Midnight Sailing Orchestra14c. In his first song, "Movies Were Movies," he looks back on his career declaring, "No one pretended that what we were doing was art/We had some guts and some luck/But we were just making a buck." Sondheim, for example, won the Tony Award for best composer three years in a row for his ambitious, experimental shows Company, Follies, and A Little Night Music. Things have changed considerably since he was last therehe sees a group of actors shooting a scene for a talkie. But, then, straight plays as diverse as ''The Iceman Cometh'' and ''Little Murders'' had to wait their turn -and the right timing and production - to take their proper place in theatrical history after first flopping. Much is omitted. A dazzling. The musical starred Michael Ball as Mack Sennett and Rebecca LaChance, with direction by Jonathan Church, choreography by Stephen Mear and design by Robert Jones. During much of the performance actors not active on the scene/screen sat visible behind the playing area, just one additional reminder that Sennett's art was always a team effort. Mr. Champion doesn't set about his task that way [he] has not only avoided dance as a means of intimating a difficult kind of comedy, he has been stingy and even sluggish with the footwork that does crop up to decorate the songs. So predictable are the outlines of their story that you could mime every book scene in the broad gestures of silent movies, and wed get the gist more rewardingly. Mabel is very successful and becomes a major star. To be fair, temporal confusion is entirely possible in a two-act musical with fourteen scenes, several of them shifting mid-scene to other locations. Nevertheless, along the way there are some memorable songs, memorably performed. })(); obsession devoted to supporting live narrative theatre in Central Texas. 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. [5] Audiences "were not ready for a down-beat saga about a cocaine-sniffing movie queen. 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!". She died of tuberculosis, an unhappy drug addict, in 1927; the opening and closing scenes at the Sennett studio in 1938 show a bewildered and embittered Mack. For that ''fallow period'' produced ''Mack and Mabel,'' which will yet have its day. Mack sees Mabel again as she is preparing to embark on a ship with Taylor. IBDB (Internet Broadway Database) archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. Songwriter Jerry Herman, responsible for the hits Hello, Dolly! But by Mack Sennett's standards, her claim to fame is obedience, not artistry, and here he compares Mabel to Lillian Gish. 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. Of course, considerable editing was necessary to focus on the Mack and Mabel relationship. And the tragedy at the heart of the story, which is Mabels drug-dependence and early death, is cursorily dealt with. It wasnt planned as a tribute, but it makes a proper homage nonetheless. A big number celebrating Mabels return to the Sennett studios, after a five-year defection, is an absurdly inflated affair in which Herman echoes his own title song from Hello, Dolly! Eventually, Mabel meets a director of serious films, the smooth-talking William Desmond Taylor, who's films she has adored for years, at a hotel reception. "Jerry Herman In Tune With Broadway". While she is reciting an improvised poem, Mabel invites him into her train compartment for a meal. Kleiner, Dick. Mack and Mabel (often stylized as Mack & Mabel) is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. But musicals must end happily, so Mack imagines a happier ending to their story ("I Promise You A Happy Ending"). CTX Live Theatre is a project or maybe no more than a hobby, bordering on a quiet IBDB provides a comprehensive database of shows produced on Broadway, including all "title page" information about each production. var opts = { Mack Sennett pioneered silent film comedies, starting in New York around 1910 and moving later to California and becoming part of the nascent film industry in that sunny clime. The Encores! production of Jerry Hermans Mack & Mabel was announced months before the composer died, in late December, at 88. Although Francine Pascals revised book also tries to give the story an optimistic twist by suggesting that Mabels glory lives on through her movies, the truth is that her work is known only to a select bunch of cineastes. 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. Too, there are awkward waits between scenes. I Wont Send Rose (Reprise) Mabel7. Act I. You live in the age when most touring shows and many local productions are retreads of the old hopeful musical theatre happy stories. The Encores! This is almost certainly your last chance to enjoy in person the heights and experience the depths of Herman's gorgeously sad musical tragedy. Mack reminisces about "when he ran the show", the glorious era of silent movies, thinking of . By the time Mack is willing to try to patch things up between him and Mabel, it is too late - she has died. Hit Em On the Head Kleiman, Fox, Mack & Company14a. . The Tramp debuted to the public in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice (released on February 7, 1914; Mabel's Strange Predicament, shot earlier, was released on February 9, 1914). Mabel is still in love with Mack, and resolves to do things his way ("I Won't Send Roses" (Reprise)). Cooper's blocking and Cerato's choreography of Herman's jolly ensemble numbers delight, particularly the pratfall-filled celebration of the Keystone Cops "My Heart Leaps Up" and the thunderous "Tap Your Troubles Away" sung and led by the exuberant Katya Welch. Directed by Molly Smith, this production eliminated the use of projected film as called for in the script. Though he has become fond of Mabel, Mack has no time for serious romance ("I Won't Send Roses"). Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart were sailing against the current when they set out to make a musical tragedy about the demise of pre-talkies dreams. And one could do without an affected funeral procession near the end. The musical ends with a dream sequence , with Mack imagining a reconciliation between him and Mabel, ("I Promise You A Happy Ending" / "I Won't Send Roses (Reprise)". There's lots of emotion and lots of lively from the composer who brought us Hello, Dolly! adunit_id: 100000796, His Keystone Cops films were hits from 1912 to 1917 or so. adunit_id: 100000795, It aims to please and to tell the truth, although it does not operate at cross-purposes all along. It's often hard to say what makes a show a failure, but this one seems to suffer from a mixed message. (I favored music-only YouTube postings and apologize in advance for those obnoxious initial ads. Preston (as Sennett) was too old for Peters (Mabel), and their characters lacked chemistry. 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. Indeed, the ampersand of the show's title is a bit misleading. In a flashback, it is 1911. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. He and Mabel sleep together, but Mack wakes up horrified and leaves in a hurry. Stream songs including "Look What Happened To Mabel (Karaoke Instrumental Track)[From the Musical "Mack and Mabel"]", "Big Time (Karaoke Instrumental Track)[From the Musical "Mack and Mabel"]" and more. He wrote of Gower Champion, "A choreographer ought to be able to do something with bodies. Had he had the will, he might have worked similar wonders with Mack and Mabel, but the will was lacking. A flawed show is flawlessly done. He never came to the theatre. 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. Eventually, Mabel wants to try other genres of film. Frank Wyman An actor in Mack's company, who aspires to bigger things. It lightens the load remarkably well, creating a fluidity of motion in the musical sequences, which weave in and out. 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. Later, along with Mack's two accountants, Kleiman and Fox, who are helping to finance his projects, the film company moves to a new, larger studio, in California. artist: "Mack & Mabel the Musical", Others, like ''Mack and Mabel,'' do not, and that is a wonder, too. He adopted a frenetic, slapstick style that kept 'em rolling in the aisles. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [1] The Los Angeles reviews were "encouraging but guarded", and warned "of the excessive comic sequences, uneven book, and, most especially, the dark ending. [24], The show was produced at the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario in 2007. 2023 The Musical Lyrics All Rights Reserved, Neil Pitches Songs: I'll Come Running/ I Got the Feelin'/ I'm a Believer, Demo Medley: The Boat That I Row/ Red Red Wine/ Kentucky Woman. Mack's bitter realization of the futility of his hubris, shown in opening and closing scenes, isn't nearly enough punishment for the harm done to her and by extension to the very public Mack sought to entertain. Click to view the Alchemy Theatre Company program for Mack and Mabel, Mack and Mabel, A Musical Love Story This is the one moment that is overtly a tribute to Herman, and it is touching. Mack & Mabel the Musical - PLOT SYNOPSIS. Since he was last therehe sees a group of actors shooting a for... Characters lacked chemistry he was last therehe sees a group of actors a. Hits from 1912 to 1917 or so was produced at the Shaw Festival in! Will, he might have worked similar wonders with Mack and Mabel sleep together, but it a! Although it does not operate at cross-purposes all along responsible for the hits,. Herman 's gorgeously sad musical tragedy a show a failure, but Mack wakes up horrified and in... 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