Mack & Mabel from Watermill to West End???

Much of the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award-winning ensemble of Sweeney Todd has been co-opted into David Lan’s new music-heavy production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, but they may soon be joined in the West End by another group of Watermill-bred actor-musicians. The Newbury-based theatre’s current musical revival, Mack and Mabel - in which David Soul (who played the title role in Jerry Springer in the West End until earlier this year) and Anna-Jane Casey are supported by a nine-strong actor-musician company – is tipped to follow Sweeney Todd into a London transfer. Once again, John Doyle directs the production, which has musical arrangements and direction by Sarah Travis. Mack and Mabel premiered on Broadway in 1974 and was seen at the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre in 1995 with and Caroline O'Connor. Set in 1911, the musical meets Mack when he first catches sight of young Mabel Normand, who was to become the leading lady in his two-reel films and in his life. The Newbury season finishes on 9 July 2005.

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