Mack & Mabel

#1

Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/15/05 at 4:32pm

Man, I really love this score. It never gets old for me. Jerry Herman's finest, in my opinion. I think that it is long overdue for a revival. I'm thinking:

Mack-Gregg Edelman
Mabel-Emily Skinner

Anybody else have thoughts/comments about the show?

#2

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:43pm

Gregg Edelman's not a strong enough presence.

#3

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:45pm

It is rumoured to go into the West end. currently David Soul and Ann Jane Casey are starring the leads in the watermills revival (regional) and Adam Kenwright is look to bring it into town

#4

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:19pm

Unfortunately, it has been re-thought and re-worked on over the years but just one thing keeps getting in the way... THE BOOK!
Even Gower Champion had a problem directing it. I believe it was also said that the Keystone Cops segments which were an integral part of Sennett's success just weren't funny nor did they work. One would think then, well scrap the book and rewrite it but it seems that the trauma in Mabel's life as a drug user as well as her premature death just didn't lend themselves to a Jerry Herman musical. It's a pity too because it one of few scores I fell in love with from the very first moment I heard it and also never tire of hearing. My fav Herman score by far.

Updated On: 5/15/05 at 07:19 PM

#5

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:31pm

This is Jerry Herman's favorite show of his. It really is one of those shows that gives you a false impression from the cast recording. The score is incredible, one of my favorites. But that book! It just never worked and I can't see it ever having a successful run because of it.

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"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."

#6

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 9:42am

Another West End production? They just revived it in the West End 10 years ago. It needs to come to New York.

And, Riv, I must strongly disagree about Mr. Edelman.

#7

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 10:01am

I second that MelissaErricoFan! Gregg has a fantastic voice and it speaks for itself!

I love this score also and Barbara Cook (to me) does the definitive version!

Cheers!
rich

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Something is stirring, Shifting ground... It's just begun. Edges are blurring All around, And yesterday is done.

#8

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 10:49am

I'm not knocking Edelman's voice. I'm talking about his playing a larger-than-life figure such as Sennett on stage. There's a reason Robert Preston was cast in the original.

#9

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 11:35am

I agree with Riv. I've never seen a production of this show, but am a big fan of the score. Edelman has always put me to sleep - a lovely voice is a lovely voice - but he can't act.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#10

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:13pm

The casting of Emily Skinner is inspired.

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There's always room for pathos - and jazz hands.

#11

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:30pm

"The casting of Emily Skinner is inspired."

Isn't it!

Seriously, we all know she has the pipes to pull it off. And, unlike the petite Bernadette Peters, she could really pull off a line like, "From now on this pile of flesh'll be considered something pretty special".

#12

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:45pm

When Reprise! out in LA did a staging in 2000, there was talk that it might head to Broadway. It starred Donna McKechnie, Douglas Sills and Jane Krakowski A month or so after I saw it, I bumped into Jane K at a concert and asked her about the progress. She sighed and said they couldn't get the money raised.

It is a fun score, the book has some problems.

#13

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:49pm

Emily Skinner needs to go back into a bway show! LOVED her in tree grows in brooklyn.

and i would see mack & mabel regardless of the cast. the score is brilliant. I LOVE "look what happened to mabel" and "time heals everything."

Updated On: 5/16/05 at 12:49 PM

#14

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:49pm

I bet Jane killed in the role.

#15

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:55pm

She was magical! This was pre "Nine"

#16

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:00pm

"And, unlike the petite Bernadette Peters, she could really pull off a line like, "From now on this pile of flesh'll be considered something pretty special". "

Interesting. I used to perform that song, and it never occurred to me that 'pile of flesh' couldn't refer to absolutely anyone. Aren't we all a pile of flesh, whether 90 lbs. or 200?

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

Updated On: 5/16/05 at 01:00 PM

#17

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:07pm

Possible Mabels:

Emily Skinner
Jane Krakowski
Sara Ramirez?
Rachel York

Macks:

James Naughton?
Hugh Jackman?
Kudisch?

#18

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:09pm

hugh jackman, what a good call. put him with jane krakowski and wow, that's a knock out, huh?

#19

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:23pm

A great big NO to James Naughton.

#20

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 5/16/05 at 2:46pm

I cannot see Hugh Jackman or James Naughton as Mack. Kudisch, on the other hand...

For Mabel, I'm sticking with Emily.

#21

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:30pm

It's been over a month since anyone has posted on this thread, but I pulled it up because I have reworked my dream cast:

Mack Sennett-Marc Kudisch
Mabel Normand-Emily Skinner
Lottie-Donna Murphy

#22

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:32pm

I saw the original & liked it the way it was

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Poster Emeritus

#23

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:36pm

Marc Kudish/Emily Skinner would be my vote! Might have to change my name to MACK&MABELFAN2 if that were to happen :) hehe!

#24

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:38pm

I would have loved to have seen the original, but, alas, I was only four years old. I've only seen it on stage twice: A lukewarm regional theatre production in the late eighties and the phenomenal 1995 London production with Howard McGillin and Caroline O'Connor.

#25

re: Mack & Mabel

Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:41pm

Doug Sills and Jane Krawoski did a Reprise production of M&M a few years ago in LA. Donna McKechnie did the Lisa Kirk part. There was a new book by Francine Pascal. I have very fond memories of the production. There was talk of taking it to NY, but plans fell through. The London production was a moderate success.