Not exactly bosom buddies

Who charms the husk right off the corn? Mame, of course, but is Carol Lawrence or Amanda McBroom the better husk-charmer?

Dueling productions of “Mame” opened this weekend. Lawrence is in the Musical Theatre West staging at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. McBroom leads the cast in the Cabrillo Music Theatre production at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Producers of both “Mames” say that “Mame” composer Jerry Herman has advised their respective teams. Each says that the two venues are sufficiently far apart that there probably won’t be much of an overlap in their audiences.

And if you live in between the two venues? “You have two opportunities, much like a movie is in 10 theaters at once,” said Musical Theatre West producer Paul Garman. Still, Garman acknowledged that he contacted Cabrillo to see if it might alter its dates. “Then we could have shared the costs of the set.” Cabrillo didn’t want to budge.

Meanwhile, on a smaller level, two renditions of “The Woman in Black,” at Pasadena Shakespeare Company in South Pasadena and the Road Theatre in North Hollywood, are also up and running right now.

-- Don Shirley