| re: Francine Pascal has died | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:11 pm EDT 07/30/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Francine Pascal has died - emmemmkay 01:38 pm EDT 07/30/24 | |
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| I'd actually be curious to see the original libretto and I wonder if Pascal's death might allow that to see the light of day again. I doubt it's any better than her revision, but it would be nice to have the option. There's almost nothing in Pascal's rewrite (the only version of the show I've ever seen) that is historical or truthful to reality in any way. Yes, there were real people named Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand and William Desmond Taylor, but that's literally about the end of actual truth in the telling of their story. I've often wondered why Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart insisted on calling the show MACK AND MABEL, because it seems like they really didn't think the real story of these people was interesting enough to build a show around, hence all the fiction. They could have renamed the characters and retitled the show and just said it was "inspired by" the real life people. A rewrite that hewed closer to reality probably wouldn't fit with Herman's score. One change that really bothers me is the introduction of Mabel, where she enters making a deli delivery and causes mayhem and Mack discovers her and makes her star. This leads to the delightful "Look What Happened to Mabel" number. And, of course, in real life, by the time Sennett and Normand met, she was a well established model and actress, not working in a deli. She also was from Staten Island, I think, not Flatbush in Brooklyn, which, again, a great little detail in the song, but completely made up. |
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