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Mack and Mabel
This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows
Musical Closed 1 July 2006
Criterion Theatre Piccadilly Circus, London
A Brooklyn deli-delivery girl turns up on the set of silent movie director, Mack Sennet, creator of the Keystone Cops. She catches his eye and soon his heart. Before long Mabel Normand is starring in Sennett’s two-reel movies and together they bring glamour to the silver screen. But showbiz and ambition make for a tempestuous relationship.
"Thrilling... Utterly compelling. Terrific" The Times
Out of the Silent Movie era and the heady heights of 1920s Hollywood, Mack and Mabel tells the heart-wrenching love story of two of its greatest legends; director Mack Sennett 'The King of Comedy' and his star, comedienne Mabel Normand. This dramatic love story interwoven with Herman's wonderful score including Tap Your Troubles, Time Heals Everything and I Won’t Send Roses. Mack and Mabel comes in to London's West End following a short regional tour. This production of Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel is directed by John Doyle and was originally see at The Watermill Theatre in Bagnor.
After seeing the Opening Night performance at London's Criterion Theatre, the show's composer/ lyricist, Jerry Herman said: "Tonight I saw the definitive Mack and Mabel."
"Jerry Herman, who has had mighty musical hits supplies some beguiling numbers, both sweet and cross, but this is a whisker-thin show... John Doyle's hard-working production has lots of oompah brass and some energetic hoofing but looks more village hall than silver screen. Janie Dee is bewitching... but David Soul grumps through the songs with so little affect that he seems to be trading under the wrong name." The Observer
"There is a real chemistry between David Soul and Janie Dee - a potent mixture of affection, desire and bruised emotion, and it ignites at the heart of this beautiful, bittersweet show - a superbly tuneful and thoughtful musical" The Daily Telegraph
"If ever a show deserved to move from small beginnings to the big time, this is it. Jerry Herman's 1974 musical about Mack Sennett and his star actresses and lover, Mabel Normand, started life at Newbury's tiny Watermill Theatre... David Soul repeats his Mack... Janie Dee has taken over as Mabel and moved effortlessly from perky waif in a white bonnet to steely star with soft, killer eyes... For warmth and buzz and cracking high spirits, I can't think of a better show." The Sundau Times
"David Soul is perfect in this brilliant production" The Daily Mail
"Starring David Soul and Janie Dee, this musical by Jerry Herman sees showbiz blowing its own trumpet in a quirkier fashion than is the norm. The director John Doyle specialises in multi-tasking ensembles. So his cast don't just act, sing and dance, they also double as their own DIY orchestra... I'd rather see this than many a splashier production. However, it should be pointed out that the stage is so cramped that the choreography is minimal." The Independent on Sunday
Jerry Herman, the writer of Mack and Mabel on his experience of seeing this production for the first time at the Watermill Theatre: "It was an eye-opening experience. There was my big musical on a tiny wooden stage but it reached into the heart of Mack and Mabel and made that love story really riveting. You saw its tragic end better than we had ever seen before, and, of course, that's what appealed to me about the story to begin with: It's on impossible love affair but a genuine one, and even though the man - Mack Sennett, creator of the Keystone Cops - couldn't say I love you and even though he practically drove the girl to drugs and booze and ruin, he then does something gigantic in actually having his studio make a last film for her - to bolster her when she really needed it, which is a great affirmation. It's a way of saying 'I love you' without saying those words... I was thrilled and stunned by John's production and by Sarah Travis's arrangements - it's almost like I had gone to New Orleans in its heyday and heard that score played by musicians in a Mardi Gras. That's the best way of describing what happened to me when I heard my music arranged in this way. It was everything musically I could ask for and had thought I could never better; this brings out the best in the score."
The undisputed 'King of Comedy' in Hollywood's early years was Mack Sennett, co-founder in 1912 of the Keystone Company. Under his direction, the Keystone name became synonymous with the very best of silent slapstick as Sennett and his dedicated gang of performers created a fresh new screen style that drew laughs from audiences and critics alike. Keystone soon became the silent screen's foremost comedy mill with Sennett himself its self-appointed producer of laughs. From these studios came the custard pie, the Keystone Kops, the bathing beauties and literally hundreds of short two reelers. Mabel Normand was born in 1895 of an Irish mother and a French father. In 1908 she moved with her parents to New York where she found work as an artist and photographer's model. At the age of 16 Mabel went to work for Biograph Studios on East 14th Street. Her radiant screen presence and comic wit soon made her a box office favourite and it was not long before she was one of the Studio's most popular and valuable stars. It was while at Biograph that Mabel met and fell in love with the actor and director Mack Sennett. In 1912, when Mack set up Keystone Pictures, she joined him. Their tempestuous love affair was to last for many years.
