Driftwood’s ‘Auntie Mame’ will give you a boost
Times getting you down? Need a boost?
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Times getting you down? Need a boost?

See “Auntie Mame” at the Wade James.

I don’t say Driftwood polishes this comedy classic to a high shine. Dialogue deliveries falter a little here and there. Set changes sometimes interfere. But the message comes through loud and clear: if life hands you lemons, make lemonade; or, as Mame puts it, “Life is a feast, and most sonovabitches are starving.”

Sounds naïve, huh?

Not really.

The place is New York City, 1929; and Mame is living high when her brother dies having willed her custody of his grade-school aged son. Endless parties and the stimulating company of countless friends have suddenly to take a back seat to the serious responsibility of raising a kid. Mame goes with the flow without skipping a beat till the stock market crash wipes out her livelihood; and that is just the beginning.

At its core, this a 50 year old comedy staple built around a timeless answer to a timeless question: is the glass of water half full or half empty?

The answer for playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is half full, given the alternative. The answer for Driftwood is, let’s have some fun, which they do.

If you’ve seen the film versions, you’ve got to get past Rosalind Russell and Lucille Ball to appreciate Margaret Bicknell in the title role. Bicknell’s a one-of-a-kind comedienne: tall, lanky, gangly, gawky and with a gift for quirky. The straight-man inside her shows — you know her Mame knows what’s going on. But the funny man takes over. Whistling in the dark? Wisdom or folly? Bicknell goes beyond making you laugh. She makes you care.

Alyson Soma highlights as the robotic secretary taking dictation at two hundred words a minute like an anteater eating ants.

House servants Janet McNeil and Arlo Magpoc put together a tender moment when they rescue Mame. Laura Crouch gets laughs as the dypso drinking, making a fool out of herself, paying for it the next day and drinking some more.

Martin Karl Bisch, Chris Baltrukovicz, Diane Nichols and Don Speirs add the straight-laced stuff for Mame to play off. Melody Mistlin’s jilted Southern belle spices the straight-laced stuff with a little venomous jealousy. Bryan Hanner’s nephew’s a believable little boy.

The script is solid with proven staying power. Rick May’s directing is in touch, and the cast pulls together. Bicknell adds the shine.

This “Mame” didn’t rock my world. It brightened it up some.

Reactions? Comments? E-mail Dale Burrows at entfeatures@heraldnet.com or grayghost7@comcast.net.