A Distant Relative of ‘Auntie Mame’

Here she is again, riding high and carrying those around her on a continual roller-coaster ride through life. “Auntie Mame,” in the original nonmusical version, is at the Theatre District in Costa Mesa.

At least, the play is here--Auntie Mame herself, for the most part, is missing. Patrick Dennis’ semiautobiographical novel, skillfully adapted for the stage by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is the frame around one of the most delightful, highly theatrical female roles of the century. Mame is outrageous, loving, wise in a liberal way and, above all, alarmingly charismatic.

But the charisma is mostly missing from Sharyn Case’s performance as Mame Dennis. She seems unsure most of the time, even checking each step as she descends the stairs in Mame’s apartment. This Mame is reticent, and, for a woman who is supposed to be brimming with vivacious life, she seems strangely sad most of the time. Case’s attempts at buoyancy--spreading her arms grandly in Mame’s typical gesture--are a characterization by the numbers.

Director Mario Lescot hasn’t been able to pump exhilaration into his leading lady and sometimes lets the mood darken too much during moments that should be bittersweet but here verge on heavy drama. It is, after all, supposed to be a giddy comedy.

Lescot finds surer footing with most of the rest of the company. What is lacking in Case’s Mame is almost made up for by the performance of 10-year-old Jared Wigdor as her orphaned nephew, Patrick, who is deposited on Mame’s doorstep, ready to be as giddy as she is. Wigdor’s sense of comedy belies his years, and his light touch is just right.

Christian Holiday is also excellent as Patrick when he’s older, at first almost as snobby as his short-term fiancee, Gloria Upson, but relaxing realistically into his aunt’s liberalism at the proper moment.

Alice Ensor, as Mame’s actress friend Vera Charles, is as brash as she should be, and Regan D’Lyn as the girl Patrick marries is a delight. Jessica Learned is a by-the-book Agnes Gooch, the secretary who discovers life, and its surprises, at Mame’s hands, as are the stereotypically bigoted Upson parents, as played by Bruce Beckman and Deborah Kissinger.

*

Rollo Sternaman, thankfully, doesn’t overdo his turn as Ito, Mame’s faithful houseboy, and Deborah Conroy’s Norah, the maid who arrives with Patrick and stays, is solid and warm.

Steve McCammon is a stalwart Beauregard Burnside, whose offer of marriage saves Mame during the Great Depression, and Christi Sweeney has fun being the nasty Southern belle Beauregard leaves behind.

David Shein also is funny being nasty as Mr. Babcock, who controls Patrick’s inheritance, and Bill Forant and Paul Castellano are good as other men in Mame’s raucous life.

As Gloria, Gwen Yeager goes much too far overboard with her cardboard poses and exaggerated debutante accent--phony shtick that Patrick would have seen through immediately.

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* “Auntie Mame,” Theatre District, 2930 Bristol St. (behind the Lab mall), Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $15-$20. Ends March 27. (714) 435-4043. Running time: 3 hours.

Sharyn Case: Auntie Mame

Jared Wigdor: Patrick Dennis as a boy

Christian Holiday: Dennis as young man

Alice Ensor: Vera Charles

Regan D’Lyn: Pegeen

Jessica Learned: Agnes Gooch

Paul Castellano: M. Lindsay Woolsey

Steve McCammon: Burnside

David Shein: Mr. Babcock

Deborah Conroy: Norah Muldoon

Christi Sweeney: Sally Cato MacDougal

Gwen Yeager: Gloria Upson

Bruce Beckman: Claude Upson

Deborah Kissinger: Doris Upson

Bill Forant: Brian O’Bannion

Rollo Sternaman: Ito

A Theatre District revival of the comedy by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee. Directed by Mario Lescot. Assistant director/costume design: Joan Lescot. Production manager: Bonnie Vise. Scenic design: Two Blue Chairs Inc. Lighting design: Extended Visions. Sound design: David Podley, Bonnie Vise. Stage manager: Sharon Evans.