Musical Marmite

MACK AND MABEL, Ashton Operatic Society at Oldham Coliseum
TRY as I might to like this Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart musical, the composers make it quite difficult.

Written in 1974, it is old-fashioned enough in style to have come from the Fifties but has distinctly Seventies subject-matter — namely the long, on-off affair between silent comedy producer Mack Sennett and his star and lover Mabel Normand, their rows and her downbeat fall from 16-year-old ingenue and comedy star to drink and drug addict.

Along the way the show “celebrates” the life of Sennett, who did much for early film comedy yet was a distinctly unlikeable autocrat on set.

The show is unexpectedly beloved of amateur companies, even though it has no more than a couple of fine melodies and one big dance number.

What tunes there are here at least get suitably lavish attention. As Sennett, Ashton is lucky to have Jon Crebbin, a superb singer with a lovely, mellow voice, perfect “I won’t Send Roses”, the show’s big ballad.

Crebbin isn’t the world’s strongest actor, but he is good alongside the almost equally-gifted Kelly Dove as Normand — though neither lunges into the script in a way that suggests their relationship is exactly tumultuous.

This could be down to Peter Wakefield’s rather too polite general direction, which marshals forces reasonably well but fails to inject energy where it matters, such as Mabel’s show-stopping “Wherever He Ain’t” number.

Choreographer Jean Griffiths is clearly more at home with tap than general dance, as Alison Foy-Thackwell’s tap showcase “Tap Your Troubles Away” amply demonstrates.

Paul Firth, as usual, conducts a band that is far better than the words “amateur theatre” might lead anyone to expect.

The set is also a little disappointing, with a lot of black curtain and uneven lighting.

So not a great musical, but despite the above this production offers a lot to enjoy, and especially the singing. It’s on until Saturday.