‘Mame’ is marvelous at Fallsburg

Director Ellen Pavloff hones a young cast into an engaging revival of Broadway smash

By RICHARD A. ROSS

FALLSBURG, NY — March brings winds, daylight savings time and the madness of the NCAA basketball tournament, but it also brings great musicals to high school stages in Sullivan County. Year in and year out, one place to see such stellar productions is at Fallsburg High School.

This year’s staging of “Mame” continued the longstanding tradition of making Music in Our Schools Month come alive in the home of the Comets.

For director Ellen Pavloff, a veteran of The Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop, years of having a stage full of seasoned players at Fallsburg that rendered wondrous remakes of ‘Gypsy,” and ‘Little Shop of Horrors,” the graduation of fine actors and singers left her this year with a group of young but enthusiastic kids and the daunting task of staging a complex musical with only a couple of veterans left onboard.

Pavloff, who strongly believes in the value of theatre as a way to forge something enduring in her young charges, never flinched at the task—and why would she? Ably assisted by musical director Liz Toleno, stage manager extraordinaire Bunny Woloszczak, set designer Harold Tighe and costume designer Janet Kaplan, Pavloff set to work this past December to assemble the cast and begin to weave the magical spell that makes Fallsburg the place to be each March.

A fine pit band comprised of Jim, Jeromy, Peter and Nancy Wegryzn on base, trumpet woodwinds and violin respectively, merged their talents with Toleno’s piano, Jay Benson’s guitar/banjo, Mike Mingo’s percussion and brass from John Lusk, Bill Fleck and Rebecca Carrol. Mellow notes from the violin of Scott Glasser and the viola of Amanda Mita blended to produce the fine musical accompaniment.

“Mame” is based on the book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that inspired the original show “Auntie Mame,” starring Angela Lansbury. “Mame” opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York on May 24, 1966.

With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, the show follows the eccentric life of bohemian Mame Dennis as she raises her deceased brother’s 10-year-old son Patrick according to her own unique philosophy of living life to the fullest. In more family-friendly terms, that philosophy reads something like, “Life is a banquet but most suckers are starving to death.”

Petra Santiago became ‘Mame’ in words, song and deed. As one of Pavloff’s two veterans, Santiago and her stage bosom buddy character of Vera Charles, delightfully portrayed by Melanie Roberts, carried the show through its campy action, witty lines and big show numbers. Roberts, now a senior, has been in every Pavloff production since seventh grade.

Staged at Fallsburg on March 14 and 15, the show looks in on Patrick’s coming of age with his odd but charming aunt, her imbibing buddy Vera and the burgeoning maid Agnes Gooch, played hysterically by Andrea Zalkin. Encouraged by Mame and Vera to widen her horizons, Gooch does just that as she gets pregnant—much to the shock and dismay of other characters including Patrick, played by Chris Sheridan; M. Lindsey Woolsey, humorously put forth by Clinton Palmer; and the uppity Upsons, haughtily enacted by Tighe and Jacki McCloud with their stage daughter depicted by Sophie Marsden.

Patrick is rescued from a marriage to the witless young Miss Upson just in time, and subsequently marries Pegeen Ryan, charmingly played by Kerri Sheridan.

Fine numbers, including the famous “Mame” and its second act reprise, “Bosom Buddies,” the duet between Mame and Vera and “My Best Girl,” sung by Patrick, were musical highlights.

Kudos to Pavloff, her supporting cast and crew for bringing another fine show to the stage at Fallsburg High School.

TRR photo by Richard A. Ross
Vera Charles played by Melanie Roberts, left, and Mame Dennis, portrayed by Petra Santiago, sing “Bosom Buddies,” in Fallsburg’s great rendition of “Mame” staged at the high school on March 14 and 15. (Click for larger version)

TRR photo by Richard A. Ross
The uppity Upsons, including young Patrick’s fiancé Gloria played by Sophie Marsden, left; Mr. Upson, snobbily rendered by Harold Tighe; and the uptight Mrs. Upson, enacted by Jacki McCloud, have just tasted some of Mame’s odd dishes and are about to hear about her pregnant unwed maid Agnes Gooch. (Click for larger version)

TRR photo by Richard A. Ross
Patrick (Chris Sheridan) gets married to the lovely Pegeen Ryan (Kerri Sheridan). (Click for larger version)