Review - Mack and Mabel

photo credit: Douglas Gorenstein

I'm trying to remember the first time I heard the Mack and Mabel cast album - was it in high school?  At my college boyfriend's apartment?  I'm not sure, but I know I've been listening to that glorious Jerry Herman score for over 30 years.  I never thought I'd see a production, so I was excited to see a couple of numbers excerpted last year in an Encores! revue called Hey, Look Me Over.  Douglas Sills, as expected, was perfection as Mack and I hoped hoped hoped that a more-full production would be announced after the acclaim for the excerpts.  So I was thrilled when City Center announced it would be doing Mack and Mabel in the current Encores! season.  It's bittersweet to finally get to see it so soon after dear Jerry Herman passed away - I was fortunate to meet him a number of years ago and I wonder what he would've thought of this production.  I'm going to imagine that he loved it.  Please excuse my name-dropping-via-photo at left...

photo credit: Joan Marcus

And so, after over 30 years, I finally got to see Mack and Mabel.  And...I loved it!  Truly!  Though I can also see why it's a problematic show to produce.  But I'm ever so grateful to have seen it and I had a wonderful time.  As Mack Sennett, Douglas Sills is the quintessential leading man - he has elan in spades and a voice that thrills.  He's larger than life, yet oh so human.  I think he's an absolute STAR and I wish people would write shows just for him.  I guess I should also mention here that I've been a huge fan of his for over 30 years - I saw him in the national tour of Into the Woods when I was in grad school and have been enraptured ever since.  Moving on (he WAS great, though).

Alexandra Socha was a terrific Mabel - spunky, lovestruck, ambitious yet complacent, and easily influenced.  She also has an amazing voice and put over the big solos for Mabel beautifully, especially "Wherever He Ain't," which was a real highlight of the evening.  She also handled the comedy and pathos well.

The entire score was terrifically delivered - those bouncy Jerry Herman tunes were sparkling and those delightful lyrics were clear and crisp (I had some issues understanding Sills at the top of the show, then his mic was fixed and all was well the rest of the night).  The ensemble was diverse and wonderfully multitalented.  Everyone was in great voice and in sync with the stylistic choices of the music and story.  I will say that I thought the director/choreographer missed the mark a few times; I think this kind of pastiche show needs to be really crisply directed and there was a little looseness here and there, especially in the spatial relationships, that I noticed.  Of course, with such a short run, they also have a limited rehearsal period, so maybe a full production would snap together more strongly.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

As I said, I can see why the show is tough - it's got two vaguely morally ambiguous lead characters, who need to walk a tightrope between their unpleasant qualities and their star qualities.  They're people who can't be together yet can't be apart and that's tough to dramatize.  Plus, the second act can be a real downer, as Mabel slides into disrepute and Mack is unable to reach her.  After listening to "Tap Your Troubles Away" for so long, I had no idea it was juxtaposing a real life tragedy at the same time, so the diverting of focus was complicated (I love tap dancing and wanted to revel in it, but couldn't because of the other necessary storytelling).  The show has an unhappy ending and even though "I Promised You a Happy Ending" is a gorgeous song, the musical just kind of...ends.  Though, in the right hands (like Sills and Socha), hearing terrific singers/actors take on these roles and sing these iconic numbers is a real thrill, so...

Oh, I do have another quibble: in the original production, what we think of now as the Overture was actually the Entr'acte (before the second act).  So this production kept that convention; after intermission, we were treated to the spectacular Encores! orchestra playing that fantastic bit of music.  However, at the end, banners of dear Jerry Herman flew down for people to applaud.  Except, from my seat in the balcony, I couldn't see them.  I only knew they were Jerry Herman from reading the reviews this morning.  I never approve of something happening on stage that everyone in the audience can't see, so that irked me to no end.

Seat neighbor-wise, it was a pretty respectful bunch.  I was in the balcony, so I was surrounded by other diehard fans who were excited to see the show (I was also thrilled to run into so many handsome friends before and after the show!).  Although, there was one yutz.  Actually, three.  The first yutz came in late, after the overture was over, during the first scene.  He walked into the middle of the front row in the balcony, sloooooooowly, then he slooooooooowly took off his coat by leaning forward first to the left, then to the right.  THEN he stood up to arrange his coat on the back of his seat.  This had to have lasted two or three minutes (which can seem like forever when you can't see Douglas Sills!), then finally the woman sitting behind him leaned forward and said SIT DOWN.  She was my hero.  The other two yutzes kept putting their coats on the railing in front of them, which meant their coats were hitting the backs of the people in the row in front of them.  They just couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want another person's down jacket getting in their way of sitting back in their seat.  I tell you, people are NUTS.  

All in all, I had a fantastic time seeing a show I've long wanted to see and hearing that beautiful score played by amazing musicians.  Jerry Herman's scores make me love life a little more, even when the ending isn't happy.  Last night also made me greedy to see Mack and Mabel again and try to figure out how I could fix it (as if I could).  It's also made me greedy to want to see Douglas Sills in all the shows.  Please and thank you.