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.

Edwin Lester, the director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, suggested the project to Jerry Herman, who then involved Michael Stewart.

For the role of Mabel, several actresses were engaged and then let go, including Marcia Rodd and Kelly Garrett, before the young Bernadette Peters finally joined the cast.

[1] Mack and Mabel opened in pre-Broadway tryouts in San Francisco on June 17, 1974[2] and then Los Angeles, with brisk box office sales in both cities.

[1] The Los Angeles reviews were "encouraging but guarded", and warned "of the excessive comic sequences, uneven book, and, most especially, the dark ending.

[4] Champion devised a number of eye-catching visual effects and spectacular dance sequences set to Philip J. Lang's orchestrations, but their brightness proved to be too great a contrast with the somber mood of the piece.

"[6] Efforts were made to resolve the problems at The Muny in St. Louis, where the musical ran for one week starting August 19, 1974,[7] but this venue was a "terrible mistake".

[8] Richard Coe in his review for The Washington Post stated that it had landed at the Kennedy Center "with all the zip of a wet, very dead flounder.

In addition to Preston and Peters, the cast featured Lisa Kirk as Lottie Ames and James Mitchell as William Desmond Taylor.

He was deeply disappointed, since the project had been one of his favorites (and remained until the end of his life), and he felt producer David Merrick had done little to promote it, saying "He never invested in advertising.

The production starred Denis Quilley as Mack and Imelda Staunton as Mabel; it had a successful run but failed to transfer to the West End.

[17][18] Soon afterward, British ice-skating team Torvill and Dean, who were based in Nottingham, searched the music library at the local radio station for suitable material for their routines, and discovered a recording of the original cast album.

Later, the routine was broadcast by BBC Television during the 1984 Olympics, with the British public demand so great that the album was re-released in the UK, where it reached number 6 on the charts.

[19] In February 1988, a one-time concert, featuring George Hearn, Georgia Brown, Denis Quilley, Paige O'Hara, and Tommy Tune was staged for charity at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.

The show was directed by Paul Kerryson and choreographed by Michael Smuin, and the cast included Howard McGillin as Mack and Caroline O'Connor as Mabel, Kathryn Evans, and Alan Mosley.

It featured the trademark style of director John Doyle, with the cast members, except for Soul, playing musical instruments as well as acting and singing.

[25] The Broadway Theatre, Catford, London, UK, produced the musical from November 2008 through December 2008, starring Karl Clarkson (Mack), Gemma Boaden (Mabel) and Sean Pol McGreevy (Frank), directed by Artistic Director Thom Southerland.

The title roles were played by Norman Bowman and Laura Pitt-Pulford, with Jessica Martin as Lottie, Stuart Matthew Price as Frank Capra and Peter Kenworthy as William Desmond Taylor.

The musical starred Michael Ball as Mack Sennett and Rebecca LaChance, with direction by Jonathan Church, choreography by Stephen Mear and design by Robert Jones.

[32] Shaftesbury Arts Centre in North Dorset, UK presented an amateur production from 12 to 30 July 2018, directed by Sophie Lester, with musical director David Grierson.

Lottie and the rest of Mack's film crew, who include the comedian Fatty Arbuckle, eagerly fantasize about moving up in the world, ("Big Time").

He reluctantly takes part in a mock wedding ceremony, and he and Mabel sleep together, but Mack wakes up horrified and leaves in a hurry.

After a heated argument, Mabel dresses in her best clothes and puts on make-up, then goes off not only for her appointment with Taylor, but for good, as she never wants to see Mack again ("Wherever He Ain't").

Talkies are all the rage, and Lottie Ames, another actress in Mack's company, has become a star ("Tap Your Troubles Away"), but Mabel has become a full-time drug addict and her reputation is ruined.

[14] Walter Kerr, in his review for The New York Times wrote, "I have rarely seen so much talent so dispirited as the creative souls peering through the gloom at the Majestic ... librettist Michael Stewart ... has chosen to lean on the myth of Mack and Mabel, let the mysteries stand, invented no emotional line."

... Mr. Champion doesn't set about his task that way ... [he] has not only avoided dance as a means of intimating a difficult kind of comedy, he has been stingy and even sluggish with the footwork that does crop up to decorate the songs.