California's All Roads Theatre Company will present fully staged and choreographed concert presentations of Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s Mack & Mabel February 16-18, 2024, at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.
Casting and creative team for the company's inaugural production will be announced at a later date.
Based on the life of Hollywood producer Mack Sennett and silent screen star Mabel Normand, Mack & Mabel features a score by Herman and a book by Stewart. The musical opened at Broadway's Majestic Theatre October 6, 1974, where it played 66 performances before closing November 30. The original cast included Tony winner Robert Preston as Mack and Tony winner Bernadette Peters as Mabel.
Though short-lived, Mack & Mabel received eight 1975 Tony nominations, including for Best Musical, Best Actor (Preston), Best Actress (Peters), Best Director (Gower Champion), Best Book of a Musical (Stewart), Best Scenic Designer (Robert Wagner), Best Costume Designer (Patricia Zipprodt), and Best Choreographer (Champion).
The Herman score includes such classic tunes as "Time Heals Everything," "I Won't Send Roses," "Tap Your Troubles Away," "Wherever He Ain't," and "Movies Were Movies."
The brainchild of founders Scott Thompson and Fred Barton, the Equity company will follow Mack & Mabel with a 2024-2025 season that includes a classic play, a second classic musical, a digital new works play festival, and the rollout of a concert series featuring an orchestra and major musical theatre performers. Additional details will be announced.
“Though long in the planning, ARTCO comes along at a crucial time in the theatre life of this city,” says Producing Artistic Director Thompson. “While several major professional theatres around the country are curtailing or cancelling their seasons, ARTCO’s business model is based on mainstream, audience-friendly titles to establish itself and attract a wide, diverse, and solid fan base.”
Managing Director Barton adds, “We are taking note of the hugely popular theatrical productions on the boards both on Broadway and throughout the country, and believe we can emulate their success with intelligent, discriminating, and targeted programming which the Los Angeles theatregoing community hungers for, and which can best promote a return to pre-Pandemic theatre-going habits.”
Tickets will go on sale October 1. Visit AllRoadsTheatreco.org for more information.
