Mack & Mabel

Mack and Mable has, despite having great numbers, never really hit the spot for me so I approached this new Chichester Festival Theatre production with a sense of apprehension. Of course I need not have worried. Jonathan Church and his team have cast their magic once again over a Broadway classic and breathed into it an energy and sense of drama that in the past has seemed lacking.

The simple settings, based mainly on clever stage craft rather than technology, work well and seamlessy, a triumph on a thrust stage. The band is on top form too, conducted with a real sense of purpose but still sensitive in the tender moments. The company are super slick, beautiful choral ensemble work with a great period feel and precision dancing throughout.

Rebecca LaChance makes a great Mabel, gauche at the start, then needy and vulnerable as her stardom rises and she realises that Mack is never going to give her what she most desires.

Michael Ball does a first class job as always. The voice is undeniably on top form but it is surely his acting skills that we need to recognise and applaud. We saw this in Sweeney Todd and once again he makes his entrance and is almost unrecognisable. The cheery bloke that tours arenas with his laddish charm, can shuffle onto a theatre stage an elderly man – convincingly.

Finally to the choreography, a work of genius that should see Stephen Mear lauded as best in the business. Mear has a great sense of style and abilty to recreate a period feel whilst at the same time pushing his dancers to extremes of skill and excellence. His beach scene, the Keystone Cops and a thrilling tap routine are all breathtakingly good.

Mack And Mabel is a tragic tale of selfishness and unrequited love and the bitter ending makes it all the better. CFT have made a flawed show into a masterpiece.

Chichester Festival Theatre, 21 July 2015

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