Mack Sennett News

Musical Theatre West will present a benefit concert of MACK & MABEL, starring Davis Gaines as Mack Sennett and Vicki Lewis as Mabel Normand.

The Muny announced principal casting for the fifth show of its fantastic 95th season, Les Miserables. Broadway veterans Hugh Panaro and Norm Lewis make their Muny debuts starring as Jean Valjean and Javert, respectively. Also starring is Michael McCormick as Thenardier. The production is directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, who served as the associate director and executive producer of the original Broadway, touring and Canadian companies of Les Miserables.

Musical Theatre West will present a benefit concert of MACK & MABEL, starring Davis Gaines as Mack Sennett and Vicki Lewis as Mabel Normand.

Paul Garman, Executive Director/Producer, has announced a benefit concert version of Jerry Herman's rarely performed musical MACK & MABEL presented by Musical Theatre West at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center for one night only, Monday, May 20 at 8pm. Jerry Herman, composer/lyricist of the musical theatre classics Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles, famously declared that MACK & MABEL is his own favorite score, and the New York Times says, "the songs remain among the most felicitous in Mr. Herman's canon."

Tony and Grammy Award-nominee Phillip Boykin joins a slew of stars to salute a Century of Broadway Showstoppers in GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY! on Saturday, May 11, 2013, 7:30 pm, at the Morris Museum's Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road, in Morristown, NJ.

Cheyenne Little Theatre presents EXIT THE BODY by Fred Carmichael, tonight, February 8 - 24, 2013.

The Colony Theatre will present the fifth production of its 'Season of Premieres' with the Los Angeles Premiere of I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT, written and directed by Peter Colley. I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT will preview tonight, February 6; Thursday, February 7; and Friday, February 8 at 8:00pm. It will open on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, March 3 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

The Colony Theatre will present the fifth production of its 'Season of Premieres' with the Los Angeles Premiere of I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT, written and directed by Peter Colley. I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT will preview on Wednesday, February 6; Thursday, February 7; and Friday, February 8 at 8:00pm. It will open on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, March 3 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

Cheyenne Little Theatre presents EXIT THE BODY by Fred Carmichael, February 8 - 24, 2013. *Recommended for Ages 7+ (Adult themes)

While nobody ever said musical theatre was easy – at least, nobody with any real knowledge of the art – you would think that in writing a musical about the first worldwide beloved figure of the 20th Century there wouldn't be too much trouble establishing empathy.  But the surprisingly dry and emotionless Chaplin, presented in a respectably strong Broadway production, tries to cram so many facts into its two acts that there's Little Room left for feeling.

Sara has been in the first musical of Broadway's fall season two years in a row, 'Follies' last year and now 'Chaplin'.

Did the show charm the critics? Let's find out...

Broadway's new musical CHAPLIN begins previews tomorrow at 8pm and opens September 10 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Meet the cast below!

Sometimes when directors revive old plays you wonder why they've done it. Mack & Mabel, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse, is not a classic crying out to be brought back to life, though being about the early days of cinema it is rather on trend.

Southwark Playhouse presents a major revival of the Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart Hollywood musical, 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. The show will run for an 8-week season at The Vault at Southwark Playhouse, now through Saturday, August 25. Press night is tomorrow, July 11 at 7.30pm. Get a first look at the revival in the production photos below!

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. The show runs tonight, July 5 - August 25.

Happy Birthday, Robert Preston! best remembered for his performance as 'Professor' Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1962). He had already won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production, in 1957. In 1965 he was the male part of a duo-lead musical, I Do! I Do! with Mary Martin, for which he won his second Tony Award. He played the title role in the musical Ben Franklin in Paris and originated the role of Henry II in the original production of The Lion in Winter. In 1974 he starred alongside Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical Mack & Mabel as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director. That same year (1974) the film version of Mame, another famed Jerry Herman musical, was released with Preston starring, alongside Lucille Ball, in the role of Beauregard Burnside.

Actor/singer Douglas Sills began his Broadway career in the 90s essaying the role of infamous Sir Percy in Frank Wildhorn's musical of The Scarlet Pimpernel for which he won critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination. Since then, he has been in, among many others, the revival of Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, all on Broadway, as well as the rarely seen concert of the 1930s Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein Music in the Air with Kristin Chenoweth and a slew of musical roles in LA including Mack Sennett in Reprise's Mack and Mabel and Ravenal in the Hollywood Bowl's production of Showboat. He has just started the tour of The Addams Family starring as Gomez and will open at the Pantages Theatre on June 5. In our chat, he talks at length about playing Gomez, the changes since New York in the road version of Addams Family and chooses some of his favorite all-time roles.

Casting has been announced for the major London revival of the Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart Hollywood musical, Mack and Mabel at Southwark Playhouse, which runs Thursday 5 July - Saturday 25 August, 2012.