Bev's Take On "Mame"

Davis Enterprise reviewer Bev Sykes liked some things about "Mame", but disliked others. For example, Bev likes Ron and Jean:

If you want a good looking musical theatrical experience, make certain that your show is directed by a choreographer, and costumed by an experienced costumer.

But quality is uneven:

The production itself, however, is spotty and does not maintain the level set by the opening chorus throughout.

Bev likes Mary Young well enough, but thought Andrew Lampinen was too old to play the role of Young Patrick:

He is nearly as tall as his aunt, making description of the games played at his progressive school sound less innocent than they were intended ... I am assuming that he had the great misfortune to go through a sudden voice change during rehearsal, as none of his songs were in his key and he had great difficulty with all of them.

Bev likes Robert Coverdell and a number of other cast members, including Rebekah Shepard, the only UCD doctoral student "with an IQ of a dead flashlight battery." In general, though, I don't think we quite engaged Bev's emotions with this show:

People in the audience, and in the lobby following the performance seemed to enjoy the show very much. I would not list this among the best the company has done, but this is a hard working group and their dedication to DMTC shows.

That's what happens with shows: some shows grab you, and others don't. A show will sometimes grab some people, and leave others cold. For me, the show is growing on me with time, so the emotional appeal hasn't been immediate.

For me, Andrew's dropping voice range hasn't been the least bit troublesome - indeed, it adds to Andrew's emotional appeal as the vulnerable Young Patrick. Nevertheless, not everyone will see things the same way. Indeed, in theater, it's guaranteed no one will ever see things the same way, leading to another truism - when you put yourself on stage, you open yourself to criticism. You hope you appeal to everyone, but that's really quite hard to achieve, almost impossible, really, and don't be surprised by falling short. You struggle on, taking comfort in the knowledge that you are doing your best. C'est la vie!