★★½☆☆ Aurally and visually a blast, a stilted book leaves Mack & Mabel a second-rate musical.

Hayes Theatre, Sydney
November 22, 2016

Since its premiere on Broadway in the ‘70s, Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel has had something of a troubled history. Trailing a string of mixed reviews, a swathe of Tony nominations that never amounted to actual awards and a series of revisions over the years, the show has never really taken off in a big way. It has however, attracted something of a cult following, due in no small part to Jerry Herman’s solid score. Hayes Theatre Co’s production is the first time the show has been staged professionally in Sydney.

Spanning the years 1911 to 1938, the musical tells the story of Hollywood director Mack Sennett and actress Mabel Normand, who starred in many of his comic ‘two-reeler’ silent films. Sennett tells the story in flashbacks, Scott Irwin setting the scene with a desiccated rendition of Movies Were Movies as the older Sennett reminiscing about his silent films. Michael Stewart’s book is the show’s real weakness. The plot unfolds in stilted scenes with a tendency to tell rather than show, the dialogue orienting the audience through clunky...