While the original book fell a distance short of the scintillating score and sadly flopped on Broadway, I remain unconvinced that this rewrite has done the show any favours. Still, one has to work with what is provided and the sure hand of director, Nora Howcroft, got the best out of what was available.
As I said previously, the score is brilliant and was well served by the musical director, David Wall and his orchestra. The set was well designed which aided the smooth flow of the show and the costumes were excellent.
The show rests mainly on the shoulders of the lead characters and here Adrienne Wormald as Mabel and Mike Taylor as Mack gave polished performances, both acting and vocally. They were well supported by a very lively Kathy Turton as Lottie, whose “Tap Your Troubles Away” with the dancers was well executed. There are several cameo roles among which Andrew Turton figured largely as the well upholstered Fattie Arbuckle, whilst Don Howcroft put in a rather menacing performance as William Desmond Taylor.
The smaller roles of Frank (Mike Bailey), Bauman (Alan Hitchin), Kessel (David Witt) and Ella (Mary Pycroft) all carried their parts well. Choreography by Lara Crombie was generally very good. However the Keystone Kops’ sequences were not fully exploited and the pie fight seemed a little unenthusiastic. The decline into addiction of Mabel (maybe because of the script) did not figure, but overall this was a very satisfactory production which battled uphill, in my humble opinion, against a dodgy script.
