Toby and Aitor have directed the physical comedy for Chichester Festival Theatre’s new production of Jerry Herman’s classic Broadway musical Mack & Mabel, starring Michael Ball and Rebecca LaChance, directed by Jonathan Church and choreographed by Stephen Mear. The show premiered 21st July and looks set to follow the success of Gypsy and Sweeney Todd by the same creative producers.
We spent a lot of time looking at early Keystone, Chaplin, Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand movies (there’s a YouTube playlist of Sennett source material here if you want to see more), how to tie girls to railroad tracks, early Hollywood special effects technology, advanced pie-throwing, and trying out Keystone Kop moves on extraordinarily bendy musical theatre people. Oh, and getting people to throw custard pies at Michael Ball. There are worse ways to earn a living…
The show runs through to 5th September at Chichester before touring in the autumn. It is hoped to transfer to the West End in the new year.
More info about Mack & Mabel on the Chichester Festival Theatre site
Autumn tour includes Plymouth, Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh Nottingham and Cardiff. Details on the Mack & Mabel site
Behind the scenes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6-1pFfJU74
