Producer miscasts herself in lead role of 'Mame'

By ANTHONY DEL VALLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

It's baffling why local singer Joy Demain wants to do musical theater. When belting in the right register she can be a mesmerizing vocalist, but her acting skills are limited, her range is small, and, as producer, she doesn't give herself the right parts.

This time the role is "Mame." Jade Productions producer Demain is supposed to be a lovable kook, an energetic radical who wants to spread the gospel of good living to everyone she meets. But Demain is too down-to-earth, too Donna Reed, and she lacks the maniacal attitude to maintain our interest. When she sensitively sings a ballad like "If He Walked Into My Life Today," you wish she would drop the pretense of playing a role and just give us an evening of songs.

Demain's phoned-in performance gets no help from director/choreographer Jim Carey who seems to have little control over his more than three dozen cast members.

Katie Harper plays Mame's mousy assistant Agnes Gooch, and Harper's anything but mousy. She's an in-your-face performer who needs to be pulled back.

Bennett Tanner is allowed to play Mame's orphaned nephew with a frozen smile on his face. The dancers look petrified when they move. There's even a woman in the chorus who, for no discernible reason, is dressed like a man. Did Carey think we wouldn't notice, or does he owe someone a favor?

Nancy Denton brings the right bite to Mame's best friend, Vera Charles, although she could use more stature. Here's a woman who has the inbred zaniness to play Mame. But when the star is the producer, you don't think of such things, I guess.

Stephen David is likably suave as Mame's husband, Beauregard, and Rex Liu, as Mame's butler, has a smile that radiates electricity. Lamont Russell and Susan Lowe lift the show's comic spirits during a brief scene in a beauty shop.

Demain and Carey give themselves set-design credits, and it's obvious they don't understand how much a real designer could contribute. Mame's "lavish" home is dull, and most of the set consists of thrown together this-and-thats.

There's enough talent on display to make this a just-below average typical community theater production. But it's disheartening to see a talent like Demain treat theater as if it were the same as just singing a song or two. There's a lot more involved that she has chosen to never discover.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.