Michael Ball gives Mack and Mable a real happy ending

Reviving a show that originally flopped on Broadway is one of the best things Michael Ball has ever done, he tells Ed Power.

YOU hear Michael Ball before you see him, his big booming voice echoing down the hall. The leading man of British musical theatre is on a whistle-stop tour of Dublin, promoting his new production, a revival of doomed ’70s Broadway musical Mack and Mabel. It’s a passion project for the voluble 53- year -old, one he’s happy making a song and dance about.

“It debuted on Broadway in 1974 and just didn’t gel,” he says, relaxing in one of the bunker-like green rooms at Bord Gais Energy Theatre. “It was a troubled production. There were lots of internal battles. The producer wanted a happy ending — and, actually, there isn’t, but tastes and expectations have changed and we’re doing it again. I’ve always been obsessed with the music; it’s just wonderful.”