Jake was always going on about how fantastic a show 'Mack and Mabel' is, and we finally got the chance to see a production of it in London.
It starred David Soul as 'Mack Sennett' the famous Hollywood producer. I had been promised sprawling musical numbers, with glittering 'Tiller Girls' tap, tap, tapping away!
However, when we got to the Criterion on Piccadilly Circus, I marveled at how such massive productions numbers might fit on this tiny stage. What followed was a FANTASTIC show!
It was a small cast on a very stylized stage - lots of ironwork and industrial touches. When it came to production numbers, like 'Big Time', every member of the cast was either singing or playing the musical instruments. Yes. No orchestra, just a multi-functional cast. How efficient!
They style of the whole show was darker than I expected and really drew well on the black and white origins of Hollywood. In the two numbers that cried out for a large chorus - namely 'Hundreds of Girls' and 'My Heart Leaps Up' - they pulled a sheet across the stage and projected footage from original Sennett films such as the Keystone Cops. Very stylish - although Jake and Gillian sorely missed the chorus!
I loved the darkness of the whole show - in the number 'Tap Your Troubles Away', Mabel was even choreographed snorting cocaine off a trumpet!
David Soul was great as Mack Sennett - I'd only ever seen him in Starsky & Hutch and 'Jerry Springer The Opera'. He was dark, brooding, self centred and demanded your attention.
It's a dark story of obsession, drug abuse and suicide. Knowing that, I didn't expect to enjoy the show - but it really caught my imagination. And thinking about it, most musicals end in some kind of tragedy - Carousel, Little Shop, King & I, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof and so on.
I think that the strong, dark, minimal style disappointed Jake and Gillian, but I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!
