Wednesday, March 02, 2005
More on M&M
Greg had a bit to say about M&M, and here it is:
"In ref to Mack & Mabel, it’s a show we’ve been dancing around for years now. Twice before we’ve tried to get the rights and were not able to (I don’t remember exactly, but I believe this would have been around the time of the London revival and also when it looked like there would be a Broadway revival with Douglas Sills and Jane Krakowski off their Reprise gig in same). Usually when "something's up" with a show they pull rights in the major venues (which includes San Francisco) in the event that a major national tour might be in the offing. Of course, that was not the case this time, thank goodness. There were other times it seemed like we might get Mack & Mabel in, and it just didn’t fit the season. But every time it’s on the ballot, it ranks in the top five, and we get comments like "When are you going to do MACK & MABEL already?" and "Stop teasing us with MACK & MABEL! Either put up or shut up!" (Those are real comments! People seem to get very passionate about this show. Of course, it’s Herman’s own favorite of his scores, too). Anyway, Stephanie and I are so glad that we finally are going to be doing it. I saw the original when it tried out in Los Angeles in the summer of 1974, and it’s stuck with me all these years — not just that Bernadette Peters and Robert Preston were magical, but that it was such an interesting story and had that glorious score.
The company that did the really interesting London revival of SWEENEY TODD this year (the one with nine actors who were also the orchestra) is doing MACK & MABEL this summer. Stephanie and I are hoping to get over there to see it. I loved SWEENEY and can’t wait to see what they’re doing with M&M."
"In ref to Mack & Mabel, it’s a show we’ve been dancing around for years now. Twice before we’ve tried to get the rights and were not able to (I don’t remember exactly, but I believe this would have been around the time of the London revival and also when it looked like there would be a Broadway revival with Douglas Sills and Jane Krakowski off their Reprise gig in same). Usually when "something's up" with a show they pull rights in the major venues (which includes San Francisco) in the event that a major national tour might be in the offing. Of course, that was not the case this time, thank goodness. There were other times it seemed like we might get Mack & Mabel in, and it just didn’t fit the season. But every time it’s on the ballot, it ranks in the top five, and we get comments like "When are you going to do MACK & MABEL already?" and "Stop teasing us with MACK & MABEL! Either put up or shut up!" (Those are real comments! People seem to get very passionate about this show. Of course, it’s Herman’s own favorite of his scores, too). Anyway, Stephanie and I are so glad that we finally are going to be doing it. I saw the original when it tried out in Los Angeles in the summer of 1974, and it’s stuck with me all these years — not just that Bernadette Peters and Robert Preston were magical, but that it was such an interesting story and had that glorious score.
The company that did the really interesting London revival of SWEENEY TODD this year (the one with nine actors who were also the orchestra) is doing MACK & MABEL this summer. Stephanie and I are hoping to get over there to see it. I loved SWEENEY and can’t wait to see what they’re doing with M&M."
// posted by ElisaC @ 3:57 PM 
