"Mame" is the story of a Manhattan woman whose life is full of people, activity, and adventure but it becomes much fuller when she takes in her orphaned 10-year old nephew Patrick from Des Moines. The lead characters learn from each other the importance of opening up to new possibilities, helping and caring about others, and expanding the horizons for young people. Memorial’s production of “Mame” also opened possibilities for young people to be part of the show. The cast of 50 included 13 children, 7 teenagers, and 30 adults.
With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a script by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (best known as the authors of Inherit the Wind), the 1966 Broadway musical originally starred Angela Lansbury as Mame. The story was based on the best-selling novel 1955 Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis (pseudonym for Edward Everett Tanner III).