STAGE REVIEW : ‘Mame’ a Promising Debut for CLO

There’s a new civic light opera in the Southland and underline the word civic . It is very much a community effort of the City of Redondo Beach, which has offered its 1,500-seat Aviation Hall for the first year rent-free. The inaugural show of the newly created South Bay CLO is “Mame,” and you can’t get much more civic-minded than that.

“Mame” is the story of Auntie Mame, the embodiment of the undaunted American ideal of believing you can be whatever you want to be. Based on Patrick Dennis’ account of life with his eccentric aunt, it was made into a play in the mid-’50s by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and a decade later, with a little help from their friend Jerry Herman (who supplied music and lyrics), they turned it into a musical.

Not a bad show with which to launch a CLO that aims to serve its immediate surroundings in an optimistic and respectably professional manner. The production needs some shaking down but it demonstrates altogether honorable intentions.

With it, managing and artistic directors James A. Blackman III and Irv Kimber, respectively, are signaling they mean business. Kimber’s spirited musical direction revs up a full orchestra and chorus. Costumes and sets (curiously uncredited) are opulently showy and Jon Engstrom’s staging and choreography have a decided flair, even when rank and file members of the ensemble aren’t always up to quite pulling it off.

The pros in the production are, however. Teri Ralston in the title role has the verve, the voice and the down-to-earth pragmatism of the sophisticated Manhattanite who won’t let her young ward be limited by a lack of imagination. Tall Carol Swarbrick as her wry friend Vera Charles makes sure her humor is as dry as her martinis. And Pamela Hamill’s Agnes Gooch comes complete with whine, whimsy and song. Add to this trio such hummable Herman items as “My Best Girl,” “Open a New Window,” the clever battle of wits in “Bosom Buddies” and the irrepressible “Mame” and you have a crowd-pleaser.

Almost. Where the real money will have to be spent pronto is on state-of-the-art sound equipment. That, and a state-of-the-art sound designer, is what it’ll take to keep the voices from bouncing off the walls of cavernous Aviation Hall. It’s a serious problem, because no matter how smart the direction, attractive the sets, lively the music or talented the artists, it’s not enough for them to be seen and heard. From time to time, they have to be understood. So two-and-a-half cheers for the new kids on the block. And now the hard work begins.

“Mame,” Aviation Park Auditorium, Aviation and Manhattan Beach boulevards, Redondo Beach. tonight at 8; Saturday-Sunday, 2 and 8 p.m. Ends Sunday. $20-$30.50; (310) 372-4477. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.