Mack And Mabel

Date/Time
5 Jul 2012 until 25 Aug 2012
3:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Venue
Southwark Playhouse, Shipwright Arms, Shipwright Yard, (Corner of Bermondsey Street and Tooley Street), London, , SE1 2TF

The creative team behind last summer´s sold-out, acclaimed Southwark Playhouse musical, PARADE – long-listed for The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical in the 2011 Evening Standard Awards – are returning to the venue for a major revival of the Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart Hollywood musical, MACK AND MABEL.

MACK AND MABEL, starring Norman Bowman as Mack and Laura Pitt-Pulford (who received rave reviews as Lucille Frank in Parade) as Mabel, directed by Thom Southerland and produced by Danielle Tarento, will run for an 8-week season at The Vault at Southwark Playhouse, from Thursday July 5 – Saturday August 25. Press night is Wednesday 11 July.

Norman Bowman (Mack) was Micky Deans in the UK tour of OVER THE RAINBOW. His major musical roles include Sky Masterson in Michael Grandageís West End production of GUYS AND DOLLS, Tom Watson in the Donmar´s PARADE, Marius in LES MISERABLES, Sam in MAMMA MIA!, Jack in George and Ira Gershwin´s LADY BE GOOD at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park, and Dany Zuko in GREASE. Heís currently playing the role of Stanley Pea in the new musical VAMPIRETTE, that will run at Manchesterís Opera House from 4 to 19 May, 2012.

Laura Pitt-Pulford (Mabel) is currently starring as Charity in SWEET CHARITY (MAC, Belfast). Her other major roles include Snake in Nick Lloyd Webber´s THE LITTLE PRINCE (Lyric, Belfast), Lucille Frank in PARADE (Southwark Playhouse), Sarah Brown in GUYS AND DOLLS (Theatre Clwyd), Lola in COPACABANA (Watermill) and Betty Schaefer in SUNSET BOULEVARD (Watermill and West End).

Director Thom Southerland was longlisted Best Newcomer in the 2011 Evening Standard Awards for PARADE. He was named Best Director at the 2011 The Offies – Off West End Theatre Awards – for ME AND JULIET at the Finborough. He directed the European premiere of I SING!, DIVORCE ME, DARLING!, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE PAJAMA GAME and sold-out all-male adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan´s HMS PINAFORE and THE MIKADO (Union); NOEL AND GERTIE (Cockpit), the European premiere of THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (Landor), Irving Berlin´s CALL ME MADAM! (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) and the European premiere of STATE FAIR (Finbourough and transfer to Trafalgar Studios).

The creative team is completed with Michael Bradley (musical director), Lee Proud (Choreographer), Jason Denvir (Set and Costume Designer), Howard Hudson (Lighting Designer) and Andrew Johnson (Sound Designer).

MACK AND MABEL is set in the early days of motion pictures and follows the tumultuous, real-life romantic relationship between movie director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, who became one of the biggest screen stars in the world. Told in a series of flashbacks, Sennett relates the glory days of the Keystone Studios from 1911, when he discovered Normand and cast her in dozens of his early “two-reelers”, through his creation of Sennett´s Bathing Beauties and the Keystone Cops to Mabel´s death from TB in 1930.

The original 1974 Broadway production of MACK AND MABEL, starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, was nominated for 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

The show arrived in the West End in 1995, when it opened at the Piccadilly Theatre directed by Paul Kerryson starring Howard McGillin and Caroline O´Connor.

MACK AND MABEL was revived at the Watermill Theatre, in Newbury, England by the acclaimed director John Doyle. David Soul starred alongside Anna-Jane Casey (replaced by Janie Dee in the West End production) in the small-scale production (only eleven performers), which ran for a limited season between March and June 2005. The show then toured the UK from January 2006 prior to a West End transfer, where it played at the Criterion Theatre from April 10, 2006 until July 1, 2006.

 Tickets : £10 – £22.50

 ‘Airline style’ pricing, the earlier you book the cheaper the tickets.

 Performance :

Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm

Saturday matinee at 3.00pm

Please note that during the Olympics, evening performances from 28th July – 12th August will have a later start time of 8.00pm