"Is it over for Mack and Mabel? Will any producer take a chance with it now?"
I can't imagine why they would; the Paper Mill production in the '80s, the West End production iand a Barrington Stage productio in the '90s, a Goodspeed production in the 2000s, etc., Chichester Festival in the 2010s, Encores in the 2020s, etc. - this show has had more than its run of solid chances, most with talented people at the helm.
This is bound to be a minority opinion, but ever since first seeing them live, I've always felt that Herman's "The Grand Tour" and "Dear World", albeit far less-known and with slightly less stellar scores, are both far more workable as stage properties than Mack and Mabel. The two shows I cited have their issues, to be sure, and whether the properties they're based on needed to be musicalized is an open question.... but Mack and Mabel has inherent problems built into the two central characters that no one seems to be able to solve. |
