Most of the songs from the show are well known and include "Mame," "My Best Girl" and "We Need A Little Christmas." The entire production is under the direction of Harry Crossley, well known throughout the region. Dance and musical numbers are staged by Frank Lee White and Norman Spooner will again complete the team as Musical Director. The leading role is played by Edith Rogerson formerly of Flixton, who first joined Urmston Society in 1958 and played the leading parts in "The Merry Widow, " "The King and I," "Most Happy Fella" and "White Horse Inn." She has played many leading roles in opera and musical comedies with All Saints, Eccles, Worsley Opera Group and North Cheshire Margaretians and has recently turned her talents to producing musicals.
The part of Vera Charles is played by Jane Gerrard, the secretary of the Worsley Intimate Theatre who has played many parts of local societies. Beauregard, the male lead, is played by Walter Fearnley. Although a newcomer to the society Walter is no stranger to local societies including Manchester Unnamed Society where he played King Lear. Margaret Parker, who is Agnes Gooch in the show, has been a member of the society for many years and has played many leading parts. Nevil Jackson is Dwight Babcock. Nevil won a Manchester Evening News Oscar in 1975 for the part of Captain Andy in Showboat staged by the North Manchester Society. He is an actor and producer with vast experience.
Vincent Burke plays the part of Ito. He has been in amateur operatics for 25 years in which he has taken many roles for various societies. The part of Patrick Dennis is played by Stephen Blundell, a 13 years-old Urmston Grammar School for boys pupil. This is his first major part for any production. The part is a very demanding role for a boy of his age but Stephen is proving his ability at rehearsals. The older Patrick is played by Robert Bromley who also played for the society when he, too, was only 13 years old and has appeared in a number of productions in the society since then. The cast is larger than last year, with 53 members including 12 dancers. The show, which is to be stgaed at the New Curzon Major Cinema, Urmston, starts on Monday, for one week. A spokesman for the Society said "Tickets are going very well and are showing a big increase on this time last year" Tickets are now on sale at the Society's booking office, and at the New Curzon Cinema.
If she is not up to scratch, no matter how good the rest of the cast are, the production must be counted as a failure. Edith Rogerson not only came over as a superb Mame but she looked as though she was enjoying herself all the way through the show. In the loud and well known songs such as the theme "Mame" and "It's Today" she was energetic and powerful. At the same time she seemed well able to cope with the sad romantic ballad "If He Walked Into My Life" which she sang alone on stage under a single spotlight. The society were faced with several problems because of the twists of the plot and one of these was to find a young boy to play Patrick, the orphan.
Stephen Blundell was chosen and from the first scene he impressed with his confidence on stage and fine singing voice, not to mention no short measure of acting ability. As his nanny, Margaret Parker showed the audience what a fine actress she is as well as having one of the strongest and clearest singing voices in the show. In the second act after receiving some advice from Mame and her actress friend Vera Charles on how to appraoch life, Agnes provided most of the humour in the showwhen she returns from sampling life's pleasures pregnant. Jane Gerrard took the part of the martini-loving Vera Charles who was the main figure of fun in the show. One of the highlights of the production was the hilarious "Man In The Moon" number which Mame succeeds in ruining Vera's song by screamingas she is lifted abov e the stage on a moon silhouette. The main male lead Beauregarde, was played by Walter Fearnley who never put a foot wrong and Neville Jackson as the menacing banker, Dwight Babcock, was also well on top of his role, as was Robert Bromley as the grown as the grown up Patrick.
Vincent Burke made the most of his cameo role as Mam'e servant Ito and was a convincing oriental. As usual the production and direction of Harry Crossley was spot on. Not one member of the large cast forgot one line or even hesitated in the first night, quite an achievement in a three hour show. Similarly the dancing and singing went off without a hitch despite the difficulties in following a production originally arranged for the New York stage, where standards are high. This reflects great credit on the man in charge, Frank Lee-White. The orchestra under the direction of Norman Spooner were called to play some very demanding pieces. At times they seemed to drown out some of the singers but this was the fault of those on stage who did not always sing into the directional microphone rather than those in the orchestra pit. A special must be made of the wardrobe mistress Barbara Blundell who was responsible for the dazzling creations worn by Mame which brought gasps of admiration from the female section of the first night audience. All those responsible for the scenery and settings can also be congratulated for a job well done, especially in creating the space setting for the "Man In The Moon" number.