Whistle Down The Wind may have closed out of town, but Whistle star Candy Buckley will be have the best revenge: she'll be playing the title role in Mame at Fort Worth, TX's Casa Manana Theatre, July 29 through Aug. 10.

Buckley appeared in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical at the National Theatre in Washington DC and will now star as musical theatre's most famous aunt, who shows her ten-year-old nephew the best New York has to offer. In 1996 she appeared in Bernardo Solano's Entries at NJ's George Street Playhouse.

First a novel by Patrick Dennis, then a play (in 1956) by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee, then a movie, Auntie Mame was adapted into the musical Mame by composer Jerry Herman and librettists Lawrence & Lee.

Also starring in the Casa Manana production are Kathy Morath (Vera), Connie Coit (Agnes), Spencer Meador (nephew), Ron Gonzalez, Bill Jenkins, Heland Lee, David Coffee, Deborah Brown, Art Lippa, Melody Jones, Shannon McGrann, and Toney [sic] Walsh.

Fort Worth native Guy Stroman, one of the original Four Plaids in New York, directs the production, which is choreographed by Lyn Cramer. Joseph Stecko serves as music director. Designing Mame will be Edward Gianfrancesco, co-founder of Off-Broadway's WPA Theatre, Jay Isham (lighting), Charles Statham (props) and E.C.2 (costumes). For tickets to any of the shows at Casa Manana, call (817) 332-CASA, or for more information or what's upcoming, refer to the Casa Manana regional listing on Playbill On-Line.

--By David Lefkowitz