Mack & Mabel @ Hackney Empire

[lifewithkirsty]

Casting announced for London Musical Theatre Orchestra's concert performance of Mack and Mabel 23rd Sept
David Bedella, Natasha J Barnes and Tiffany Graves as Mack, Mabel and Lottie.

[SamB (was badoerfan)]

Cool, thanks for the heads up!

[paplazaroo]

Bump! Excited for this this weekend, hoping the orchestra is as good as the John Wilson guys but I have no idea

[alece10]

No orchestra is as good as John Wilson but it should be a great evening. Bet David Badella will be excellent

[Dawnstar]

I thought the orchestra was good in Candide in July. Mind you, the last time I saw Candide was at the Menier with a band of half a dozen so almost any orchestra would sound good by comparison!

[londonmzfitz]

I've had a message on Twitter I've won tickets, although oddly I'm not on the winners list ..

www.stagefaves.com/competitions/MackAndMabel/Sep17/

Do we think it's sold badly and I'm getting the unwanted nosebleeds?

[Dawnstar]

londonmzfitz A quick look on the Hackney Empire website does show a lot of seats still available. Let me know where you're allocated seats & I'll come & say hi on Saturday - unless we bump into each other in the Ladies, as we have a habit of doing! I'm at the low numbers end of row B stalls.

[londonmzfitz]

Great! Be good to catch up!

[paplazaroo]

This was sensational! Such a pure shot of musical theatre joy! Natasha J Barnes acted everyone off the stage, she was superlative! Bedella hadn't done as much homework as the rest of them but when he was in it he was great and Natasha was just so good it's hard not to be upstaged. Would watch this again right now if I could

[Dawnstar]

Seconding the praise above. I thought it was a fabulous concert & all the cast were excellent. It's great to see Natasha Barnes go from 2nd cover in Lend Ne A Tenor in 2011 to leading lady tonight, getting a standing ovation at the end of Time Heals Everything (though I didn't join in myself, as I was too busy trying to to cry openly). The production had a lot more choreography than I was expecting, including Tiffany Graves leading a full tap number for Tap Your Troubles Away and if not quite Hundreds Of Girls at least dozens of them for that number.

[tonyloco]

I am very pleased that paplazaroo and Dawnstar both enjoyed 'Mack and Mabel' so much. I too thought there was a lot to enjoy but for me it wasn't quite up to the superlative standard I was hoping for. I was sitting in the front row of the Dress Circle and my comments are based on what I saw and heard from there.

1. In the very clear and flattering acoustic of the Hackney Empire, the orchestra on the stage sounded rather hard and harsh. It was wonderfully natural but the loud brass and percussion, as well as some of the really hard driven tempi, did rather batter my senses. Yes it was all good fun but a little bit more subtlety from the orchestra would have been welcome at times. And, personally, I could do with a much shorter version of the Keystone Cops chase music.

2 The dialogue, all delivered from the scripts, sounded at times as if they were trying to get through it as quickly as possible. I wished they could have just sat back into it a little more. In all the Ian Marshall Fisher 'Lost Musicals' that I have seen I never felt that the actors were rushing the words and I certainly did tonight.

3. David Bedella certainly sang it well but, as paplazaroo has noted, he wasn't entirely into the role. On the other hand, Natasha Barnes was wonderful, BUT, I wish she could have worn something more appropriate for Act 1 like something girlish and pretty for the young Mabel Normand. She then could have changed to the topless evening dress for Act 2.

4. I loved the two dancing numbers and from where I was sitting it really did look like hundreds of girls: in the stalls they filled the centre aisle and the two side aisles, as well as the whole of the space in front of the stage and there were some in the two proscenium boxes in the dress circle. I thought it was a real coup de theatre and it had the same effect on me as the car going into the orchestra pit in 'Bat Out of Hell' – mild delirium! In fact, the end of the first act with Natasha doing a barn-storming version of 'Where ever he ain't' followed by 'Hundreds of girls' was just magnificent.

5.Despite some good numbers, and an excellent Michael Ball, I was also disappointed with the Chichester production and the one that worked best for me was the scaled down version with Janie Dee and David Soul although that was hardly the show as Jerry Hermann must have conceived it.

6. On reflection, I think what I would prefer is to have a genuine concert version and with a narrator to fill in the story instead of the cast acting out the dialogue from the script. This formula worked brilliantly for 'On the Town' in the concerts at the Barbican recorded by DGG although we did have the luxury of Comden and Green who had not only written the show but starred in the original production as joint narrators. You can have a little bit of dialogue to lead into the songs if necessary, but I thought the dialogue tonight failed to work for me most of the time.

So my verdict? Four stars out of five and just a twinge of disappointment.

[mallardo]

I was there as well and thought Natasha Barnes was wonderful - she fully deserved that standing O after Time Heals Everything. Bedella had a bit of a shaky start but got stronger and stronger. Tiffany Graves was perfect. For Hundreds of Girls they had 69 dancers from Bird College - or so I was told. Much more production than the LMTO has had in the past but for this show they needed it.

[paplazaroo]

Sept 24, 2017 0:17:11 GMT tonyloco said:

5.Despite some good numbers, and an excellent Michael Ball, I was also disappointed with the Chichester production and the one that worked best for me was the scaled down version with Janie Dee and David Soul although that was hardly the show as Jerry Hermann must have conceived it.

6.

I'd agree with that for sure and add that the closest I've ever seen the show get to working was at Southwark Playhouse with Norman Bowman as Mack, that was brilliant!

[heymrziegfeld]

I absolutely loved this last night! I agree that David Bedella could have done with a bit more preparation, a few one liners were lost in the timing of his spoken dialogue.
I thought the rest of the cast were brilliant, well cast all around. And loved the addition of the dancers and chorus from Bird College.

The LMTO were fantastic, from the front of the stalls they sounded great. Rousing applause after the 5 minute "cop scene"

The star of the night for me was Natasha J Barnes. Not only did she blow the roof off with the big numbers, her acting in the quieter moments really made it more than just a concert performance.

I only wish I could see it again

[lifewithkirsty]

[londonmzfitz]

I enjoyed David Badellas voice, great singer. My freebies were third row centre Dress Circle, and oh my those dancing girls really was something special. Great fun.

I've seen Natasha J Barnes in Lend Me A Tenor and Funny Girl, she's not stood out for me before, but wow, that standing o at the end of Time Heals Everthing was so well deserved.

I liked the interaction with the orchestra too, Fatty conducting, pies in the face.

Lots to praise, lots to enjoy. Don't think it sold as well as anticipated, at the start of Act 2 the people next to me had disappeared (as did the guy next to Dawnstar).

[Dawnstar]

Sept 24, 2017 7:08:03 GMT paplazaroo said:

Sept 24, 2017 0:17:11 GMT tonyloco said:

5.Despite some good numbers, and an excellent Michael Ball, I was also disappointed with the Chichester production and the one that worked best for me was the scaled down version with Janie Dee and David Soul although that was hardly the show as Jerry Hermann must have conceived it.

I'd agree with that for sure and add that the closest I've ever seen the show get to working was at Southwark Playhouse with Norman Bowman as Mack, that was brilliant!

I thought the Southwark production was excellent, though as it was the first time I'd seen the show I didn't have anything to compare it with. I skipped the Chichester production as having seen Norman Bowman as Mack I couldn't imagine Michael Ball in the role at all. I didn't think David Bedella & Natasha Barnes got quote as much emotion out of the show last night as Norman Bowman & Laura Pitt-Pulford did but then you wouldn't expect a one-off concert to manage as much emotion as a staged longer run. I certainly found last night's performance managed more emotion than I was expecting it to have.

Sept 24, 2017 14:10:35 GMT londonmzfitz said:

Don't think it sold as well as anticipated, at the start of Act 2 the people next to me had disappeared (as did the guy next to Dawnstar).

It looked from the stalls as if the upper circle may have been closed. I was relieved when the man sitting next to me idn't reappear for Act 2 as he was large & was overflowing into my seat space! However as he looked like he was enjoying Act 1 he may have moved somewhere with more room rather than have done an interval walk-out.