Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel#0
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?
Leading Actor Joined: 1/10/05
re: Mack & Mabel#2
Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:45pmIt 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
re: Mack & Mabel#3
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
re: Mack & Mabel#4
Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:31pmThis 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.
re: Mack & Mabel#5
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.
Stand-by Joined: 4/15/05
re: Mack & Mabel#6
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
re: Mack & Mabel#7
Posted: 5/16/05 at 10:49amI'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.
re: Mack & Mabel#8
Posted: 5/16/05 at 11:35amI 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.
re: Mack & Mabel#9
Posted: 5/16/05 at 12:13pmThe casting of Emily Skinner is inspired.
re: Mack & Mabel#10
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".
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Mack & Mabel#11
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.
re: Mack & Mabel#12
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
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Mack & Mabel#15
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?
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/10/03
re: Mack & Mabel#16
Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:07pm
Possible Mabels:
Emily Skinner
Jane Krakowski
Sara Ramirez?
Rachel York
Macks:
James Naughton?
Hugh Jackman?
Kudisch?
re: Mack & Mabel#17
Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:09pmhugh jackman, what a good call. put him with jane krakowski and wow, that's a knock out, huh?
re: Mack & Mabel#19
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.
re: Mack & Mabel#20
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: Mack & Mabel#21
Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:32pmI saw the original & liked it the way it was
re: Mack & Mabel#22
Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:36pmMarc Kudish/Emily Skinner would be my vote! Might have to change my name to MACK&MABELFAN2 if that were to happen :) hehe!
re: Mack & Mabel#23
Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:38pmI 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.
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Mack & Mabel#24
Posted: 6/19/05 at 5:41pmDoug 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.
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