Mack Sennett News

Catalina Film Fest (CFF) is excited to announce it will celebrate 8 years of cinema on beautiful Catalina Island by expanding to a new sister city by the sea: Long Beach. The inaugural partnership will connect the island festival experience to the mainland Sept. 26-30, 2018, bookending CFF with 'launch' and 'landing' premieres, parties and panels Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday in Long Beach. Catalina Island will play host to CFF Friday and Saturday, with Festival-chartered party cruises to and from Catalina Classic Cruises' Queen Mary Terminal daily.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of LOST LAUGHS: THE SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY OF FATTY ARBUCKLE, bringing to life the story of one of the great comics of silent films. A century ago, he was Hollywood's first million-dollar man, but fell from grace when charged with murder. Despite his eventual acquittal, Arbuckle was never able to reclaim his place at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. LOST LAUGHS features memorable performances by co-writer Aaron Muñoz and Kristen Mengelkoch, under the direction of Nathan Keepers.

Multiple sources have revealed a starry cast for the upcoming West End production of Chess at London's Coliseum. The cast is said to include Michael Ball (The Russian), Alexandra Burke (Svetlana), Murray Head (The Arbiter), Tim Howar (The American) and Cassidy Janson (Florence).

When the subject of New York City Center Encores! comes up among musical theatre enthusiasts, the conversation almost invariably steers to what shows they should be presenting in their series of concerts. Although several of their productions, like the mega-hit revival of CHICAGO, have transferred, a night out at Encores! is, to many, most satisfying when they revive shows that, although significant in one way or another, are unlikely to find themselves back on Broadway.

Kicking off the Encores! season is Hey, Look Me Over!, an original production from the Tony- honored series responsible for bringing classic American musicals back to life since 1994. To celebrate Encores! at 25, Viertel and Encores! Music Director Rob Berman created Hey, Look Me Over!---a collection of opening numbers, grand finales, and other excerpts from beloved shows that have not yet found a berth on the City Center stage. They include: All American, George M!, Greenwillow, Jamaica, Mack & Mabel, Milk and Honey, Sail Away, and Wildcat.

Fresh from the sold-out premiere at the Bristol Riverside Theatre in Philadelphia, the brand new, innovative docu-musical AN ENCHANTED EVENING: A NIGHT WITH OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II is coming Off-Broadway for a limited December 2017 engagement.

     In keeping with East Lynne Theater Company's 2017 theme of 'The American Dream,' the company is proud to present special events in August focusing on the Suffrage Movement in 1912, a film classic from 1914, a tempestuous relationship during the Jazz Age, and literature from the Roaring Twenties.

Ruth Eckerd Hall announces two special additions to the 2017-18 Broadway season, a new mystery play, Mike Hammer Encore For Murder, starring Gary Sandy (WKRP In Cincinnati) and the Tony Award-Winning Best Musical Kinky Boots. Previously announced performances for the upcoming Broadway season include the Tony Award-winner for Best Musical Jersey Boys, multiple Tony Award Best Musical winners A Chorus Line and Cabaret, family favorites A Charlie Brown Christmas Live Onstage and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: The Musical, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella and Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles. Tickets and packages are on-sale now.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT present the fifth show of its 2016-2017 season, Davis Gaines starring in his Ovation award-winning role as Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA, with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo, choreography by Patti Colombo and directed by Glenn Casale. MAN OF LA MANCHA will preview on Friday, June 2, 2017 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 3) and run through Sunday, June 25, 2017 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.  

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT present the fifth show of its 2016-2017 season, Davis Gaines starring in his Ovation award-winning role as Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA, with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo, choreography by Patti Colombo and directed by Glenn Casale. MAN OF LA MANCHA will preview on Friday, June 2, 2017 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 3) and run through Sunday, June 25, 2017 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.

Point Blank Electronic Music School, the award-winning music production and DJ school founded in 1994 - based in London, Los Angeles, Ibiza, and online - announces its second public event of 2017 at its Los Angeles school: Point Blank Presents: PBLA June Open House on Thursday, June 15, 2017 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Echo Park Craft Fair, is returning for Spring 2017 on Mother's Day weekend on May 13th & 14th with a line up of new artists and returning top designers. The 3 two day art and design event in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake, was founded by artists Rachel Craven and Beatrice Valenzuela. Echo Park Craft Fair has become a pioneering showcase for the thriving Makers Movement, featuring a meticulous curation of work from some of the finest artists in America.

La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts & Mccoy Rigby Entertainment present the fifth show of its 2016-2017 season, Davis Gaines starring in his Ovation award-winning role as Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA, with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo, choreography by Patti Colombo and directed by Glenn Casale.

The last time I laughed, really laughed at something funny, I didn't stop to ask myself what made it funny. The various classifications of comedy through the ages have never seemed that significant to learn unless I were a professor of comedy or were looking for a few items of fun trivia to share at a cocktail party. Reed Martin and Justin Tichenor love to abridge as in their Reduced Shakespeare and the History of America, both of which seem to work just fine with audiences, but if you reduce comedy, doesn't it take the fun out of funny? For the first half of The Complete History of Comedy (abridged), currently onstage at the Falcon Theatre, I felt like I was in a classroom instead of the theatre. Lists and lists of the funniest people, funniest double acts, etc were thrown at us as if we were students preparing for a major exam on the subject. But by the time the first act came to an end, in a scene filled with strobe lights, a Mack Sennett chase replete with cream pies flying and cops falling down took center stage, and what he had been hearing about started to make sense. Comedy is the slap, the pratfall, the schtik, the slapstick produce the laugh-filled relief that we get from the pressures of everyday living. Under the fast paced direction of Jerry Kernion, three geniuses of physical comedy Marc Ginsburg, Mark Jacobson and last. but hardly least Zehra Fazal prove that they can put on a show and make us laugh.

Mack and Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand (transformed from an artist's model to a waitress from Flatbush, Brooklyn for the musical), who became one of his biggest stars.

Mack and Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand (transformed from an artist's model to a waitress from Flatbush, Brooklyn for the musical), who became one of his biggest stars.

Echo Park Craft Fair will ring in the holiday season with a meticulous curation on Today, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 from 10am - 6pm at Mack Sennett Studios.

Trevor Ashley returns to Hayes Theatre, this time to direct Jerry Herman (Music) and Michael Stewart's (Book) a moving MACK & MABEL.

Echo Park Craft Fair will ring in the holiday season with a meticulous curation on Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 from 10am - 6pm at Mack Sennett Studios.

Working Management in association with Hayes Theatre Co is thrilled to announce the cast of Jerry Herman's MACK AND MABEL, which will play a strictly limited season at Hayes Theatre Co from November 18. A dazzling musical comedy that is both a poignant love story and a joyous celebration of Hollywood's golden age, MACK AND MABEL is based on the real-life tumultuous romantic relationship between early 1900s legendary filmmaker Mack Sennett and accidental starlet Mabel Normand.