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Rehearsals are underway for Marcel on the Train at Classic Stage Company. Co-written by Marshall Pailet and Tony Award nominee Ethan Slater, the production will be directed by Pailet and will feature Slater as “Marcel Marceau.”
History remembers Marcel Marceau as the world’s greatest mime. But before the spotlight, he was a young man in Nazi-occupied France, guiding Jewish children to safety with nothing but courage and imagination. In the shadows of World War II, Marcel on the Train reveals the man behind the invisible mask.
“I was doing research on the silent film comedians, and there’s this anecdote about Charlie Chaplin being ‘accused’ of being Jewish. So I was Googling ‘Charlie Chaplin Jewish’, and it led me to the story of a young boy who loved Charlie Chaplin, who wanted to model his artistic life after him. A Jewish boy in southern France joined the French resistance and saved upwards of 70 children from the Nazis. And that young boy was Marcel Marceau at 20 years old,” explained Slater. “Before he was a mime, before he was in a drama school, he was in art school. And he smuggled Jewish children on this train from Limoges over to Annemasse on the Swiss border.”
