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| Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: winters 09:46 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| The film remains one of my favorites.... thank you Rosalind Russel, but you are not the sole reason why the film is so amazing. The script.....the supporting cast....sigh! I don’t know how different the play is from the film but I’ve been told that that the cast size makes it a dubious financial venture. I’m guessing that the play is similar enough to the film that my statement that the play would still be a lot of fun could. Be an accurate one. Perhaps a theater company a la Roundabout could do a production. With the irrelevance of Mr. Herman the casting list grows well beyond the expected Broadway divas. So people....I am not asking the oft asked who should play Mame but......a variation...who should play Auntie Mame? |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: SpeechTeacher 05:10 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - winters 09:46 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| I thought Harriet Harris would be a great Auntie Mame, or would she be a better Vera Charles? | |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 05:17 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - SpeechTeacher 05:10 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Harriet Harris played Vera with Christine Baranski as Mame in a production of the musical at the Kennedy Center in 2006. | |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: Pokernight 11:02 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - winters 09:46 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| As I've posted a couple of times already, ANNETTE BENING.................with HOLLAND TAYLOR as Vera -- I also suggested the Roundabout, which now seems possible with some double casting, I'm glad someone else has the same idea. I was feeling like a voice in the Widerness. | |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: portenopete 01:17 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - Pokernight 11:02 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Annette Bening is not a bad choice, but Holland Taylor is 75. I'm sure, in a sense, she could "pull it off", but how suspended does our disbelief have to be? In the 1920's and '30s an actress of Taylor's age would have been playing dowagers and duchesses, not hanging off crescent moons. | |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below | |
| Posted by: Pokernight 02:52 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - portenopete 01:17 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| In AUNTIE MAME she would be playing a society lady in "Midsummer Madness", not hanging off a moon. Just saying. | |
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| Thanks for that clarification! | |
| Posted by: portenopete 09:28 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - Pokernight 02:52 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| My ignorance of the play and the movie of the play is showing. Sounds like I may be wrong in thinking an older woman would be unsuitable. | |
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| re: Thanks for that clarification! | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 11:49 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Thanks for that clarification! - portenopete 09:28 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Your ignorance of the musical did show in that it's Mame, not Vera, who hangs off the moon. :) I would agree that it might be a bit much to have the splendid Ms. Taylor as Vera in the play at this point. If anything, I think the play that Vera is seen performing in the play Auntie Mame suggests the need for a slightly younger actress than you may be able to get away with in the musical, where we see her play a lady astronomer in a "terribly modern operetta." Still, actresses often played much older back in the 1920s, and it might be funny to have a Vera of 70 or so playing opposite a leading man of 35 or so in Midsummer Madness. Not that we're terribly likely to see a full-scale revival of either any time soon. Unless Encores!, does the musical (which may or may not count as full-scale). |
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| re: Thanks for that clarification! | |
| Posted by: portenopete 07:53 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Thanks for that clarification! - AlanScott 11:49 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| But do we ever see Vera sitting on the moon? I was sure there was a Hirschfeld caricature..... And I would say the way things are going, Encores! is looking as full-scale as you can get, save behemoth sets. |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... | |
| Last Edit: flaguy 10:53 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
| Posted by: flaguy (flaguy) 10:51 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Speaking of Auntie Mame....see below - winters 09:46 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| I do believe when people speak of 'AUNTIE MAME' being revived, they fondly remember the movie, which was aided by a sparkling Comden & Green screenplay. But as for the play itself, it's three long acts, with a cast of something like 31, and more than one scenic location. The musical's book, like it or not, streamlined the play. Yet there's a dated feeling to the musical, for me anyway. (Not the score. I LOVE the score!) Anyway, the Rosalind Russell movie's best, and can't be topped, in my humble opinion. So I just can't imagine the play being revived in the near future, though the Bay Street Theatre did it several years ago, starring Charles Busch. It wasn't wonderful (through no fault of Mr. Busch's performance.) |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:08 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - flaguy 10:51 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Just a small note that the play is in two acts. Perhaps Bay Street did it in three (although I can't imagine where you would place another intermission). In the benefit staged reading Busch did some years back (before Bay Street, I think), I thought he didn't really know how to do it. He got the surface, but wonderful as he is in the right roles, the role requires things that he couldn't provide, at least at the time under those circumstances. |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... | |
| Posted by: GatorMan 11:39 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - AlanScott 08:08 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| I saw the Bay Street production (2004), which was in two acts, and very much enjoyed Charles Busch's performance, but agree it was rather superficial. I remember being astounded by all the costume changes -- one, it seemed, for each of the 25 scenes. As for the casting, there was a great deal of doubling -- Penny Fuller played both Vera Charles and Mother Burnside, and Gordana Rashovich did Agnes Gooch and 3 other roles. Max Van Essen had 5 roles including the older Patrick. What I remember best about the production was an electrical malfunction that doused the lights near the end of Act One and it was 45 minutes before they could pick up where they left off. If the production got great reviews it probably would have ended up off-Broadway, where it might have been whipped into better shape, but the reviews were mixed, and -- alas -- it never made it. I still think Busch well suited to Mame and if he were to return in the role I wouldn't miss it. But what are the chances of that? As others have pointed out -- Mame Dennis may be an artifact of an era that has passed. | |
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| re: Auntie Mame in TWO acts ... | |
| Posted by: flaguy 07:34 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - GatorMan 11:39 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| How odd I should remember it in three long acts. I guess it only FELT like that to me, at the time. ;) |
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| And even 2004 is a long, long time ago... | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 06:46 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 06:44 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - GatorMan 11:39 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| The world was very different in 2004. The cultural embrace of someone like Mame was still fairly nostalgic. But so many pieces of Mame's story, including the inherent classism and racism lite are just harder to find charming. She's a rich woman who throws parties for bohemians and iconoclasts, loses her money, can't hold a job and must marry to sustain her elite lifestyle. She loathes the Upsons, but Patrick still basically ends up another privileged white man. It's not as if Patrick ever applies any of Mame's supposedly life-altering philosophy other than showing the Upsons the door, finally. It's a long journey to get to its foregone conclusion. Without the period specific feel of the film, and Russell, the humor floats around various points of discomfort, like Mame's need for full-time servants just to survive, one a desexualized Asian male caricature. (She launches Agnes, though in a date rape-y way by today's standards, but her helpers are expected to stay exactly where they are -- waiting on her -- once she's flush again.) Nowhere in the play does Mame have any reckoning about the world around her and her need to change with it other than to finally put down antisemitism, the one moral stand she takes. It's an important one, but conveniently, allows Mame to function in a world without any visible Jewish presence. I love the Russell movie, and ignore all of the above when I watch it. But it's frozen in time, we accept the film as a product of its era (the 50s), and have nostalgia both for the movie and our own youth when we first got to know Mame. In 2018, she feels like a relic, if an iconic one. Re-introducing her story now feels pointless, especially with the perfect iteration -- at least of her character -- preserved forever. |
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| re: And even 2004 is a long, long time ago... | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 02:28 pm EDT 05/15/18 | |
| In reply to: And even 2004 is a long, long time ago... - Delvino 06:44 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
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| I wonder if any current playwright would be interested in doing a contemporary response to AUNTIE MAME. It might be interesting to see a new piece that seriously considered who the character would be today and how we look at her shenanigans through modern eyes. Since the original play was written in the 1950's, about a near past 20 year span of time, we might see a Mame character moving through a New York of, for example, 1995-2015. One interesting facet of that particular span of time would be that it would allow Mame to be a fun loving party girl at the height of the Clinton 90's, take her into darker personal times during the Bush years, including a big recession which might sap her finances, and bring her back to her glory at the height of Obama. |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... | |
| Posted by: SidL 02:53 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - flaguy 10:51 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| There was talk of a movie remake with Tilda Swinton a few years ago, but it must have gone the way of Barbra Streisand doing "Gypsy" as neither are currently listed on IMDB. | |
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| Or Tilda Swinton doing "Veronica's Room," also announced. | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:03 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - SidL 02:53 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Which might be scary good. I've often said: among the 5 performances I wish I'd seen, including the Bankhead Sabina, is the Eileen Heckart performance in "Veronica's Room." Whatever anyone thinks of the play, and it's a mousetrap of lurid nooks and crannies, the role must've been spectacular for Heckart. |
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| re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... | |
| Posted by: StageDoorJohnny 03:45 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - SidL 02:53 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| or go to color-blind casting -- Audra, Viola Davis or Vera- Octavia Spencer, Whoopi |
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| Mame in Mothballs | |
| Posted by: Jax 06:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Speaking of Auntie Mame ... - StageDoorJohnny 03:45 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| It's probably heresy to suggest it on this board, but it might be time to give AUNTIE MAME a rest. It's a busy, lavish show from another era, but it's questionable if today's audiences would respond to it in sufficient numbers to make it viable. The Roundabout did a revival of THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER about a decade ago with Nathan Lane...and it had just aged out. You've got the movie, with Rosalind Russell, and Technicolor, and the Orry-Kelly dresses and I think you should be happy with that. Beyond that, the casting would be impossible. Annette Benning has done ELECTRA and THE CHERRY ORCHARD on stage in L.A. Why would she leave her home and family to do a 60 year old chestnut? (albeit a funny one.) Holland Taylor, pardon me, is ancient, and Harriet Harris, pardon me again, has no glamour. The major film stars -- Benning, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchette, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Meryl Streep -- who could sell tickets for this kind of show are not interested in playing this kind of paper doll heroine who changes her costume in every scene and whips around a cigarette holder. In this moment for women, they are looking for more varied, interesting roles. Their ideas of modern comedy are what we see in "Big Little Lies" or Pfeiffer's odd turn in "Mother." AUNTIE MAME is a great old movie. Long live AUNTIE MAME. |
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| A story of elitism, re-framed as an iconoclast's courageous stand to save a child; in truth, Mame is a survivor but not terribly heroic. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 10:24 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:18 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Mame in Mothballs - Jax 06:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Amen to everything you said, so succinctly, and with spot-on accuracy. This material is special, priceless, and old school gay culture defining with Russell, but it couldn't survive a revival. The whole philosophy of Mame Dennis is just too inherently oppositional -- in many ways at war with itself -- in 2018. She's tolerant and inclusive, socially, but also privileged, snobbish, an upper East Side denizen who slums more than she fully participates in anything but her own cocktail party-driven elitism, and doesn't really respect work. She aims to marry for money, but luckily falls in love, but then frets mightily about the startling idea that her nephew likes, well, entitlement and privilege. Two things she must have herself to survive (no one wants to admit that; she's just funny, not selling roller skates well.). No, we don't expect her to be a paragon of progressivism. But she's a tad self-absorbed and conveniently Bohemia-embracing only when it's affordable rather than a true practicing iconoclast. Her attempt to rescue adult Patrick from a fate worse than death -- a Manhattan life of rich white male privilege -- results in his living a life of ... straight white male privilege. If Patrick at least ended up bisexual, and Pegeen a guy, or what the hell, Jewish, or a woman of color (how nice that she's Irish) well, something might feel less hypocritical about "Live Live Live!". But Patrick just ends up as rich but kinda nicer. I don' t know, she is so superior to Eisenhower-era conservatism, and of course, loathes the Jew bashing in the CT suburbs. But what is her socioeconomic reality? Stay a floating 2 percenter at any cost. It's not terrible, it's just not exactly heroic in 2018. |
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| re: Mame in Mothballs | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Mame in Mothballs - Jax 06:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| I think a revival is unlikely, too. Really only a possibility for the Roundabout but perhaps prohibitively expensive for them (given that it's a play, not a musical). Having said that, I did just want to mention that Tilda Swinton has spoken of her desire to play the role onscreen in a version that would be closer to the novel. So I don't think the younger and/or more famous leading ladies would necessarily be completely uninterested in playing the role for a limited run, although Swinton probably doesn't have quite the star power of the other ladies you mention (and even she wanted a new adaptation, not the one we know). The last time here that I talked about one of my problems with both the play and the musical, I got heavily attacked (mostly by one person), so I'm not bringing the specifics of that up again. Still, I do love the movie. And I think the movie is so good—partly because it's a product of that time period when people knew how to do that sort of material—that any stage production would pale by comparison. (You seem to feel more or less the same way.) And we can watch the movie whenever we want. The Man Who Came to Dinner, a considerably better play than Auntie Mame, did well for the Roundabout, thanks in part to the star power. I thought that production was not really especially good overall, but it still did bring in people, even if it fell a bit short of being a sell-out for them. |
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| re: Mame in Mothballs | |
| Posted by: bmc 09:57 am EDT 05/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Mame in Mothballs - AlanScott 08:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| Verry fuzzy memories, but when the real life character who was the basis for Mame, decided to start giving her money to the poor, didn't her family try to have her commited.? Or am I thinking of something else. ? It's 10 AM and I haven't had my cup tea yet. With Mame, as with the much stronger PYGMALIAN, it's possible you would have audience members humming the songs to themselves. | |
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