IVCC announces production of MAME!

October 14, 2022

OGLESBY – The Illinois Valley Community College Theatre Department will premier its first full-scale musical since 2019, MAME!, featuring a large cast of community members, students and faculty beginning Thursday. IVCC Director and Choreographer of Musical Theatre Don Grant Zellmer said “MAME!” is the perfect show for the time — a classic with familiar music and a ‘feel-good’ story. MAME! plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 10 through 20. Online ticket sales open Oct. 17.
The cast required performers of all ages, ranging from a ten-year-old boy to mature actors.
“While the production isn’t exclusively a holiday show, it’s the perfect fit as it ticks through the months and years and includes the well-known musical number, ‘We Need A Little Christmas,’” said Zellmer.
The cast includes: Kelly Johnson as Mame Dennis; Deb Torri as Vera Charles; Rebecca Eltrevoog as Agnes Gooch; Jackson Layhew as Patrick Dennis as a child; Jake Jakielski as Patrick Dennis as an adult and Gregor; Brian Towne as Dwight Babcock; Ethan Darrow as Lindsay Woolsey; Zellmer as Beauregard Burnside;
David Zuniga as Ito and other characters; Michael Lee as Claude Upson, Ralph Devine and Vera’s stage manager; Karen Lesman as Doris Upson, Cousin Fan and M. Branislowski; Lexi Johnson as Gloria Upson, a dancer and others; Zoe Starkey as Pegeen Ryan, a dancer and others; Alyce Scott as Sally Cato; Sitonya Allan as Mother Burnside; Austin Hack as Junior Babcock; and Zoë Bush, Genevieve Hunter, and Rheagan Goluba as dancers, company and various other roles.
Production staff includes Zellmer, music director Alex Guerrero, tech director Chad Brokaw, producer/costume coordinator Dr. David Kuester, stage manager Alyce Scott and assistant stage manager Ash Holland.
The original production of MAME! opened on Broadway in 1966 and starred Angela Lansbury. Music and lyrics are by composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, creator of Hello, Dolly!, La Cage Aux Folles and a host of other Broadway hits.
Based on the play, “Auntie Mame,” it became a movie starring Rosalind Russel. The musical version also became a movie starring Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur.