Carol Burnett wanted to play Mame

OP. Who do you consider to be good at musical comedy if not Carol Burnett?

Cybill Shepherd would make a fabulous Mame. And she can sing.

Yes. Cybill IS Auntie Cunt!!

Carol is a Gooch. Not a Mame.

I agree with you, op. I'd like to see her in Once Upon a Mattress, though she was awful in Annie, even if everyone else seems to have loved her.

[quote] though she was awful in Annie, even if everyone else seems to have loved her.

Self-awareness isn’t your strong suit, is it?

I guess Gary talked Carol out of Mame so Lucy could play it.

Carol play Mame 8x a week? Oh, please.

Michelle Pfeiffer would make a great Mame.

Those Sylvia Kaye Fine productions where she did, among others, Joanne in Company (Ladies Who Lunch was a disaster) and Ado Annie in Oklahoma (I Cain't Say No, ditto) were horrible examples. When they were trying to get Angela the part in the movie, they recommended Bette Davis for Vera and Carol for Gooch. Her Miss Hannigan was not funny, not scary, not musical.

Madeline Kahn would have been a spectacular Vera. Although some have stumped her for Mame, her persona becomes tiresome in the lead. As a supporting actor, she can steal any project.

Catherine Zeta Jones should have played Mame after she played Desiree. She has the warmth, the voice and the sophistication. Alas, I doubt we'll ever see her on Broadway again.

Here is the PBS special where they did Company. Richard Chamberlain is surprisingly wonderful and would have made a great Robert onstage. Bernadette shows why Broadway would fall in love with her in a decade or so. Sandy Duncan isn't the best singer for Another Hundred People but she pulls it off well. Only Carol really disappoints.

What some of you seem to forget is that Mame is a triple threat role. All of your suggestions are lacking a threat...or two. Angie had to execute Onna White choreography and did so very successfully.

R14, I love Angie but let's face it, she's not the greatest singer, either. She was supposed to release an album of standards and it was so bad that she bought back her contract so it wouldn't be released.

She's 91 now she should enjoy her retirement and not work.

Linda Dano, dinner theatre Mame

The entire Sylvia Kaye Fine special. Carol's murder of I Cain't starts around 44:00. I had forgotten how superb John Davidson was. Yes, that John Davidson. Almost ideal casting for Curly. But Sylvia is one of the worst hosts I've ever seen, sort of Kitty Carlisle with a charisma bypass.

[quote]I love Angie but let's face it, she's not the greatest singer, either.

Angela was an actress who sang, r15. Suitable for character songs, not necessarily an entire recording of pop standards. You may not like her *sound*, but she is a very good singer. I love her voice.

The Dano Mame was not well received R17 even by undemanding audiences.

R18, SILVIA FINE Kaye. Kaye was her married name tacked on (sometimes)

How daring and brave!

[quote]a quote from Ms. Dano to a CBS reporter:

[quote]“Have I lost my mind? I don't sing, I don't dance, and I've never been on a stage, never,” said Dano.

^ What could go wrong?

Did Gary talk Carol out of it?

R6 thinks obnoxious mugging is art.

Carol is Miss Gooch, maybe Vera, but definitely not Mame

Burnett pitches Ladies Who Lunch (and her Miss Hannigan) as if she’s playing Margie MacDougall.

Burnett as Margie and a young Bernadette as Fran would have been pretty great casting in a tenth year anniversary revival of Promises, Promises.

What a delight

She was too young for the movie but I would have liked Beverly Archer as Gooch. We'll always know her as Iola but she was also hilarious as the Miss Hathaway type on Married With Children and as long as they cut Gooch's Song, she'd have been a scream.

And what of Bernie? I could have seen her do Mame around 1990s.

Carol would have been brilliant! And Harvey Korman would have killed as Vera!

I love Carol, but she's a bit past her prime for the role of Mame.

Has she considered "Gypsy?"

Carol...how about "Driving Miss Daisy."

Has there ever been a movie cast solely with old stars in their 90s?

I remember enjoying a small old Canadian movie about a bunch of retired old ladies on a bus tour and the younger woman driver gets lost and the bus breaks down on some backroad in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

Thank you for your kind words, r12. As you must know, i was actually chosen to play Frederika, but i decided to play Desiree as a challenge. Unfortunately, though i did my usual best, my youthful good looks simply made too unconvincing given the extreme age gap

[quote] she's proven she has surprisingly little skill at Musical Comedy.

What a wise statement. Yes, she was such a notorious disaster in "Once Upon a Mattress." How could she have ever thought she would make it on the musical comedy stage after that fiasco?

As we all know, 25 years ago there was the talk that Streisand was going to produce, direct and star as 'Mame' for ABC (when they were doing musicals each season).It dragged on and on, until she announced she was not going to star but just produce and direct - and she wanted Cher, whom Jerry Herman wanted / not wanted (depending on who was telling the story).

At the end of 2002, Herman pulled the Streisand / ABC TV deal because he announced he was working on a 2003-04 Broadway revival starring Michele Lee (who had just finished a two year Tony-nominated run in 'Tales of the Allergist's Wife'). He then put it on hold, as he wanted to bring his revival of 'La Cage' to Broadway first, which he did at the end of 2004. Lee's "Mame" was then supposed to premiere in the fall of 2005. Herman had so much trouble with the 'La Cage' revival (bad reviews, bad box office, bad backstage fighting) the revival closed six months later and Herman walked away from the 'Mame' revival.

[quote] Has there ever been a movie cast solely with old stars in their 90s?

Yes, Rose. There was the special nonagenarian production of "Annie" at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, FL. The late Luise Rainer absolutely killed in the title role.

But she can't sing!

Time has allowed steader heads to prevail when it comes to Lucy's performance in Mame. At the time of its release, the American public was not willing to allow that slapstick Lucy Ricardo could pass for sophisticated Mame. Now with time and perspective her performancer in Mame can be appreciated for the triumph it actually was. No, she didn't have the best voice. No, she was not a good dancer, but she's positiviely mezmerizing as Mame, you can't keep your eyes off of her. Slowly but surely Mame is becoming an American classic as more and more people add it to their annual must-see holiday viewing.

Harvey Korman was cast but Gary talked him out of it.

[quote]Slowly but surely Mame is becoming an American classic as more and more people add it to their annual must-see holiday viewing.

WHAAAAAAAAAAT ? Who are these strange people you speak of ?

[quote]as long as they cut Gooch's Song

She has two, r29. One of them opens the show.

R42, the name of her horrible solo is Gooch's Song.

R39. Thank you, Lucie!

What director could have done the movie Mame? George Cukor dropped out and did the similar Travels With My Aunt and he likely would have found a better costume designer than Thea Van Runkle. With Lucy as the star and Cukor as director, it would still seem too old. Fosse never would have done it. Stanley Donen was only about 50 at the time.

[quote] What director could have done the movie Mame?

Still starring Lucille Ball?

How about Tobe Hooper?

Ball loved doing the movie so much, she had ABC turn it into a TV series in 1986 and called it 'Life With Lucy'.

She would have been a better Mame than Rose.

Stop it, r39, you're making me nauseated.

[quote] Madeline Kahn would have been a spectacular Vera. Although some have stumped her for Mame, her persona becomes tiresome in the lead.

R11 Tell me about it.

[quote]Catherine Zeta Jones should have played Mame after she played Desiree. She has the warmth, the voice and the sophistication. Alas, I doubt we'll ever see her on Broadway again.

Not unless there's a revival of "13."

Sheryl Lee Ralph has my vote for 'Mame' in a revival. Marla Gibbs as 'Gooch'.

Marla Gibbs is 93. Pregnancy would be hard to justify.

Have you no faith in the comedic talents of Gibbs ? Seriously ? She could pull it off. Give her the chance.