Theatre Review

Mack And Mabel

Book by: Michael Stewart

Music & Lyrics by: Jerry Herman

Directed by: Molly Smith

Shaw Festival Of Canada

www.shawfest.com

2007 Season

Niagara-On-The-Lake

Festival Theatre

4 ½ Stars

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

‘Funny Girl meets silent pictures; that’s the long and short of it kid!’ As Mack Sennett might have said about the musical based on his romance with leading lady Mabel Normand. Mack was a filmmaking pioneer of silent pictures that founded the Keystone Film Company; yes that’s right, the Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle and those crazy antics of slapstick comedy.

I can remember lying once at the age of six and getting caught out in it; I felt I was so appallingly bad at doing it, I decided to live a life of honesty! Mack Sennett appeared to of had a differing revelation at six and decided that he was rather good at lying, and so his life was balanced on a sequence of tall tales, outright lies and inconsistencies. Simply put, Mack Sennett is the anti-hero of our play; but most of all, Mack lies to himself about his love for Mabel and his ability to be fully committed to her without a veil of stories.

Mabel becomes Sennett’s biggest draw in silent films as she is very animated, gregarious and simply a bad actress by today’s standards. She is a deli-girl doing a delivery to the set one day, when she gets caught up in the action of the film. Mack shouts ‘it’s a wrap!’ and decides he’s ‘discovered’ Mabel Normand – the next big movie actress.

Mabel goes along for the ride, but somewhere between New York and finally residing in L.A. where filming moved to for the great weather and longer days set in the sun, she falls in love with her director. Mack tells her the stakes, he won’t wine and dine her, and he won’t even bring her roses. Mabel falls for him anyways and discovers the dark side of Mack. She leaves him and establishes her career elsewhere. Mack’s production company goes down the tubes as Mabel was indeed the big draw and so he begs her to come back….but he is up to his old tricks of treating her badly again, so she leaves.

The ping pong relationship eventually fizzles as Mabel slips into a life of drugs and both she and Mack are ruined when talkies are manufactured. Mind you D.W. Griffith predicted that talkies would leave as fast as they came ‘who wants to see actors speak?’ was his grand comment on the subject. A heart-wrenching conclusion to this truly romantic saga, as Mack learns he can’t live without Mabel and finally seeks to treat her with respect. Mack and Mabel is a story of love over time, and an acknowledgment of the value of a relationship based in truths.

Rough around the edges, Mack is the pre-cursor to the untrustworthy producers now littering Hollywood, but even though you may dislike his coarse edges, it is his ambition, and love of filmmaking that makes Mack a character you can get behind. Mabel is no sit-down and behave mouse either; she is a feisty broad with lots of personality and a real ray of sunshine in this storyline. The audience wants Mabel to be happy, and if Mack makes her so, then that is what the audience wants to see for her. From start to finish Mack and Mabel is an easy production to get caught-up in! It is vibrant, playful, littered with slapstick humour, and memorable songs (I’m still humming them!) type of production that will have you floating off to the soft flicker of how filmmaking used to be.

Mack and Mabel does seem to herald back to Barbara Streisand’s hit musical film about true-life Ziegfield girl and comic, Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Replace Fanny with Mabel, yes, but Mack is no Nickie Arnstein. The joy of this particular production is that it showcases Canadian Mack Sennett making his stake in the US, not to mention this is the first time this production has been featured in Canadian theatre; Mack and Mabel is like a patriotic homecoming.

The sets for this production seem to flow from one into another, with some intelligent crossovers. Often actors dressed as stage hands are clearing away sets of both film productions and theatrical staging. The audience gets a bird’s eye view of how old Hollywood was created with backdrops and stationary fake horses being rocked back and forth by someone off camera.

Some great musical numbers are sprinkled throughout Mack and Mabel, with a cast of delightful voices to bring these songs to life. Benedict Campbell as Mack and Glynis Ranney as Mabel sing their hearts out with both touching and sweet numbers as well as belting and grand showbiz type numbers. Quite a striking addition vocally was Jeff Madden as Frank (some people recognize Frank to be ‘Capra’ later on) who welcomes Mabel back at one point with a sweet surrender to the song reminiscent of the innocence from Freddie Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett/voice-over) in My Fair Lady.

Some scenes were a delight to see, like the Keystone Kops musical number and the invention of the ‘cream-pie-in-the-face-fight’ so commonly referenced even up to present day filmmaking.

Truly this production hangs in the balance with the casting of Mack and Mabel. Benedict Campbell as Mack was simply a treat to watch, as he pours every ounce of effort into his role. Campbell’s rendition of Mack is uniquely noteworthy and Glynis Ranney as Mabel really managed to transform the deli-girl, into the starlight diva, into a broken woman with effortless appeal. Ranney’s voice is truly stunning and well-worth the ticket purchase alone to hear.

Even if you didn’t have an unhealthy obsession with Charlie Chaplin as a teenager, and had absorbed a good deal of knowledge about the early years of filmmaking, I believe you will still enjoy this musical immensely. You get to see the early years of filmmaking in all its maverick splendour, plus a handful of great songs to incorporate into your mental song roster and an ultimately an evening well spent! Possibly the best production at the Shaw Festival this year, make a B-line for it. That’s a wrap folks!