NEW Earswick Musical Society’s autumn show will be Mack And Mabel at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from November 12 to 15 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

Rehearsals are under way, leading to auditions for principal roles being held last Thursday night by director Anne McCreadie and musical director, two very experienced hands on the York theatre scene.

Mack And Mabel, featuring music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, opens in 1938 as the sun sets on the days of silent film, effectively ending Mack Sennett’s career.

In a series of flashbacks, the great Hollywood comic director reminisces about his career from the sound stage of the studios he once dominated. He re-lives the glory days of the Keystone Studios from1910, when he discovered Mabel Normand, star of dozens of his early “two-reelers”.

Mack and Mabel fall in love but when they fail to reach the altar, Mabel leaves Mack and he goes on to invent the Keystone Kops, whose iconic image comes to define silent film comedy. Their tempestuous relationship continues over the years as each suffers both personal and professional highs and lows.

Best known for the musical numbers Tap Your Troubles Away and I Won’t Send Roses, Mack And Mabel was released for amateur performances in 2000, resulting in many productions in Britain. However, Jerry Herman and Francine Pascal were not happy with the show, feeling that more work needed to be done and so they withdrew it after only 12 months.

A new professional production opened on tour in 2005, transferring to the Criterion Theatre in London’s West End for four months. This version was adapted to the distinctive performance style of John Doyle, a former artistic director of York Theatre Royal, where his actor-musician shows became his trademark, and it is this revised edition that New Earswick Musical Society will use.