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Mame is a musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled My Best Girl, it is based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and the 1956 Broadway play of the same name by Lawrence and Lee. A period piece set in New York City and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when the young son of her late brother arrives to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures. The musical opened on Broadway in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 feature film version of the musical with Lucille Ball in the title role and Arthur reprising her supporting role, as well as a London production, a Broadway revival, and a 40th anniversary revival at the Kennedy Center in 2006. Background The musical was inspired by the success of the 1956 Broadway comedy and subsequent 1958 film version starring Rosalind Russell, as well as the 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis. According to Stephen Citron, in Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune, the "kudos [for Auntie Mame] made all involved immediately think of musicalizing the play." Dennis wrote several more comic novels, including a sequel, Around the World with Auntie Mame, and Little Me, which was made into a Broadway musical starring Sid Caesar. The success of that musical may have prompted Lawrence and Lee to turn Mame into a musical. Rosalind Russell didn’t want the role, Mary Martin backed out after her initial acceptance, and Ethel Merman declined. The producers “heard from—or considered…Eve Arden, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Kaye Ballard, Constance Bennett, Georgia Brown, Kitty Carlisle, Barbara Cook, Bette Davis, Doris Day, Olivia de Havilland, Phyllis Diller, Irene Dunne, Nanette Fabray, Arlene Francis, Judy Garland, Greer Garson, Mitzi Gaynor, Dolores Gray, Tammy Grimes, Julie Harris, Susan Hayward, Katharine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Lisa Kirk, Margaret Leighton, Beatrice Lillie, Gisele MacKenzie, Jane Morgan, Patrice Munsel, Geraldine Page, Ginger Rogers, Dinah Shore, Simone Signoret, Maggie Smith, Elaine Stritch—and…Angela Lansbury," who was eventually cast.” For its second run, Jerry Herman wanted to cast Judy Garland, but that request was denied by the producers of the show, who deemed her a liability. According to Herman it took six months to write the score. Productions Original Broadway The musical opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 24, 1966. Three years later, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre, where it remained until closing on January 3, 1970. Between the two venues, it ran a total of 1,508 performances and five previews. The musical was directed by Gene Saks, choreographed by Onna White with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costume design by Robert Mackintosh, lighting design by Tharon Musser and orchestrations by Philip J. Lang. Besides Lansbury as Mame, the cast included Bea Arthur as Vera Charles, Frankie Michaels as Patrick, Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch, Charles Braswell as Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, and Willard Waterman (who had played Claude Upson in the 1958 film) as Dwight Babcock. Lansbury, Arthur and Michaels all won Tony Awards, while Saks, White, the writers, Herman, and set designers William and Jean Eckart all received nominations. When Lansbury took a two-week vacation in August 1967, Celeste Holm played the title role, prior to heading the National Tour, and "garnered ecstatic reviews" including from the New York Times. When Lansbury left the Broadway production on March 30, 1968, to take the show on a limited US tour, Janis Paige was the star chosen to be the new Broadway Mame, starting in April 1968. Paige's run and the show itself continued to be so successful that she was followed by Jane Morgan (December 1968), who was followed by Ann Miller (May 1969). U.S. national tours Celeste Holm, who played the role on Broadway for two weeks when Lansbury took a vacation, continued in the role in the first national tour. The cast also included Loretta Swit and Wesley Addy. This production toured from August 29, 1967 to June 15, 1968. When Lansbury left the Broadway production, she led a brief two-stop California tour that played the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from April 30 to June 23, 1968 and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles from June 25 to August 31. This production starred Anne Francine, who had replaced Arthur on Broadway, and Connell. A third tour opened in New Haven, Connecticut in January, 1969. It starred Janet Blair as Mame and Elaine Stritch as Vera. This tour closed the following May in Louisville, Kentucky. A fourth tour opened the following September in Hartford, Connecticut starring Sheila Smith. Patrice Munsel and Anne Russell later led this tour. It closed in June, 1970. Juliet Prowse lead a fourth tour in 1990, produced by Theatre Under The Stars. Delphi Lawrence reprised her role of Vera from the 1968 Las Vegas production. Australia The Australian production presented by J. C. Williamson's opened at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne on May 25, 1968, and subsequently played seasons in Adelaide, Perth and Sydney. Gaylea Byrne starred as Mame Dennis, alongside Mary Hardy as Agnes Gooch, Sheila Bradley as Vera Charles and Geoff Hiscock as Beauregard. West End The 1969 West End production starred Ginger Rogers in the title role and Margaret Courtenay as Vera. It ran for a fourteen-month engagement at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with a special performance for Queen Elizabeth II. Victor Woolf was the stage manager for this production. Other productions Susan Hayward appeared in the Las Vegas production, while such stars as Ann Sothern, Janet Blair, Jane Russell, Elaine Stritch, Edie Adams, Patrice Munsel, Kitty Carlisle, Carol Lawrence, Shani Wallis, Jo Anne Worley, and Sheila Smith appeared in stock, regional or touring productions. In 1976, a Mexican production was performed in Mexico City with Silvia Pinal in the title role and Evangelina Elizondo as Vera. In 1985, Pinal reprised the production with the Spanish actress María Rivas as Vera. In 2014/2015, a Mexican new production was performed in Mexico with Itati Cantoral and Alicia Machado in the title role and Dalilah Polanco as Vera. Despite the presence of Lansbury, a much-heralded Broadway revival was ultimately unsuccessful. After seven previews, it opened on July 24, 1983, at the George Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for only 41 performances. Juliet Prowse, who in August 1969 subbed for Ginger Rogers in the original West End production of Mame, would subsequently reprise the title role in a number of U.S. productions, led off by a 1970 Dallas Summer Musicals production whose cast included Jane Connell as Gooch, Ruth Gill.... Discover the Jim Bernhard popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jim Bernhard books.