‘Mame,” the classical musical comedy, opens at Playhouse 22 in East Brunswick on Friday, November 7, with some WW-P presence. Denise Marciano of Plainsboro is making her debut as a producer with this show. Often seen at the Playhouse 22 concession stand or ushering at Kelsey Theater, she has become part of the community theater scene.
Jon Logan, a sophomore from High School North, plays the roles of Ito and Junior Babcock. His previous roles have been Clinton Badger in Yardley Players’ production of “Meet Me in St. Louis,” a guard in MP Onstage’s production of “Shrek,” and Ralph Herdman in Kelsey Theater’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” He got his start in acting by attending the Tomato Patch summer camp at Kelsey Theater for the past five summers. His other interests include the double bass, cross country, and lacrosse.
The show follows the adventures of a bohemian woman, her nephew, and a gallery of characters — and encounters with proper society. Based on the novel “Auntie Mame” by Patrick Dennis and the play “Auntie Mame” by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, it opened at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway in 1966 and the revival opened in 1983 at the George Gershwin Theater.
Born in New Brunswick, Marciano “moved around quite a bit, so when I was young so I lived in South Plainfield, Piscataway, and Branchburg all before I was nine years old, at which time we moved to West Virginia where I lived until I graduated from high school in 1986.” She returned to New Jersey and lived in South Plainfield and Edison until 1996.
Marciano has worked in the finance department at Firmenich for 12 years. Her husband, Michael Marciano, is a quality control manager of flavors at Firmenich. They moved from Edison in 1996. “We moved to Plainsboro because we wanted a house with about an acre of land and good schools,” she says.
Their children are Michael-Anthony, 16, a junior at High School South; and Marissa, 13, an eighth grade student at Grover Middle School, who is also active in community theater.
Marissa get involved with theater at age five when she attended Broadway Babies at Westminster. “My husband and son are not huge theater fans, although they always see any show Marissa is in, but Marissa and I love the theater and see as many shows at various local theaters that we can,” Denise says.
“After spending so many years driving Marissa around to shows and helping back stage I’ve really grown to love theater and have been trying to find my own place,” she says. “I don’t have any desire, or talent, to be on the stage, but I knew I could use my strong communication and organizational skills in some way.”
She joined the Playhouse 22 Repertory Board last year but still wanted to become more active. She soon got her chance when Gerry Appel, the show’s director, was seeking a producer and co-producer. “I knew I could not produce a show by myself, but having the chance to co-produce with somebody experienced seemed like the perfect way to get my feet wet.”
As a producer Marciano is working with the entire production staff, including the director, musical director, choreographer, stage manager, props person, sound designer, set designer, and costumer. Her co-producers are Peter Riga and Pete Masteur, and the executive producer is Adam Neary.
“There is so much that goes into getting a show to the stage that the average theater patron probably doesn’t think about as they are sitting in the audience watching,” says Marciano. “From auditions, casting, music, choreography, set design, costumes, lights, and sound design, there are lots of people behind the scenes making it all work and I basically just make sure that we are all communicating with each other and that everything is running smoothly and of course staying on budget and meeting deadlines. If there are bumps in the road it’s up to the producer to level them out.”
After spending six years as a stage mom and chauffeur to her daughter, Marciano has found her own place in the theater.
Mame, Playhouse 22, 721 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick. Friday, November 7, through Sunday, November 23. $22. 732-254-3939. www.playhouse22.org.
