I’ve decided to have a musical theatre virtual advent calendar here at Musical Cyberspace. Today’s musical is Mame, Jerry Herman’s 1966 musical that starred Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur. The show ran for a total of 1 508 performances, moving from the Winter Garden Theatre to the Broadway Theatre in 1969. Even today, it is still within the Top 50 longest-running Broadway musicals. So why does this show kick off my advent calendar? Simple. Because of the song posted above: “We Need a Little Christmas”. I have loved this song from the moment I first heard it, in a Marie Osmond Christmas special when I was 12 years old, before I had discovered the musical itself or the joys of Angela Lansbury as a musical theatre performer. The song also recently re-established itself in my consciousness because of the version recorded for the Glee Christmas album, where it is sung by Mercedes Jones (played by Amber Riley), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer).

Got a special Mame memory? Head on down to the comment box.

Downloads from Amazon.com

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: 1. Mame Original Broadway Cast MP3 Album. 2. “We Need a Little Christmas” OBCR Version MP3.. 3. Glee: The Music – The Christmas Album MP3 Album. 4. “We Need a Little Christmas” Glee Version MP3..