Sally Mayes, a Tony nominee for the Broadway revival of She Loves Me, has left the Penguin Repertory Company production of Mae West at the El Fey Club Tonight. Mayes, who was to play stage and movie vamp Mae West, left because of "artistic differences," said Penguin executive director Andrew M. Horn. Horn would not elaborate on the matter. Nora Mae Lyng, a veteran of Forbidden Broadway, has taken Mayes' place in the Stony Point, NY production. Previews begin Nov. 19 for a run through Dec. 13. Official opening night is Nov. 22, 1998.
Mae West, with songs by Ellen May Schwartz and Bonnie Lee Sanders and a book by Joe Brancato, is set in a New York nightclub the eve of West's departure for Hollywood, where she would become an internationally acclaimed star and sex symbol.
Don Goodspeed co-stars. Brancato will direct. For information, call (914) 786-2873.
-- By Robert Simonson