Mack & Mabel - 2000
(by arrangement with Samuel FrenchLtd)
By JERRY HERMAN & MICHAEL STEWART
Director/Choreographer DENISE ROBINSON
Musical Director JOHN BIDDULPH
Accompanist ANNETTE BEECH
CAST
| Mack | TIM SHERIFF |
| Mabel | LINDSAY ROBERTS JOHNSON |
| Lottie | JAYNE BLAKEMORE |
| Fatty | ANDY POULTON |
| Frank | NEIL CAMPBELL SWAN |
| Freddy | CHRIS WOLVERSON |
| Kleinman | RON HUMPHREYS |
| Fox | CHRIS FROST |
| Ella | MAGGIE THURGUR |
| Andy | NICK LESTER |
| W D Taylor | ANDY ROBINSON |
| Goons | STAN TILL & LYNDON FLAVELL |
| Reporters | KIP BARRETT & PETER MORRIS |
| Watchman | ERIC PAGE |
| Writer | STAN HOLMES |
GRIPS, KEYSTONE KOPS, BATHING BEAUTIES, ACTORS, REPORTERS, SHIPS CREW, DANCERS ETC. PLAYED BY
Jackie Andrews, Fiona Bingham, Sandra Birch, Chloe Buroyne, Dawn Corfield, Carol Dicken, Anne Duff-Cole, Chris Duff-Cole, Sue Harris, Charlotte Haughty, Vicky Hughes, Sheryl Lee, Anne Palmer, Wendy Peterson, Carol Porter, Maria Robbins, Kimberley Robinson, Marcelle Rollings, Becky Ross-Plumber, Yvonne Salt, Maria Shee, Gemma Shield, Tracey Spencer, Amanda Stevenson, Alison Walker, Chris Walker, Jackie Watkins, Linda Williams, Ruth Williams, Kip Barrett, Alan Compson, Mike Costello, Matthew Elson, Lyndon Flavell, Lan Hunter, Chris Morris, Jack Morris, Peter Morris, Stan Till, Ashley wilkes, Ray Whittaker
NON-ACTING MEMBERS
Claire Andrews, Jean Beard, Ron Beard, Veronica Bould, Lloyd Brookes, Joyce Brooks, Jenny Darlington, Rebecca Davies, Barbara Devey, Simon Devey, Tammy Dowen, Wyn Duff-Cole Hinks, June Evans, Lyn Frost, David Gregory, Joan Grice, Jerry Hobbs, Don McClay, Jenny McClay, Janet Molton, Mick Moreton, Rosemary Moss, Pauline Pursehouse, Denise Robinson, Pascale Rollings, Peter Rollings, Keith Rowley, Holly Stringfellow, Graham Tarbuck, Stephen Taylor, Lean Wadsworth, Doreen Whild, Michael Woodward
SYNOPSIS OF SHOW
ACT I
It’s 1928, and the director Mack Sennett, king
of the silent comic film, has come back to his old studio. But it’s
all changed: now they’re shooting a talkie. And talkies, according
to Sennett, are nothing but ‘some joker with a Victrola back
of the screen’ - just tricks and not worth ‘one eighth
of a quarter of an inch of my Mabel’. Mabel Normand, silent
film actress, is the woman Sennett loved - indeed, still loves.
Now she’s gone, and he knows she’s in trouble. But it’s not the kind of trouble one of his big Sennett finishes con solve. besides, times are different now and they don’t make happy endings any more. But what do they know about making movies ? he asks: ‘Not a goddam thing!’ (Movies were Movies).
On those memories, we go back to the better days of 1911, when it all began. Sennett is shooting a two-reeler melodrama with Lottie Ames, when six honchos from the creditors burst in and start closing down the set. Right into the middle of this mayhem walks Mabel, the kid from the Delhi, with lunch orders - and she’s not leaving without her 15 cents. Chaos turns into comic madness. All of it caught on film. Everyone breaks up laughing, debts are forgotten - a star is born. (Look what happened to Mabel)!
Sixty two reelers later. And Sennett and company have out grown there little Brooklyn studio. They need more space, sunshine, room to spread out! Which means only one thing - California (Big Time)! On the way out west, the train stops briefly in the middle of the desert. Mack finds Mabel alone on the observation platform, and the sight of her stirs something in side him. But he’s not going to let it happen. They talk, and he tells her about his tough beginnings and the way he’s survived: Stay on the move, keep running, and if it isn’t about making movies, forget it. But Mabel likes him - maybe to much. That’s OK by Mack, as long as she knows the rules (I won’t send Roses): she does, and reprises his song (So who need Roses).
At last they’re in Hollywood. Kleinman and Fox, Sennett’s backers, what him to make big epics: but Mack has his own style (I wanna make the world laugh). And he’s right. Things are going great: he and his star are a team and have never been happier (Mack and Mabel).
Until, that is Mabel, prodded by the writer Frank, decides the her integrity as a artist “is being compromised”. Mack explodes: You got where you are because I counted for you! One you walk, Two Three you turn, Four Five ... and on his instruction she does turn, picks up a custard pie, and shoves it right in his face. In a beat he throws one back at her. Everyone then joins in the custard melee that has since come to epitomise comic chaos (I wanna make the world laugh - reprise).
At a Hollywood party in her honour, Mabel meets the famous director William Desmond Taylor, who wants to make a film with her. Mack feels threatened, but instead of telling Mabel the truth - that he’s jealous - he attacks her until she has no choice but to walk out (Wherever he ain’t). And ‘like all the other things I didn’t do with Mabel’ he doesn’t stop her; it hurts, but he lets her go. Then, master movie maker that he is, he throws himself into a new idea: Sennetts Bathing Beauties (Hundreds of Girls).
Now she’s gone, and he knows she’s in trouble. But it’s not the kind of trouble one of his big Sennett finishes con solve. besides, times are different now and they don’t make happy endings any more. But what do they know about making movies ? he asks: ‘Not a goddam thing!’ (Movies were Movies).
On those memories, we go back to the better days of 1911, when it all began. Sennett is shooting a two-reeler melodrama with Lottie Ames, when six honchos from the creditors burst in and start closing down the set. Right into the middle of this mayhem walks Mabel, the kid from the Delhi, with lunch orders - and she’s not leaving without her 15 cents. Chaos turns into comic madness. All of it caught on film. Everyone breaks up laughing, debts are forgotten - a star is born. (Look what happened to Mabel)!
Sixty two reelers later. And Sennett and company have out grown there little Brooklyn studio. They need more space, sunshine, room to spread out! Which means only one thing - California (Big Time)! On the way out west, the train stops briefly in the middle of the desert. Mack finds Mabel alone on the observation platform, and the sight of her stirs something in side him. But he’s not going to let it happen. They talk, and he tells her about his tough beginnings and the way he’s survived: Stay on the move, keep running, and if it isn’t about making movies, forget it. But Mabel likes him - maybe to much. That’s OK by Mack, as long as she knows the rules (I won’t send Roses): she does, and reprises his song (So who need Roses).
At last they’re in Hollywood. Kleinman and Fox, Sennett’s backers, what him to make big epics: but Mack has his own style (I wanna make the world laugh). And he’s right. Things are going great: he and his star are a team and have never been happier (Mack and Mabel).
Until, that is Mabel, prodded by the writer Frank, decides the her integrity as a artist “is being compromised”. Mack explodes: You got where you are because I counted for you! One you walk, Two Three you turn, Four Five ... and on his instruction she does turn, picks up a custard pie, and shoves it right in his face. In a beat he throws one back at her. Everyone then joins in the custard melee that has since come to epitomise comic chaos (I wanna make the world laugh - reprise).
At a Hollywood party in her honour, Mabel meets the famous director William Desmond Taylor, who wants to make a film with her. Mack feels threatened, but instead of telling Mabel the truth - that he’s jealous - he attacks her until she has no choice but to walk out (Wherever he ain’t). And ‘like all the other things I didn’t do with Mabel’ he doesn’t stop her; it hurts, but he lets her go. Then, master movie maker that he is, he throws himself into a new idea: Sennetts Bathing Beauties (Hundreds of Girls).
ACT II
Act II opens on the years Mabel is away. We watch
her on screen in one bad movie after another. Finally Mack can stand
it no longer: ‘Taylor is ruining her!’ He badly wants
her back, but it is tough for him to ask.
She makes it easy, however, and in the quiet of one early morning comes back to Mack’s studio. One by one the crew greets her and soon everyone is joyously joining in (When Mabel comes in the room). Even Mack (reprise). But Mack is Mack, and when he starts shooting Mabel’s movie, he can’t resist the newest discovery - the Keystone Kops (Hit ‘em on the head). Meanwhile, Mabel is waiting patiently in her dressing room. Finally, she just gets up and leaves.
By the time Mack realises he’s lost her again, the despairing Mabel has gone back to Taylor and is about to sail to Europe. This time he’s not going to let her get away. But he can’t stop her, because he’s still not ready to make that commitment and she knows it: she’s talking about life and he’s talking about movies. Heartbroken, alone on the deck as the boat pulls out, Mabel sings Time Heals Everything.
Years pass. Years without Mabel, years that see the silent movie days draw to a close. Mack’s people are leaving him. Lottie, the last to go, dances her way into the Vitagraph Varities (Tap You Troubles Away). Suddenly, as she taps, gunshots ring out behind her and the stage fills with flashing headlines, news bulletins, shouts from newsboys: William Desmond Taylor Murdered! Mabels Normand’s lover shot dead!
Mabel’s career is over. ‘Hey, kid’, Mack shouts to the darkness, ‘don’t let them make you quit. That’s like dying! ’But it looks like nothing and no one can save Mabel. Frank, who was there from the beginning, tells Mack how the booze and the dope started: ‘Right here,’ he says, ‘trying to keep up with a Mack Sennett schedule’. In a fury, Mack throws him out.
Now we’re back to the present, 1928, and the old studio. A lifetime has passed. Mack stands there, alone, understanding at last that the time has come to stop running. He must turn around and fight for Mabel. He’s going to make that movie, and Mabel Normand’s going to be the star. She breaks down in tears, she can’t do it. ‘Can’t your backside, you n-talent waitress! As long as you’re working for Mack Sennett, you’ll do as your told. One you turn! Two you wipe your eyes! Three you smile!’ And smile she does as he takes her in his arms: ‘...I need you (I Promise You A Happy Ending).
She makes it easy, however, and in the quiet of one early morning comes back to Mack’s studio. One by one the crew greets her and soon everyone is joyously joining in (When Mabel comes in the room). Even Mack (reprise). But Mack is Mack, and when he starts shooting Mabel’s movie, he can’t resist the newest discovery - the Keystone Kops (Hit ‘em on the head). Meanwhile, Mabel is waiting patiently in her dressing room. Finally, she just gets up and leaves.
By the time Mack realises he’s lost her again, the despairing Mabel has gone back to Taylor and is about to sail to Europe. This time he’s not going to let her get away. But he can’t stop her, because he’s still not ready to make that commitment and she knows it: she’s talking about life and he’s talking about movies. Heartbroken, alone on the deck as the boat pulls out, Mabel sings Time Heals Everything.
Years pass. Years without Mabel, years that see the silent movie days draw to a close. Mack’s people are leaving him. Lottie, the last to go, dances her way into the Vitagraph Varities (Tap You Troubles Away). Suddenly, as she taps, gunshots ring out behind her and the stage fills with flashing headlines, news bulletins, shouts from newsboys: William Desmond Taylor Murdered! Mabels Normand’s lover shot dead!
Mabel’s career is over. ‘Hey, kid’, Mack shouts to the darkness, ‘don’t let them make you quit. That’s like dying! ’But it looks like nothing and no one can save Mabel. Frank, who was there from the beginning, tells Mack how the booze and the dope started: ‘Right here,’ he says, ‘trying to keep up with a Mack Sennett schedule’. In a fury, Mack throws him out.
Now we’re back to the present, 1928, and the old studio. A lifetime has passed. Mack stands there, alone, understanding at last that the time has come to stop running. He must turn around and fight for Mabel. He’s going to make that movie, and Mabel Normand’s going to be the star. She breaks down in tears, she can’t do it. ‘Can’t your backside, you n-talent waitress! As long as you’re working for Mack Sennett, you’ll do as your told. One you turn! Two you wipe your eyes! Three you smile!’ And smile she does as he takes her in his arms: ‘...I need you (I Promise You A Happy Ending).