Harlett:
>>>Well, maybe there should be another attempt
>>>at revising the book??
>>No! Imperfect is fine. Audience loved it. Follies,
>>Merrily, and, God knows, Birdie have problematical
>>books and audiences love these.
>Ultimately, the book doesn't work because it doesn't
>ring true. In reality Mack was the good guy and
>Mabel was the one "with issues." They also play
>fast and loose with other bits of history - for example,
>Taylor was murdered in 1922, not during the transition
>to sound.
It's disturbing that "facts" in musicals are often held up to the
audience as true when they aren't, but story points in Mack and Mabel
such as drug addiction and murder scandals are nevertheless
representative of the time and place in question. These also offset the
positive points of the unbridled freedom and enthusiasm the characters
enjoyed when they first decided to move west, by revealing that there is
a darker side. Of course the contrast was not handled well in the
Broadway production.
The Fiorello! I just saw at TimeLine was very thorough in providing the
audience with sup****t materials posted in the lobby (as TimeLine usually
does) showing the reality of LaGuardia's life including where it
conflicts with the drama. Time compression is the usual culprit, as
Harlett says about the Taylor murder in M+M: for example LaG's first
wife's death coincides with his losing his first mayoral run to Jimmy
Walker, when in fact the events were seven years apart (I admit that's a
bit fast and loose for my taste); also that there'd been a daughter who
died around the same time, who was simply written out of existence so
this climax would not be too sad for the show to recover from it, and
so, apparently, LaG's successful run for mayor would be the third major
event in Act Two, and therefore lucky. Again what I think I'm saying is
that this particular production, not to mention an informed audience,
made the show in spite of the apparent anomalies in the material. The
choice to do Fiorello! at all was a timely statement about how certain
political leaders today seem to be doing it wrong.
I would ask "Have you *seen* a revised Mack and Mabel?" but it sounds as
if all M+Ms are not the same book or overall concept. Re****ts of that
recent London production are downright strange.
Bob A
"Aside from that, Mrs. Kennedy, how did you enjoy the motorcade?"
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