Of two ‘Mames,’ one has the edge

That old show about a brassy dame with the name of Mame, who had a rather lame claim to fame, came to two theaters at the same time. What a shame.

Sorry, but when you’re sitting through two “Mames” in one weekend, you find little ways to amuse yourself.

One “Mame” is more than enough. Each of the local productions, in Long Beach and Thousand Oaks, lasts three hours, which is at least a half-hour too long. It’s not as if every moment of “Mame” is priceless.

Indeed, the lumpy script by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee would be improved if the entire first act finale were cut. Mame, a fabled Manhattan hostess and surrogate mother to her orphaned nephew, wins over a pack of sneering Southerners by entering and winning a fox hunt, then sparing the fox’s life. The scene is supposed to be wacky, but it appears to have stumbled in from a different show.

The later scene in which Mame insults a pack of sneering Northerners whom her nephew is trying to impress, is only marginally better. Her nephew’s sudden change of heart rings false.

Still, “Mame” has its hoary charms, most of them involving Jerry Herman’s lively score, and they are better realized in David Galligan’s staging for Musical Theatre West in Long Beach than they are in the Cabrillo Music Theatre production in Thousand Oaks.

In Long Beach, Carol Lawrence was cast rather late in the “Mame” game, but she takes charge with effortless panache. Clad in snazzy attire from the Bob Mackie catalog, she dances with ease with a chorus line whose average member is less than half her age. She even does a cartwheel. Her singing is throaty and a little ragged in the top register, but it fits the character. Her acting captures well Mame’s sense of good-hearted noblesse oblige.

Sally Struthers and Ruth Williamson are funny as the repressed Agnes Gooch and the high-flying Vera Charles. Eight-year-old Jakie Batinga and Mark W. Smith fill the roles of the younger and older nephew with confidence and charm. Amick Byram was a last-minute replacement for Perry Stephens as Mame’s Southern suitor, but he had the role down pat.

Galligan’s staging adds a lot of little details that aren’t in the Thousand Oaks version. Mame climbs atop the grand piano, and later dangles over the stage while sitting on a windowsill alongside her nephew. “We Need a Little Christmas” includes an impromptu jump-roping session. Gooch’s dress splits at a critical moment.

Melissa Walters is deliciously snide as both of the young women villains. Roger M. Eaves looks and sounds like a genuine plutocrat as the nephew’s stern guardian. Jon Engstrom’s staging in Thousand Oaks, starring Amanda McBroom, is for a less professional organization, and the stage looks a little threadbare, compared to the Gary Wissman (sets) and Raun Yankovich (lighting) designs in Long Beach.

Cabaret queen McBroom’s voice sounded a little under the weather on opening night in Thousand Oaks. But perhaps her performance style is also better suited to a smaller hall than this one. She looked glitzy enough but didn’t seem completely comfortable, especially in the ensemble numbers. Yet her solo rendition of “If He Walked Into My Life” was impressive.

Joy Claussen as Vera, Casey Jones as Gooch, Colt Beyer-Johnson and Corey Greenan as the nephew, and David Selby as Mame’s husband provided excellent support.

One expendable little scene, involving the placement of a sculpture in Mame’s home, was funnier in Thousand Oaks than in Long Beach.

*

‘Mame’ and ‘Mame’

Where: Carpenter Performing Arts Center (at Cal State Long Beach), 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach

When: Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m.; this Sunday, 7 p.m.

Ends: Nov. 17

Price: $20 to $45

Contact: (562) 430-2324

Running time: 3 hours

Also

Where: Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

When: Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.

Ends: Sunday

Price: $15 to $35

Contact: (805) 449-2787, (213) 480-3232

Running time: 3 hours