Krakowski played Mabel Normand as part of LA's Reprise program to great notices, Douglas Sills played Mack and Donna McKechnie played Lottie. There were rumors going around that the production would transfer to Broadway with Krakowski in the lead, but I believe either ALLY MCBEAL was renewed or it fell through in some other way (I doubt there was much interest from investments in the first place). Herman said he would get it made with Andrea McArdle in the role instead, but obviously that didn't work out any better.
I have listened to a recording of Krakowski in the role. She is as heartbreaking, charming, vulnerable, and sweet as Bernadette Peters is on the OBCR. It's a perfect part for her and I do wish she had the chance to play it in NY. As I said in the GYPSY thread, her ability to bring pathos to a role is her secret weapon. Just watch her turn "I Resolve" into one of the most surprisingly heartbreaking moments in SHE LOVES ME. I do hope someone casts her in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at some point since that's a role that I feel could have been written specifically for her. She'd be wonderful in MAME too, of course.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
