Did Critics Think the Kennedy Center Mame, With Baranski, Felt Alive?

Jerry Herman's zesty 1966 musical Mame continues to be a favorite among many. So it's no surprise that a lot of attention has been paid to the lavish production of the classic at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. The tuner, starring Emmy winner Christine Baranski in the title role and directed by Eric Schaeffer, opened on June 1. Did critics think this new production could charm the husk right off of the corn?

Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "Even as this Mame is exhorting the people around her to 'live, live, live' and gorge themselves on the banquet of life, you have a feeling that the inner Christine Baranski is standing back just a bit and rolling her eyes… This Mame certainly looks entertainingly expensive, in an old-fashioned way, from its Art Deco sets Walt Spangler to its vast ensemble, which the choreographer Warren Carlyle keeps busy with crowd-pleasing kick lines, cake walks and Charlestons to adorn Mr. Herman's insistent toe-tapper songs. But without a white-hot core of conviction at its center, the production starts to seem as quaint as the operetta in which Mame, having fallen on hard times, makes a brief and disastrous appearance... For all her technical skill and natural charm, Ms. Baranski never brings the sheer conviction to her part that would make it the show's irresistible center of gravity."

Peter Marks of The Washington Post: "[Baranski]'s in the ballpark vocally, but she does not yet make Mame totally her own…. Her work isn't sufficiently take-charge; it exposes us to the gifts of a skilled actress rather than a star…. The deck is stacked so heavily in Mame's favor that the only possible role the show allots us is as her personal cheering section. But if we're going to root for her on her terms, then she's got to meet ours: We want to be able to love our Mame, and we want her to be a star. Please, Ms. Baranski: Relax and be a star."

David Rooney of Variety: "There's plenty here to entice Broadway musical nostalgists, including a whole catalog of vintage-modern decor, more costume changes than a Cher concert and enough beading to blind entire nations of garment workers -- not to mention a robust orchestra and a populous ensemble. What's lacking is heart... Christine Baranski delivers Mame's madcap spirit and the droll remove from a mundane world of dreary practicality, and she becomes a persuasive cultural guru to her impressionable charge. But she neglects to become a surrogate mother... [Harriet] Harris is priceless. But not even she is immune to the show's overall sluggishness, particularly in some of the creaky book scenes."

Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press: "If anything can put a musical-theater audience in a good frame of mind, it's greeting an old favorite, particularly one you've probably sung in the shower. And that sense of benevolence is a plus while attending this unsurprising and extra-campy version of the venerable musical… Baranski, her blond hair bobbed in a stylish flip, can be a brilliant, brittle, brusque performer, adept at the sly comment, the cutting comic remark. Those qualities are more readily found in Mame's boozy sidekick, Vera Charles. So the actress is working against type. It takes a while to warm up to her… The 40-year-old show may show its age a bit, but the cast doesn't creak. It works hard. Sometimes too hard to land the jokes that pepper the sturdy, overstuffed book."