Fees and availability are subject to change during the application process. season opens with Mack & Mabel, which tells the story of one of silent film's first great pioneers, Mack Sennett, played by Douglas Sills (War Paint, The Scarlet Pimpernel), and his first great discovery and muse, the comedienne Mabel Normand, played by Alexandra Socha (Head Over Heels, Spring Awakening). Talkies are all the rage, and Lottie Ames, another actress in Mack's company, has become a star ("Tap Your Troubles Away"), but Mabel has become a full-time drug addict and her reputation is ruined. Mack tries in vain to discourage her. "Jerry Herman In Tune With Broadway". Photo: Joan Marcus. It was revived in July 2012 at the Southwark Playhouse, under the direction of Thom Southerland, with choreography by Lee Proud. The Broadway musical Mack & Mabel, having opened on October 6, 1974, closed on November 30 after 65 performances, a flop. With this in mind, he immediately comes up with the concept of the Bathing Beauties ("Hundreds of Girls"). "'Mack and Mabel' Makes Gloomy Stage Music", Citron, Chapter 10 (pp 183-205). Just answer a few questions. (I favored music-only YouTube postings and apologize in advance for those obnoxious initial ads. I see so many ways to approach this piece: Michael Cooper's darkly intimate staging of it in the oddly shaped forty-seat Mastrogeorge Theater used by the Carol Hickey Acting Studio; discussion of the sparkling, sometimes blazing talents of this choice cast; examination of why this piece, one of twelve musical works of Jerry Herman that ran on Broadway, disappeared almost instantly from U.S. stages despite receiving eight Tony Award nominations; and perhaps meditations on the tastes of American audiences in stage entertainment. Mabel Normand, Wally, Charlie Muldoon, Frank Wyman and Grips. An image comes to mind for the musical theatre piece Mack and Mabel (1974) by Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman: a black pearl, infinitely rare, darkly lustrous, almost never seen. Mack & Mabel Opening Date Oct 06, 1974 Closing Date Nov 30, 1974 Previews 5 Performances 66 Musical Original Broadway External Links Shop ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION Theatres Majestic Theatre (Oct 06, 1974 - Nov 30, 1974) Setting 1911-1938. The Encores! Mack & Mabel: Directed by Libby Brien. Ever since its Broadway failure in 1974, people have been trying to resuscitate this Jerry Herman musical. Bankrupted by the talkies and forced to sell his studio, Mack reminisces about his colorful past, including his bittersweet love affair with Mabel, whom he had discovered and guided to superstardom. Had he had the will, he might have worked similar wonders with Mack and Mabel, but the will was lacking. "Jerry Herman is Still Writing Whistlin' Tunes" (NEA syndicated article). Much is omitted. He and Mabel sleep together, but Mack wakes up horrified and leaves in a hurry. production about a troubled silent-movie-era romance. production of Jerry Hermans Mack & Mabel was announced months before the composer died, in late December, at 88. Hoping others will learn and love this song. The "Mack" and "Mabel" of the title were Mack Sennett, the director of silent film comedies featuring the Keystone Kops in the 1910s and '20s, and Mabel Normand, whom he made into a star. "Upcoming" items and similar pieces are drawn from material published or distributed by credited arts organizations or individuals and may have been lightly edited. and ''Mame'' and before the current ''La Cage aux Folles,'' in which he made his alleged ''comeback.'' A dazzling first half scores on two counts. Scenes of Sennett black-and-white silents were projected on screens high on the back walls, and occasionally Christopher Shea's contemporary black-and-white portraits of Sarah Marie Curry as Mabel appeared there. Mack and Mabel features a book by Michael Stewart with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, and features the Broadway standards 'I Won't Send Roses' and 'Tap Your Troubles Away'. One of the real problems with ''Mack and Mabel'' - and it is a problem that still needs to be worked on, especially if the show is to have a deserved second life - is Michael Stewart's most problematic book. Mabel is heartbroken by everything Mack has done to her, but is confident that she will eventually forget him ("Time Heals Everything").Back at the studio, a happy Mack has realized the potential of sound in his movies, with singing and dancing. Robert Preston was hired as Mack. Mack & Mabel depicts the days of the silent film era "when movies were movies". Things have changed considerably since he was last therehe sees a group of actors shooting a scene for a talkie. Robert Joness designs, especially of a train hurtling through the plains, have a freewheeling beauty and Stephen Mears choreography is typically inventive. After a heated argument, Mabel dresses in her best clothes and puts on make-up, then goes off not only for her appointment with Taylor, but for good, as she never wants to see Mack again ("Wherever He Ain't"). There is a handsomely disheveled Douglas Sills as Mack, a quietly charismatic Alexandra Socha as Mabel and a general reveling in period fashion and physicality. She initially refuses, but when she looks back on the offer, she is dazzled by the career prospects ("Look What Happened To Mabel").Mabel is very successful and becomes a major star. adunit_id: 100000795, The title figures are the silent movie-maker Mack Sennett and his bright, particular star Mabel Normand spanning the years from 1911 to 1938, the show charts their rise and fall. tide through the Midtown streets. The New York Times, Its heaven a musical that has all the right elementsa fascinating true story set Nominee: Eight 1975 Tony Awards, including Best MusicalWinner! as its summer show. Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles are home to some of the most popular, most-often performed and most successful musical hero(in)es of all time, and have given Jerry Herman (1931-2019) the distinction of being the only composer/lyricist in history to have had three Michael Stewart (1924-1987) scored on Broadway the first time when he won a Tony Award for his Bye Bye Birdie libretto. The inn reopened in April under the ownership and management of Bob and Grace Labbee, who operate a restaurant in one section and the dinner-theater in the other. When Mabel, a delicatessen worker, delivers a sandwich to Lottie, the actress that Mack is filming, Lottie is unable to pay, and Mabel reacts violently. Shaftesbury Arts Centre in North Dorset, UK presented an amateur production from 12 to 30 July 2018, directed by Sophie Lester, with musical director David Grierson. New York, NY, Stage Manager at The Democracy Project The Alchemy Theatre Company program doesn't provide a list of the musical numbers. After the interval, however, the show seems to be marking time. MACK SENNETT A workaholic movie director, baritoneMABEL NORMAND A deli delivery girl who becomes a movie star,mezzo-sopranoFRANK WYMAN An actor/writer and later a director, baritoneLOTTIE AMES A silent movie star,mezzo-sopranoWILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR A "serious" director and rival for both Mabel's acting talents and her affectionsMR. June 9, 1985. The urge to turn what could have been a bittersweet drama into a huge musical comedy was fatal."[34]. Rhodess production livens up whenever both movement and music take over: in the big bathing-beauties number, Hundreds of Girls (with miniskirted black-and-white costumes by Amy Clark); the extended Keystone Kops sequence, Hit em on the Head, starring Fatty Arbuckle (Major Attaway), a Sennett company member; and the murder scene, Tap Your Troubles Away, sung by Lilli Cooper as Lottie Ames, another Sennett stalwart, and featuring a scenic flourish that is one of the cleverest things in the show. Mack & Mabel, whose only Broadway outing lasted all of 66 performances in 1974, is one of those, and this revival doesnt fix that, cant magic away Michael Stewarts troubled book. The original 1974 Broadway production starred Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters. These were not Jerry Herman's type of Broadway musicals, and in the character of Mack Sennett he seems to have found a vehicle for expressing his opinion. is making her Broadway debut with Thanksgiving Play,, are bringing the show to Broadway for a surprise run. Taylor informs Mabel that he has repeatedly asked Mack to loan her to his studios for one picture, but Mack has refused. [17][18] Soon afterward, British ice-skating team Torvill and Dean, who were based in Nottingham, searched the music library at the local radio station for suitable material for their routines, and discovered a recording of the original cast album. His beloved silent two-reel comedies are no longer hit with the audiences in the late 1930s. Mack reminisces about "when he ran the show", the glorious era of silent movies, thinking of his Bathing Beauties and Keystone Cops ("Movies Were Movies").In a flashback, it is 1911. Songs from: Mack & Mabel the Musical LyricsSynopsis to Mack & Mabel the Musical, SYNOPSISMovies Were MoviesLook What Happened To MabelBig TimeI Won't Send RosesMabel's RosesI Wanna Make The World LaughWherever He Ain'tHundreds Of GirlsWhen Mabel Comes In The RoomMy Heart Leaps UpTime Heals EverythingTap Your Troubles AwayI Promise You A Happy EndingFinale, Copyright 6th Floor The true story involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand who became one of his biggest stars.\r\rNo Copyright Infringement is intended. I do not own anything. }; I'm happy to be invited to attend or review performances of live narrative theatre in central Texas, but there's so much going on that getting to a given production may be impossible. He reluctantly takes part in a mock wedding ceremony, and he and Mabel sleep together, but Mack wakes up horrified and leaves in a hurry. It assumed its present name in the 1940's, has had a succession of owners and was shuttered for a time. Movies Were Movies Mack2. He never came to the theatre. The best part of the evening, though, is the Entracte, when only the orchestra is onstage, and the lighting (by Ken Billington) changes color with the colors of the music. Mack is so glad to have her back that he agrees to film "Molly", at his studio. He wrote of Gower Champion, "A choreographer ought to be able to do something with bodies. Donna McKechnie . Look What Happened to Mabel Mabel, Andy, Fatty, Frank, Grips & Ensemble3a. After an argument, Mabel dresses in her best clothes and puts on make-up, then goes off not only for her appointment with Taylor, but for good, as she never wants to see Mack again ("Wherever He Ain't"). Tickets Through Feb. 23 at New York City Center, Manhattan; 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. The Mack Sennet film segments used in concert with the live theatrical presentation of "Mack and Mabel" at Hollywood Playhouse. The show was directed by Paul Kerryson and choreographed by Michael Smuin, and the cast included Howard McGillin as Mack and Caroline O'Connor as Mabel, Kathryn Evans, and Alan Mosley. Later tributes, to the Keystone Cops and the therapeutic values of tap, fail to advance the plot. Ball, looking oddly like a young Orson Welles, not only captures Sennetts obsessive devotion to comedy but sings with magisterial power. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring Five years after Mabel's departure, the popularity of the Bathing Beauties is waning, and Mack comes under pressure to ask Mabel back. A cast recording was released. Mabel's dramatic behaviour catches Mack's eye, and he thinks she has potential as an actress. Jerry Hermans buoyant score is the highlight of this Encores! The Broadway reviews were only fair. The show follows the relationship between film director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand in the roaring twenties and the early days of the Hollywood film studios. (The set is by Allen Moyer.). Passion! But their story ended in an ugly way, and no ingenuity can undo the shadow that ending casts on an otherwise effervescent evening. Mack and Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. 1911-1938. He has written more than 800 reviews of live narrative theatre produced in Central Texas and has published another 400 written by , Associated with Carol Hickey acting studio in Austin, Texas. document.write('');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.clickfuse.com/showads/showad.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; The recording is destined to become one of those prized by musical theater fans who will ponder how a show with such a good score could have failed. Based on the real life story of the director, Mack Sennett, and his star and lover, Mabel Normand. Anyone can read what you share. Mabel is heartbroken by everything Mack has done to her, ("Time Heals Everything"). Indeed, the ampersand of the show's title is a bit misleading. Mabel meets another movie director, the smooth-talking William Desmond Taylor, who is instantly attracted to her, and agrees to feature her in serious films - he invites her to dinner to discuss arrangements. By the time Mack is willing to try to patch things up between him and Mabel, it is too late - she has died. These were interesting people with remarkable, if truncated, careers. Bill Giles, who directed ''Very Good Eddie'' and ''Going Up'' on Broadway (both imported from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn.) and recently staged a concert version of ''Sweet Adeline'' for the continuing Jerome Kern centennial celebration in New York, has done the staging for this ''Mack and Mabel,'' making the most of the minimal, makeshift stage space. (function() { // 'Mack & Mabe'l, Starring Douglas Sills and Alexandra Socha, Begins February 19", Information from the Musical Heaven website, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mack_and_Mabel&oldid=1148051928, "Look What Happened to Mabel" Mabel and Company, "I Wanna Make the World Laugh" Mack and Company, "Hundreds of Girls" Mack and Bathing Beauties, "My Heart Leaps Up" (later replaced with "Hit 'em on the Head") Mack, "Tap Your Troubles Away" Lottie and Company. The musical is listed as a ''Minette Production,'' which means it will play at the Lanark Inn until July 21, but travel between there and the producer Minette Skloot's own operation, Perona Farms, a luncheon-theater in Andover. Mack discovered Mabel when she was just a sandwich delivery girl and made her a star. in a rich milieu, a bounty of complicated characters, and a score that Meanwhile, Mabel has become attracted to Mack. That's hardly surprising, given the limited seating. [16], Mack and Mabel was first produced in England in 1981 at the Nottingham Playhouse. It explores the complexities of the central couples amorous relationship in a haunting number in which the monomaniac Mack sings I Wont Send Roses, to which the pragmatic Mabel responds in kind. And how ''Mack and Mabel,'' which came to Broadway in 1974, flopped! Preston (as Sennett) was too old for Peters (Mabel), and their characters lacked chemistry. Retrieved December 16, 2010. Scenic design was by Robin Wagner, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt, and lighting design by Tharon Musser. [19], In February 1988, a one-time concert, featuring George Hearn, Georgia Brown, Denis Quilley and Tommy Tune was staged for charity at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. [22], The show was revived at the Watermill Theatre, in Newbury, England. "[3] The musical received reviews that ranged "from fair to phenomenal in San Diego, Los Angeles, and St. Normand, a onetime art student who was working an artists model when she fell into film, died of tuberculosis in her 30s, while Sennett, no fan of dialogue, was ruined by the advent of the talkies. Act I. He adopted a frenetic, slapstick style that kept 'em rolling in the aisles. At the time the show opened, the elaborate number ''When Mabel Comes in the Room'' seemed like a Dolly-Mame spinoff, which, of course, it was. Mack & Mabel will never totally workultimately, it's impossible to capture the magic of black-and-white silent movies on stagebut the Encores! Mabel is still in love with Mack, and resolves to do things his way ("I Won't Send Roses" (Reprise)). Frustrated and humiliated, Mabel is driven into the arms of William Desmond Taylor, an unsympathetic director who leads her into a life of drugs and partying. He was deeply disappointed, since the project had been one of his favorites (and remained until the end of his life), and he felt producer David Merrick had done little to promote it, saying "He never invested in advertising. Information: (201) 475-2030. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/09/nyregion/theater-mack-and-mabel-in-a-revival.html. Exit Music Orchestra, Reed 1 (Piccolo, Flute, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet)Reed 2 (Flute, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet)Reed 3 (Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet)Reed 4 (Flute, Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet)HornTrumpets 1&2Trumpet 3Trombone 1Trombone 2Guitar (Electric and Banjo)Drums/Percussion (3 books)Violins ABC (3 books)ViolasCelloBass, 1 Reed 11 Reed 21 Reed 31 Reed 41 Horn1 Trumpets 1&21 Trumpet 31 Trombone 11 Trombone 21 Guitar (Electric and Banjo)1 Drums/3 Percussion3 Violins ABC1 Violas1 Cello1 Bass. Production values everywhere are minimal." Others, like ''Mack and Mabel,'' do not, and that is a wonder, too . IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today. In a flashback, it is 1911. Scripts and rental materials are not included in this estimate. The rectangular space is a bit awkward, especially for large-scale movement and dance scenes, but canny choreography by Richard Cerato, aimed at the southwest corner of the playing space, made the most of it. In that time, the musical theater had taken a distinctly dark and serious turn in the hands of rivals like Stephen Sondheim and the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. There's no mention of Chaplin and none of the trial of Arbuckle, prominent in Sennett's roving cast of movie makers, who was acquitted of responsibity for a starlet's death at a drunken party in 1922. Mack & Mabel - Opening Night. [24], The show was produced at the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario in 2007. Taylor, sensing that Mabel might still have feelings for Mack, persuades Mabel, who is complaining of tiredness, to take heroin, saying it is a pick-me-up, which works with the magic words, "Bye, Mack!". Although he loves her deeply, he cannot bring himself to fully commit to her. Hundreds of Girls - Mack, Ensemble. Wherever He Aint Mabel9a. Take a look below at how you can enhance your show! 2001 - 2023, The Broadway League, All Rights Reserved. artist: "Mack & Mabel the Musical", Mack himself guides the audience through his tale of triumph, romance and regret. Now, thanks to an intimate production at the new Lanark Inn Dinner-Theater here, ''Mack and Mabel'' can be re-evaluated on content alone. Sebsastian Vitale as Mack and Sarah-Marie Curry as Mabel have fine, expressive voices that come close to overshadowing the couple's progressively unhappier and more alienated moods. But Mack has no time for romance ("I Won't Send Roses"). New York, NY, Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season Directed by Molly Smith, this production eliminated the use of projected film as called for in the script. Some performances are already sold out. [8] Richard Coe in his review for The Washington Post stated that it had landed at the Kennedy Center "with all the zip of a wet, very dead flounder. Kleiner, Dick. When Mabel Comes in the Room Harry, Kleiman, Fatty, Freddy, Fox, Ella, Lottie & Ensemble13a. I Wanna Make the World Laugh Mack8a. [26][27] Southerland had assisted John Doyle with the 2005-2006 production. He attempts to jazz it up with a new comic creation, The Keystone Cops ("My Heart Leaps Up"), and Mabel returns to Taylor. Those scandals turned the public against Normand. Lyrics begin: "I won't send roses or hold the door," Top Sellers production is a beautiful salute to Herman, who died Dec. 26, 2019, at age 88. The result was a seamless blend between silent film scenes, and full color. Mabel is heartbroken by everything Mack has done to her, ("Time Heals Everything"). })(); Though he has become fond of Mabel, Mack has no time for serious romance ("I Won't Send Roses"). There was no nomination for Jerry Herman's score. Later, Mack sees Mabel again as she is preparing to embark on a ship with Taylor. by Michael Stewart, Jerry Herma n In addition to Preston and Peters, the cast featured Lisa Kirk as Lottie Ames and James Mitchell as William Desmond Taylor. The Broadway League is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. Three days later, on December 3, 1974, the original Broadway cast album was released. Mack and Mabel (often stylized as Mack & Mabel) is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. //