Editorial Reviews

The idea of turning Mame, which had already been a successful novel, straight play, and film (the last two under the title Auntie Mame), into a musical comedy was a great one, since it provided the opportunity to do what the musical theater does so well: showcase the talents of a major female actress/singer. The choice of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman to do the score was obvious; Herman had just scored a hit with Hello, Dolly!, another period story of an eccentric, larger than life female character. And, according to Herman's annotations to the 1999 reissue of the 1966 Broadway cast album, everything else went well, too, including the felicitous casting of Angela Lansbury and a smooth out-of-town tryout period. By opening night, May 24, 1966, Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong had reached the charts with single recordings of the title song. Herb Alpert later took his version into the Top 40, and Eydie Gormé reached the Top Ten of the easy listening charts with "If He Walked Into My Life." The show ran over 1, 500 performances. Herman's score hasn't a weak song, and it has some very strong ones, not only those already mentioned, but also "We Need a Little Christmas," which has become a seasonal standard. Add a cast headed by Tony Award winners Lansbury, Frankie Michaels, and Beatrice Arthur, and you have the makings of a terrific cast album. It was also one that went gold and won Herman the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album. Reissue producer Thomas Z. Shepard couldn't find much to improve in 1999, adding only a four-second trumpet segment to "It's Today," but Herman came up with his original piano demos (complete with stage directions), from which were chosen five tracks, the songwriter alone singing "St. Bridget," and joined by Alice Borden on "It's Today," "Open a New Window," "Mame," and the cut song "Camouflage." William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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