Working Management in association with Hayes Theatre Co is thrilled to announce the first Sydney professional production 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.

This 1974 musical is delivered in flashback from the point of view of Mack, who admits to two obsessions: movies and Mabel Normand. He is the struggling director in the early 20th century, when the fun of the silent screen was dominated by the hysterical chaos of The Keystone Cops and the glamour of the Bathing Beauties; a world where heroes wore capes, girls were tied to the railway tracks and it all ended with a pie in the face. She is the girl from the deli who erupts on to the set with a sandwich delivery. Mack spots potential and Mabel becomes a star. Spanning the years from 1911 to 1938, the show charts their rise and fall, both professionally and romantically.

Awarded eight Tony Award nominations when it first opened, it features an outstanding score by Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!, La Cage aux Folles) including classic Broadway hits I Won’t Send Roses, Tap Your Troubles Away, Movies Were Movies, Look What Happened to Mabel, Wherever He Ain’t and Time Heals Everything.

Originated by Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, the powerhouse roles of Mack and Mabel in the Australian production will be played by Scott Irwin (Helpmann Award nominee for Hairspray, High Society) and rising star Angelique Cassimatis (Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Show). After the huge success of Heathers the Musical, acclaimed actor Trevor Ashley (Helpmann Award nominee for Les Miserables, Hairspray) returns to the director’s chair.