Role of Mame touches, challenges Shari Lynn

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

•	'Mame' • Benefit performance, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Diamond Head Theatre $75, $100, $150; pre-show hoopla from 6 p.m., includes a martini bar, pupu by Sam Choy's and Let's Eat Hawaii, wines of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates and silent auction 733-0277, ext. 305 • Regular performances 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, March 22 through April 7 $10-$40 (discounts available) 733-0274

"It wasn't on my list of shows to do," said Lynn, a full-time teacher and sometime actress, who also sings on the club circuit.

She had previously done "Gypsy" and "Funny Girl," two classic musicals, but a family tragedy about three years ago kept her out of the bright lights. Oh, she did regular Readers Theatre dramas at Army Community Theatre, but these were moderate endeavors without the time commitment required of a big-scale song-and-dance show.

But two years ago, she was asked to consider turning on her leading-lady charms again after she sang "If He Walked Into My Life," one of Auntie Mame's wrenching tunes from the Jerry Herman musical score, in a Diamond Head Theatre backers' audition.

It got her thinking. She got the urge again.

"For me, 'Mame' has significance and it's been somewhat therapeutic," said Lynn. After proddings from director-choreographer John Rampage, she's ready to roll, complete with wigs and costume changes galore, with a benefit performance Wednesday leading up to the public debut March 22 at DHT.

"I thought it might be time to get back," Lynn said.

The theater community and those close to her had been aware of Lynn's personal tragedy: About three years ago, she and her husband Michael Acebedo lost their youngest son. "Everybody in my inner circle knows, and even though he was my stepson, Corey was special. In the course of casting the show, there was a wild coincidence: The actor playing the older Patrick (the orphaned nephew who comes to live with Mame) is named Cori (Cori Vas)."

It was an emotional jolt when she found out. And in the context of "Mame," Patrick walks out of Mame's life and she ponders what her life would be like if he should return. That was another emotional bolt for Lynn.

A series of rehearsals with a cast she cherishes, along with a teaching gig with students she adores, has kept Lynn on the go.

"I don't regret the decision to do it," she said of being in the limelight again, one that gives her new challenges. "It's a fantastic growth process. I have 15 costume changes, 12 numbers, but I've never been known to be a dancer. I can move, I can prance my butt off stage, but dancing ... it remains to be seen."

She still shudders about the parallels in her private and stage lives. "Here it is, a show about a child coming into your life. Not your natural child, but one you get to love. When he walks out, no longer part of your own life, it's very personal, touching," she said.

In the musical, Mame is a New York socialite and a believer in causes. When Patrick, 10, first infiltrates her household, her life changes forever and the situation brings on conflicts with her best friend, Vera, though her husband-to-be, Beau, welcomes the notion of a family.

Getting into the "Mame" mindset has given her a new perspective of the character. "I had thought that Mame was brassy, witty, a free-thinking kind of bombastic woman," said Lynn. "I had forgotten that she also had a softer side and feels pain and shows it. She is the opposite of a bigot; she protects the unwed mothers, the minorities, the underdogs with a great sense of responsibility. She is the best party giver, the Pearl Mesta of parties, but when Patrick comes into her life, she realizes there is something more important than a good party. It's family."

In researching the role, she was astounded by the gamut of actresses who have portrayed Auntie Mame, in the play as well as the musical: Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson, Ann Sothern, Ginger Rogers, Juliet Prowse, Joann Worley, Janis Paige, Elaine Stritch, Beatrice Lilly, Susan Hayward. And, of course, Angela Lansbury. Lucille Ball did the movie version of the musical.

Lynn has never been afraid of singing, since she's always been a belter, first a soloist and, in the past, as a member of the Jive Sisters. She approached teaching with a similar full-tilt courage.

"I'm now director of music at Hawai'i School for Girls at La Pietra, with about 180 students every year," she said. "Nancy Hunt had been the music teacher and hired me to handle the middle school while she handled the upper choir, and my gosh, it was terrifying to face a classroom of students, not having a clear mettle to teach or to discipline.

"I mean, I knew what to do if I were on stage, and I had taught only privately. And early on, the students didn't have a clue about who I was, though I started getting some 'My mom is really impressed that you're my teacher.'

"And oh God, I thought, if I accepted this job, I would have to grow up. Teachers are supposed to be grown up, to do tests, grades, disciplinary slips. But I've come to love it. It's so fulfilling."

She has been able to institute Sunset Jazz concerts, collecting chits from peers Jimmy Borges and Gabe Baltazar, and has been working with Na Leo Lani, a barbershop-harmony chorus, to work toward installing a program of harmony singing, barbershop quartet style.

Lynn hasn't given up on her Hale Koa Hotel singing gig, with keyboardist Ray Kaneyama, every Tuesday night, though she has taken a breather from that engagement to prepare for "Mame." In July, she marks 10 years at the Hale Koa.

"It's been a wonderful gig with a wonderful following," she said. "When I walk in the room, they applaud. It's embarrassing, but you feel special." It's a welcome that "Mame" would find endearing, too.