OC Register by Eric Marchese
Broadway veteran Carol Lawrence has played Auntie Mame Dennis, the title character of the hit '60s musical "Mame," several times in her career. With her deep, throaty voice and patrician bearing, this acting-singing-dancing triple threat appears born to the role.

The venerable Jerry Herman musical - his 1966 follow- up to his 1964 hit "Hello, Dolly!" - enjoys a brief but spectacular revival via Musical Theatre West. As a Whittier-based troupe, MTW produced "Mame" in 1973 and again in 1979 and 1986. There's no denying that much of "Mame" is goopy and sentimental. In the right hands, though, its libretto (by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee) and Herman's songs are bang- up entertainment - and MTW's newest staging puts the show in the right hands.

Director David Galligan's staging only begins with the casting of Lawrence and of Sally Struthers as Gooch. In one lavish song-and-dance scene after another, the musical numbers take center stage. Musical director Michael Borth and choreographer Lee Martino understand how to pace Herman's score, which follows the highs and lows in the relationship between the bohemian Mame and the young nephew, Patrick, she comes to adopt after the death of her brother.

Lawrence's poise and self- assurance in the role doesn't prevent her from milking its comedy. Mame is all spirit and little practicality, and with her reddish hair and lithe figure, Lawrence's comical takes are reminiscent of Lucille Ball. But Lawrence is natural and winning even when depicting the ineptitude the script requires of her.

Scenic designer Gary Wissman's sets are sparkling and sophisticated, matched by Carin Jacobs' costume work. This show has the look and feel - or, rather, Broadway's interpretation - of New York City's vibrancy and excitement.

"Mame" is a tough sell without a strong performance from the actress playing Mame's bosom buddy, Vera Charles, a takeoff on Tallulah Bankhead. All sharp edges and blas? attitude, Ruth Williamson has a deep voice, high cheekbones and a heavy-lidded gaze suggestive of Bankhead. "The Moon Song" is done as a comically overblown Follies number, as Mame and Vera try to outdo each other. "Bosom Buddies" is another highlight, showcasing Mame and Vera's mutual sniping and veiled affection.

As little Patrick's nanny, the devout, sheltered Agnes Gooch, Struthers is a winsome second (or third) banana to Lawrence. Her frumpiness, stuffy nosed-delivery, thick specs and perpetual look of surprise are well within the character. The well-known television actress also proves an able physical comedian in Act 2 (and in "Gooch's Song"). Where this "Mame" really succeeds, though, is in the very real chemistry between Lawrence's exuberant Mame and young Jackie Batinga's precocious little Patrick.

The song "My Best Girl" depicts the characters' mutual devotion. It's bathos, undeniably - but effective bathos at that. The young actor has the same kind of natural ease as Macaulay Culkin, and his self-assurance is refreshing.

As the older Patrick (ages 19-28), Mark W. Smith is less engaging, showing the otherwise wholesome young man's newfound stuffy conservatism as merely a passing phase. Mame's gallant Southern beau is described in the script as looking "like Rhett Butler," and that the dashing Perry Stephens does. Melissa Walters is smartly double-cast as his clench-jawed, jealous Southern belle girlfriend and as Gloria, older Patrick's nouveau-riche sweetheart, who drips with finishing-school phoniness.

As, respectively, Mame's publisher pal and her devoted servant, David Holladay and Tedd Szeto are blandly unmemorable. Billy Beadle has a lively cameo as Gloria's blunt, tipsy dad. Roger M. Eaves is comically apoplectic as Patrick's narrow-minded trustee. Late in the play, Anne Valarie Walsh emerges from Galligan's ever-reliable chorus as Pegeen, the kind of sensible girl Mame has hoped her nephew would be drawn to.

Martino gives this staging plenty of high-octane Broadway kick. Her dance scheme smoothly incorporates a '20s flapper look, swing-era lindy hop steps, high-stepping kick lines and intriguing staccato modern ballet moves. The great and grand title number, which closes the first act, is given plenty of pizazz, visually and choreographically. Now a show-biz classic, this Herman tune, used as the show's finale, is the musical backbone of "Mame."