| re: MACK AND MABEL Tonight (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 08:17 am EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: MACK AND MABEL Tonight - sergius 12:40 am EST 02/23/20 | |
|
|
|
| Saturday’s matinee had a talkback. Not just the actors but the artistic director, director, conductor, and an original cast member (who repeated the story about the 2 Mabels cast and fired before Bernadette Peters: Marcia Rodd and Kelly Garrett). It was said (can’t recall by whom) that the show was conceived and begun as a fun tribute to the silent movies. It was only when that initial work was being abandoned that the creators decided to focus on the darker storyline about Mack’s relationship with Mabel. And so a lot of the songs are left over from that ersatz perky version. And it shows. I was surprised that the book, that is, the dialogue, is serviceable and kinda witty. Fun, anyway. It’s the throughline and story that disappoint. The opening (apparently from the original version’s opening) is fine and emotionally fraught: Mack storms into the abandoned studio, determined to resurrect Mabel’s memory for himself. And Doug Sills plays it smashingly, though he’d likely play it even better with more rehearsal. And the meet-cute is fine and so is the quixotic forwardness of Mabel that pushes their professional relationship into a physically intimate one. But then the show just treads water until his infidelity (only one? Really??!) and her artistic ambitions (really) break them up. Then another spot of treading water (with reports of her career without him not working out and her drug addiction). What I mean by treading water is big production numbers about the movies and movie-making that have no impact and offer no insights into the story of the two of them. Those must be the songs left over from the first try at making a fun, silent-movie musical. The actors play the scenes and songs very very well. And the director stages everything very well. And the orchestra is great. The supporting players are stock. (I wondered what Lisa Kirk made of her role; as written, she’s just a good old broad who sings and dances great with no impact on the plot, and Lilli Cooper, who essays the role now, does not much except fulfill the necessary). The ending was good, too. (And the final use of a film clip of lovely Socha’s Mabel was a great idea.) Mack as narrator works in the framing device. But that conceit isn’t consistently developed or deepened throughout the show. I’m glad I got to see it. Really really glad. This seems to be exactly what Encores is meant to do. « I won’t send roses » and « Time heals everything » are fine songs. But it’s all dramatically inert, even though there should be a lot of good drama there. One can’t help but be impressed that such thoughtfulness, wondrous staging and such committed lead performances were created in such a short time. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: MACK AND MABEL Tonight - 37Rubydog 11:34 pm EST 02/23/20 |
| Next: | re: MACK AND MABEL Tonight (spoilers) - winters 08:47 am EST 02/23/20 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.015408 seconds.