Reviews 2018
Reviews 2018
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music by Labe Kagan & Asher Ettinger, book & lyrics by Labe Kagan, directed by Jacqui Burke
Loqui Productions, Toronto Fringe Festival, Factory Studio Theatre, Toronto
July 6-14, 2018;
The Players Guild, Hamilton Fringe Festival, Hamilton
July 19-29, 2018
It’s good to see a musical that celebrates the love of a middle-aged couple for a change, but Mable And Able is too flawed as a work and as a production to recommend. From a technical point of view, the actors either need to learn to project or need to have mics if they wish to be heard clearly over the electric piano accompaniment.
The musical sketchily charts the on-again/off-again romance of Mable (Michelle Spring) and Able (Michael Whitebread*), who are not married but living together. They break up over an argument about money. Two scenes later they are, for unknown reasons, together again. The plot seems to derive from the whims of book writer Labe Kagen rather than arise from the interaction of the characters. In one scene when their Florida condo is under threat from Hurricane Irma, Kagen, without irony, decides to have Mable chew out Able for being messy.
Asher Ettinger’s jaunty music is inspired by popular songs from the 1930s to 50s, and Kagan’s June-moon rhymes helps cast a mustiness over the show. The characters can be summed up in single words – Mable is bossy, Able is a chump – but Spring and Whitebread do nothing to make them more detailed or interesting.
*Martin Buote takes over as Able at the Hamilton Fringe.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review appeared in NOW Magazine on July 9, 2018.
Photo: Michelle Spring and Martin Buote. ©2018 Loqui Productions.
For tickets, visit https://fringetoronto.com or http://hamiltonfringe.ca.
2018-07-09
Mable and Able