Mack and Mabel is a dazling show
Concordia production is on until Saturday at theatre
A MAN obsessed with cinema and a woman equally obsessed with him, doesn’t seem like the best subject for a musical, writes Tony Parratt.
But with some of the best songs ever written by the imperious Jerry Herman and a top class talented ensemble, Hinckley Community Guild’s dazzling production of Mack and Mabel was a sure-fire hit with the capacity first night audience.
Mark Benn was in majestic form as Mack Sennett, a man absorbed in the intricacies of film making, with a total disregard for any other personal involvements.
This came to the fore when he sang a moving rendition of ‘I Won’t Send Roses’ to a smitten Mabel, showing the lack of romance in his soul.
Anna Bowtell as Mabel, once again proved what a fine leading lady she is, relishing the chance to show off both her singing, acting and dancing abilities to maximum effect. And this was amply demonstrated when she led the company in a rousing ‘Look What Happened To Mabel’.
But what did happen to Mabel, was that she moved on from the bullying and shouting of Mack, but deep down never stopped loving him.
His two backers nicely played by Richard Reading as Mr Bauman and Steve Gunn as Mr Kessell, wanted the ‘golden goose’ back, but Mabel had other ideas.
Poached with the offer of better work by rival director William Desmond Taylor (Steve Gunn), the nice girl from the deli started a downward spiral of drink and drugs.
Added to this Mack’s silent studio reliant on slapstick and Keystone Cops was running out of steam, at the same time his employees were leaving him for the talkies.
Frank Capra (Scott Lewin) quits for bigger things and Richard Bevington’s sterling stalwart comic Fatty Arbuckle was tempted by a massive deal.
Putting the tap right at the heart of the show was a toe tapping ‘Tap Your Troubles Away’ led in infectious style by Sarah Moore in the role of Lottie Ames.
The show starts with Mack reflecting on the early death of Mabel and then we are led back to how they met and what evolved.
Included was a murder charge, later dropped that she faced, but her career never recovered and the whole saga was one of ifs and maybes.
In the hands of the impressive director Ian Cray, and a minimal set with some clever touches, it did not disappoint and I particularly liked the use of a director’s hoist to raise the towering and brooding Mack above his cast and the audience.
Another clever touch was to have a screen above the main set, showing original Sennett film, but interspersing it with moving screen images of some of the sequences we were see- ing on stage,
One small change will surely be to balance the music, because particularly in the first half, at times, the orchestra almost drowned out some of the singing.
But that is only a minor blip in what was a smooth fast paced show aided by some slick choreography under the expert eye of Caroline Walsh.