Mame in Manchester, Northampton & Salisbury

My thoughts on this from last night. A well-staged and performed musical with everyone perfectly cast, combined with lots of delightful songs.

The theatre seemed very busy, with tickets collected in the entrance hall and lots of people collecting press packs (although I don't believe it was press night). You no longer need to get there really early as entrance is determined by colour sections (which correspond to colours on the seats) rather than a numbered ticket.

The set up is traditional, with the stage at one side of the room and tiered seating at the other. At first glance, the stage doesn't look all that big, but there is a section behind that opens up, which also houses the small band. The stage area is at ground level, as is the front row.

I managed to get a central front row, which was an excellent view as you'd expect, with almost half of the front row being reserved in advance. The only downside of that seat is the band overpowers the vocals at some points.

I had a very enthusiastic lady sat behind who had travelled from Brighton to see her nephew perform, although she seemed to think the venue a bit of a downgrade from the West End shows he'd been in before. I do know who the nephew was from the previous shows name dropped, but that doesn't really matter. I presume she wasn't a regular theatre goer, as she was quite chatty during parts of the show and keen to point out her nephew to the poor people sat next to her. No idea if she was waving to the nephew as well as she was sat behind me.

Everything about the show was West End standard, including the cast, who were more numerous than you often see in fringe theatre productions. A simple set, but one that looked expensive and worked. Multiple costume changes. So I definitely wouldn't consider having this sort of show on your CV any kind of downgrade.

As for the show, I think it would be described as a series of capers. There's a reason it's never been revived in the UK (and never been revived successfully in the US) and that's the plot isn't that strong, a lot of detail is skipped over that modern audiences would question and some of the themes are more difficult in the modern age. The latter is one that challenges other musicals but doesn't stop them being revived. Where this does hold up is with the score, the entertaining performances and the excellent dance numbers.

A funny moment. The main door into Mame's house was pulled off during one of the early entrances and rested back in place. They managed to fix it back into its frame during the interval, but it still couldn't be opened. The cast used the main theatre entrance instead and strolled onto the stage. They coped admirably, as I don't know how convenient access as to the revised entrance.

I will certainly see this again for the standard of performances if nothing else. Probably not in Manchester, but I think it will transfer to London and, if not, I'll see it in Northampton. I don't know if this is quite suited to the West End, but I'd like to see it given a chance in a smaller theatre. Worth a watch now as well as I doubt this will be revived again without a new book being written to replace the current one.

I saw today's matinee too, and I think it was actually the trombone that was dodgy; the trumpet playing was top-notch.

I tend to resist the whole Jerry Herman larger-than-life-women-on-larger-than-life-staircases genre of musicals, but I enjoyed this very much last week. The book, yes, is rather slight, but the songs are wonderful, Tracie Bennett is terrific, and Harriet Thorpe steals every scene she's in. Production values excellent for such a tiny venue as well. There are some good reasons why the show doesn't often get revived these days, but this is well worth seeing.

Yes, but that doesn’t mean that every audience member will agree with those opinions! I’m seeing this in January in Northampton, so will decide (on purely personal terms) on her performance then.

Bennett also received very positive reviews for her roles in Hairspray and Follies, but tbh, I didn’t much care for her in either, particularly the latter. I wasn’t even confident on the day that she’d hit the final notes of ‘I’m Still Here’. So, to each his/her own. I’m looking forward to seeing this show, whether it be with Bennett or her understudy.

Horrendous. How anyone can even think the vocals are acceptable must be deaf. The trajectory of Ms Bennett is a mystery to me and (I hope) all musical theatre lovers.

I have to say, based on the clip, she’s hitting the notes but not in the most attractive way? I’m going next week. Earplugs at the ready! 

When I asked someone what she was like in it, he said “ She’s fantastic. She’s too big for the stage”

I’m sitting at the back!

I agree Burly. There's lots of tremolo in Miss Bennett,  but she delivers in every department as do the rest of the cast and musicians. Brilliant!

Mame was just a carbon copy of Hello Dolly (including the title song) commissioned by producers to cash in on the success with Dolly. Jerry Herman was simply filling a brief he was given - to put a fabulous Hello Dolly-esque score on a story which was already a successful play (called Aunty Mame I believe) and to stick Lansbury in the lead. So the piece literally is little more than a star turn. It’s interesting that this is apparent even when staged professionally a considerable amount of years later.

Can anyone who saw Mame in Manchester recall the approx running time ?

About to book my travel on advance tickets to see it in Northampton. Starts 14.30, need to choose a train to Euston from 17.24, 17.39 or 17.54 to get back in time to see another show at 19.30.

Do you not think it might go to the Park Theatre, considering that the Hope Mill's production of Rags is headed there?

I guess any chance of this having a London transfer is on hold with Bennett off to do Hangmen on Broadway.