate takes a hand in the proceedings and she marries a Southern billionnaire!
This however is just the sub-plot. The main story concerns her relationship with her only living relative, a ten-year old orphaned nephew from a strict Presbyterian background, and how they develop a wonderful and lasting bond and learn to understand and accept each other as the years go by. The Muscial spans 2 decades, and at the end we see an older Mame, but still with a huge sparkle and lust for life about to embark on a journey of a lifetime with her young grand-nephew as the cycle starts all over again.
The set was detailed and I loved the way it opened out for the party revealing the staircase and the band. This must be the largest stage area used at Hope Mill Theatre so far, and although the apartment was very sparce (possibly due to lack of space) it still gave a hint of the wealth and splendour of the time. Perhaps though the band should also have been wearing period tuxedos and been an integral part of this party since they were quite clearly in her house? And once the party finished, could they not then have been screened off and not in sight the whole time?
The entire cast - and quite a large one, but still multi-rolling - were all excellent. From the young Patrick Dennis (three young boys take turns playing this pivotal role but this evening it was Harry Cross), along with his older counterpart (Chase Brown), his chaperone, the goofy Agnes Gooch (Jessie May) who gets a delightful make-over and one of the funniest songs in the show ('What Do I Do Now?) through to Mame's Southern Beau, the impressively titled Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, played with suavity and charm by Tim Flavin, to 'Bosom Buddies' Vera Charles (Harriet Thorpe) and Mame herself (Tracie Bennett). Despite the size of the stage though, the large chorus numbers were crying out for a bigger and more lavish arena. The show-stopping title song at the end of act one was superbly executed with lovely choreography, but I can only hope that when this show transfers to a larger theatre they will utilise a larger chorus and give it the wow-factor that it is crying out to have.
The music, under the direction of Alex Parker was wonderful (although sadly the sound levels were not right during Mame's heart-felt solo 'If He Walked Into My Life', meaning she was drowned out somewhat, which was a shame. The direction and choreography (Nick Winston) was slick, in-keeping with the period, and utilised the stage space well.
This production oozes talent and professionalism in every department, and must easily be the most expensive show that Hope Mill and Aria have put together so far. The stage might be tiny, (and how they manage to balance the books with such a small auditorium goodness only knows!) but they attract some of the biggest names to Ancoats and this Fringe venue is fast outgrowing its fringe moniker as this lavish production of Mame coincides with the theatre's 4th birthday.
In an era of new and through-sung musicals, where everything needs to deliver a socio-political message and mirror the trends of modern society, it is indeed extremely refreshing to watch a show that has no such pretentions (although it does clearly revolve around a strong female lead), and is a wonderfully happy and gloriously life-affirming tribute to a true Musical Comedy, which, as this lovely revival proves, still has plenty of fizz and sparkle, having not dated with time; and I hope this might well kickstart a renewed interest in the more traditional style of musicals generally.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 4/10/19
The year is 1928 and the height of extravagant fashionable excess knows no bounds when dealing with New York high society of the time. Mame Dennis lives is a luxurious apartment with her Japanese man-servant Ito, and hosts nightly parties which would put the Vanderbilts to shame. [as I shamelessly reference a more famous musical by the same composers, Hello Dolly!]. An almost permanent house guest at Mame's is a once famous, and now a little-down-on-her luck actress Vera Charles, once the doyenne of the silver screen and now enjoying New York's high-life and becoming famous as "the world's greatest lush", never quite realising that the booze and liquor she imbibes is actually detremental to her career. How Mame Dennis became the society viveur she was, and where all her money came from is never made fully clear, but that doesn't really matter... the Wall Street Crash happens, and she loses everything, and is forced into taking on menial jobs for which she is totally unsuited to try and pay her way out of the mire. That is until fate takes a hand in the proceedings and she marries a Southern billionnaire!
This however is just the sub-plot. The main story concerns her relationship with her only living relative, a ten-year old orphaned nephew from a strict Presbyterian background, and how they develop a wonderful and lasting bond and learn to understand and accept each other as the years go by. The Muscial spans 2 decades, and at the end we see an older Mame, but still with a huge sparkle and lust for life about to embark on a journey of a lifetime with her young grand-nephew as the cycle starts all over again.
The set was detailed and I loved the way it opened out for the party revealing the staircase and the band. This must be the largest stage area used at Hope Mill Theatre so far, and although the apartment was very sparce (possibly due to lack of space) it still gave a hint of the wealth and splendour of the time. Perhaps though the band should also have been wearing period tuxedos and been an integral part of this party since they were quite clearly in her house? And once the party finished, could they not then have been screened off and not in sight the whole time?
The entire cast - and quite a large one, but still multi-rolling - were all excellent. From the young Patrick Dennis (three young boys take turns playing this pivotal role but this evening it was Harry Cross), along with his older counterpart (Chase Brown), his chaperone, the goofy Agnes Gooch (Jessie May) who gets a delightful make-over and one of the funniest songs in the show ('What Do I Do Now?) through to Mame's Southern Beau, the impressively titled Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, played with suavity and charm by Tim Flavin, to 'Bosom Buddies' Vera Charles (Harriet Thorpe) and Mame herself (Tracie Bennett). Despite the size of the stage though, the large chorus numbers were crying out for a bigger and more lavish arena. The show-stopping title song at the end of act one was superbly executed with lovely choreography, but I can only hope that when this show transfers to a larger theatre they will utilise a larger chorus and give it the wow-factor that it is crying out to have.
The music, under the direction of Alex Parker was wonderful (although sadly the sound levels were not right during Mame's heart-felt solo 'If He Walked Into My Life', meaning she was drowned out somewhat, which was a shame. The direction and choreography (Nick Winston) was slick, in-keeping with the period, and utilised the stage space well.
This production oozes talent and professionalism in every department, and must easily be the most expensive show that Hope Mill and Aria have put together so far. The stage might be tiny, (and how they manage to balance the books with such a small auditorium goodness only knows!) but they attract some of the biggest names to Ancoats and this Fringe venue is fast outgrowing its fringe moniker as this lavish production of Mame coincides with the theatre's 4th birthday.
In an era of new and through-sung musicals, where everything needs to deliver a socio-political message and mirror the trends of modern society, it is indeed extremely refreshing to watch a show that has no such pretentions (although it does clearly revolve around a strong female lead), and is a wonderfully happy and gloriously life-affirming tribute to a true Musical Comedy, which, as this lovely revival proves, still has plenty of fizz and sparkle, having not dated with time; and I hope this might well kickstart a renewed interest in the more traditional style of musicals generally.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 4/10/19
Sounds interesting...would love to see it were it a little closer and to see Harriet Thorp doing her thing on stage.
ReplyDeleteAs a regular to Hope Mill I understand your comments about the scale of production due to space constraints. However I believe this is were the production makes the show a spectacular success, that in the wonderful use of the space the big numbers such as MAME at the end of Act 1 retain their status as big numbers. congrats to the production and choreography team who have maximised the opportunity to deliver a show which should not be missed. A true ***** magical show.
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