David Soul and Janie Dee to Star in West End-Bound Mack and Mabel
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 01, 2005
The show, which features a score that has become something of a cult favorite, will circle the UK in a tour beginning on January 24th, 2006 in Bath. A West End production will then be given to the musical, which was already a hit at the Watermill under the direction of John Doyle (whose reconceptualization of Sweeney Todd will soon open on Broadway).
With a score by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, the tragicomic show is based on the real-life romance of silent comedy czar Mack Sennett and beautiful comedienne Mabel Normand. While short-lived in its original 1974 production (which starred Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters), the score was preserved on a cast recording that has become treasured by many musical theatre fans. Mack and Mabel's score includes "Time Heals Everything," "I Won't Send Roses," "Look What Happened to Mabel," "Movies Were Movies" and other songs. A 1995 London mounting of the show starred Howard McGillin and Caroline O'Connor; Mack and Mabel has yet to be revived on Broadway.
Soul, while best known for his work on the '70s TV hit "Starsky and Hutch," was previously seen on the West End in the title role of Jerry Springer--The Opera. His other film and TV credits include "Deadwood," Tides of War, "Salem's Lot" and The Stick-Up. He previously worked with Dee in a London production of Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential; the latter netted an Olivier Award for her performance. She has also been seen in The National Theatre's production of Carousel and in My One and Only.
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