Mame--film on DVD

There was a line in the most recent version of Forbidden Broadway that struck me as I watched this film; it was something like "the days of unique talents are past". Forbidden is talking about star replacements, such as in Chicago, but it seems appropriate in thinking about the film version of Mame.

Lucille Ball was a unique talent, there is no question in my mind. I laugh out loud to myself just thinking about the candy factory scene, or the Vita-meata-vega-min commercial. I think of Ms. Ball as a brilliant physical comedienne, and in the several scenes in Mame that require physical comedy is when a bit of her brilliance shines through. But that was her unique talent. In the rest of the film, particularly the musical numbers, she is out of her element, and unfortunately it shows.

The cast surrounding Ms. Ball is full of unique talents who are fitted to their parts. Beatrice Arthur became a star as Vera Charles on Broadway, and the film shows us why. Robert Preston is suave and charming (although I don't like the song he sings that was written for the film). Bruce Davison is cute as a button. Also reprising her Broadway role Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch is, umm, particularly unique, and imbues her role with empathy and specificity.

Maybe that's part of the problem with Ms. Ball. I don't get much specificity from her, particularly when she's in reaction shots, but also in the songs and dances. There are times in the dances, when I swear she is mouthing the steps, or plastering on a smile to keep from mouthing the steps.

That's not the inner life I want from my Mame.


Mame
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Opened on Broadway in 1964
Film released in 1974
Cast: Bruce Davison, Lucille Ball, Beatrice Arthur, Robert Preston, Jane Connell

Mack & Mabel Original Cast Album

It's hard not to like Jerry Herman musicals, the music is generally so sunny with enough soaring ballads to keep the fluff from being too much. With that mindset, I put the original Broadway cast album of Mack & Mabel into the machine. I've never seen this show on stage. The liner notes to the CD reissue give a long explanation as to why it's rarely (never?) staged. Do musicals about movie-making ever work? I can only think of one other at the moment--Sunset Boulevard.

That said, there's a lot to like on this cast album. Robert Preston is so good at making that sprechstimme style work--finding a balance between singing tones and speaking tones. It's so easy to think of him in this type of role (along with The Music Man and Victor/Victoria), I find it incredible that his credits also include originating the role of King Henry in The Lion in Winter on Broadway. I will forever associate that role with Peter O'Toole in the film. Nathan Lane seems to me a modern version of Preston, not a great singer, but a great singing performer.

It's nice to remember that Bernadette Peters was a Broadway star long before her association with Sondheim and Sunday in the Park with George. She, too, has a distinctive style all her own that works for her--a kind of cupie doll voice to go with the cupie doll face and curls. And "Time Heals Everything" is a great song, well sung.

The third singing member of the cast is Lisa Kirk, who was the original Bianca in Kiss Me Kate, more than 25 years before Mack & Mabel. She sings a couple of upbeat, lighter hearted songs--some of which seem to have actual dance breaks--rather old-fashioned for a musical from the 70s. Perhaps one of the reasons the show didn't work was that it was out of its time.

Mack & Mabel Original Cast Album
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Originally released on ABC Records
MCA Classics reissue on CD
Recorded October, 1974; CD reissued in 1992
Cast: Robert Preston, Bernadette Peters, Lisa Kirk, Stanley Simmonds