Ah, Mame. You echo triumphantly down the years, a beacon of pure joy. You remind us to \u201cLive, live, live!\u201d You challenge young minds, and 42nd Street Moon has brought you to life on the Gateway Theatre stage. <\/p>\n
Mame<\/em> is based on Auntie Mame, a real person, created by Patrick Dennis. Mame, a socialite and free thinker, adopted her orphaned nephew in the Roaring Twenties, and that\u2019s when his thrill ride began. Placed in a \u2018progressive\u2019 school that featured universal nudity, his life was anything but dull.<\/p>\n The lights came up on a man in a fedora entering a wild, bathtub gin-soaked party featuring the ensemble of singer\/dancers. The tiny stage felt overpopulated much of the time, but when the group was narrowed down to half a dozen dancers for That\u2019s How Young I Feel<\/em>, they formed a charming stage picture.<\/p>\n When consummate performers are involved, the size of the theater doesn\u2019t matter. We were lucky enough to be treated to three of these. Azzy David was a standout as young Patrick. The compulsively watchable youngster exuded exuberant innocence. Jillian A. Smith (Gloria Upson) was unapologetically cloying. And Larissa Kelloway proved a comic delight as Sally Cato.<\/p>\n Cindy Goldfield starred as Mame. Her performance was impeded by a puzzling array of costumes. The character Mame is a vibrant, avant-garde socialite. But Goldfield looked dowdy in most of her scenes. <\/p>\n Outfitted in a prim, ankle-length church dress, complete with lace collar and sensible shoes, Goldfield looked like Patrick\u2019s grandmother instead of his aunt. Real-life Mame wouldn\u2019t be caught dead in sensible shoes. Despite this, the actress had an affecting moment in Act 2, singing If He Walked Into My Life.<\/em><\/p>\n \tMame is chock-full of can\u2019t-miss standards, notably Mame<\/em> and the inspiring <em>Open a New Window<\/em>. In The Moon Song<\/em>, loudly crooning background singers surprised the audience in a weird-but-good way. In Bosom Buddies<\/em>, Goldfield and Elizabeth belted out the great lyrics effortlessly: \u201cWho else but a bosom buddy will tell you how rotten you are?\u201d<\/p>\n I polled audience members at intermission and the production earned unanimous raves. So If you\u2019re looking for a perky musical with a homespun, \u201clet\u2019s put on a show in the barn!\u201d feel, Mame<\/em> is the show for you.<\/p>\n Mame<\/em> plays at 42nd Street Moon through November 19th at the Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street in San Francisco. Call (415) 255-8205 for tickets. <\/p>\n Reported by Deb Polfus <\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ah, Mame. You echo triumphantly down the years, a beacon of pure joy. You remind us to \u201cLive, live, live!\u201d You challenge young minds, and 42nd Street Moon has brought…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Event","footnotes":""},"categories":[808],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-106859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-deb-polfus"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"