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Extreme Youth Theatre

Presents
BROADWAY
Mack and Mabel opened on Broadway on 6 October 1974 and had an incredibly short run due to a range of circumstances that only show business can interpret. The musical is one of those occasionally heartbreaking shows that despite the outstanding music score and historical setting, simply refused to work. After a mere sixty-six performances, Mack and Mabel was tragically shut-down.

The show began its pre-Broadway tour in San Diego in May 1974 with the major elements for success in place, namely: the melodious score, the book and librettist, direction and choreography. Jerry Herman wrote the score and had hits with Hello, Dolly! and Mame. Michael Stuart, the librettist of Bye, Bye Birdie, Carnival, and Hello, Dolly! wrote the book. Gower Champion was the director and choreographer and was also involved the hits. David Merrick was the producer, who had given Broadway dozens of musical hits, including Fanny, Gypsy, Carnival, Oliver!, Dolly!, I Do! I Do!, and Promises, Promises.

The lead roles of Mack and Mabel were played by Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, well known in theatrical circles.

The idea of a musical about the love affair between silent screen director Mack Sennett (founder of the Keystone Kops and the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties) and actress-comedienne Mabel Normand originated with Edwin Lester, producer for Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association, and writer Leonard Spigelgass, who took their idea to Jerry Herman.

Both Herman and Spigelgass laboured over the concept of the musical and experienced difficulties in bringing it all together. Michael Stewart was brought in to work on the libretto.

Casting the role of Mabel received much attention from the press: actress Penny Fuller, a Tony nominee for her performance as the sly, manipulative Eve in Applause (a musicalization of the Oscar-winning film All About Eve) was originally mentioned for the part. Instead, Marcia Rodd, from the off-Broadway hit Your Own Thing was hired. She was subsequently replaced when director Champion hired singer Kelly Garrett as Mabel. Garrett, too, was replaced when the role ultimately went to Bernadette Peters.

Finally, when production had been completed and opened in San Diego, Mack and Mabel generally received good reviews and enthusiastic audience response.

Despite the positive reviews, however, production modifications were considered to be necessary with Champion adjusting the choreography and direction. Stewart found the need to revise his book, and Herman made minor changes in his score. The song "Hit 'Em On The Head," featuring the Keystone Kops, was replaced by "My Heart Leaps Up".

By the time the show opened in Los Angeles, and St. Louis to follow, reviews were less enthusiastic. When Mack and Mabel had reached Washington, D.C. producer Merrick tried to have director/choreographer Champion replaced. New York City was even less encouraging.

The musical's stars, Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters remained relatively unscathed, receiving kind words for their performances from critics all along the way, and both were nominated for Tony Awards. Although it didn't win any of the 1975 Tony's, the show also received nominations for "Musical," "Director," "Book," "Scenic Designer," "Costume Designer," and "Choreographer." Inexplicably, Jerry Herman's score was not among the nominees considering the effervescence of the music was the equal of his other two hits Hello, Dolly! and Mame.

Much soul-searching has been conducted to determine the reasons why the musical did not make big time. Analysts believed that a tragic storyline did not help from the outset. Gower Champion experienced difficulty in recreating the elaborate sight-gag magic of Sennett's silent screen creations on stage. It simply wasn't possible to show Kops flattened by steamrollers, falling over cliffs and being blown up, only to rise again and again, without the magic of the movies.

Problems were encountered with Mack and Mabel's libretto. The two battling lovers were manipulatively separated and unconvincingly brought back together time after time; and there was still the basic problem of an unhappy ending to the story, with Sennett becoming a Hollywood cast-off and Normand dead before the evening was over. This was a plot that wasn't allowed to work and was not accepted as a standard Broadway musical comedy despite the intriguing concept.

Further attempts were made when the show toured in 1976, using a revised book with a new ending in which Sennett imagined the wedding he had never given Normand, and with a new director and choreographer (Ron Field). There ought to have been some redemption in the modifications but overcoming the basic problems with the production seemed insurmountable.

Torvill and Dean created a new demand for the original cast album after its overture was used for their ice skating routine at the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winning event. A concert version of Mack and Mabel was staged in London on 21 February 1988. Which had been designed as a preview for a prospective West End production. It was decided to restore the cut "Hit 'Em On The Head," number but the show didn't eventuate.

Sadly, a major revival at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse later in 1988, with the ending of the show the same as used for the 1976 tour, did not create enough renewed interest to move Mack and Mabel back to Broadway where, according to many musical enthusiasts, it rightfully belonged.