Anyone who has seen Auntie Mame cannot help but think of it while watching this, and wonder what happened to that sweet, lively story.
The answer is not simply that the title character is played by a woman too old for the role who could not sing the range needed for the part. The problem starts with the approach the production took to the story.
The Mame portrayed by Ms Ball is much more serious and not as manically energetic as the portrayal by Ms Russell. Ball's portrayal probably is how the real Mame Dennis would have been. The rest of the characters also are less energetic and probably more realistic than those in Auntie Mame. There lies a big problem as the Fun and happiness that bubbled before is replaced with a dull, bland seriousness that does not play well in a comedy.
The attitudes of the characters and the portrayal of the events In the story have a harsh and at times meanness to them. The goings on of Patrick's first school are revealed in a humorous dialogue in Auntie Mame, but are shown in all their sleaze in this production. Mame takes the helm and smuggly announces she has bought the property next to the Upsons in order to make their lives miserable by celebrating unwed mothers. In Auntie Mame, she gives her money to a charitable party who is purchasing it for the noble purpose of providing a home for war refugee orphans. The Upsons are portrayed as mean, hard, snobbish bigots when before they had been presented as silly buffoons whom the audience may not have liked, but did not despise.
Mame simply is dull and a little sad because it lacks the happy, somewhat innocent energy that had been the basis for the story before. Yes, this probably is how the characters really would have been, but realism rarely is what works for a campish comedy - and it certainly did not do so in this instance.
