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This is the third Broadway production of The Elephant Man (the last was in 2002), and it surely wouldn’t be back if Bradley Cooper - People’s former Sexiest Man Alive, star of Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and The Hangover films - didn’t think it would be a good career move. In most cases, they were headlining revivals - and not always of plays that needed reviving.
#The elephant man script play movie
Neil Patrick Harris, Bryan Cranston, Michael Cera, Hugh Jackman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and (most recently, as the new Sally Bowles in Cabaret) Emma Stone were just some of the TV and movie stars who made their debuts, or high-profile returns, on Broadway this year. Tolerance is at the forefront of the conversation everywhere you look.It seemed a fitting coda for a year in which Broadway’s parade of star power hit an all-time peak. I think it”s extremely timely in today”s society. “When has that never been an issue in any time in history? Fitting in, wanting to be listened to and understood, and respected no matter how different you are. “It”s about a man who just wants to fit in society without being judged or gawked at,” he said.
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Psarras said the play”s main theme of acceptance is timeless but also timely today. The more Merrick is pushed to fit in, the more his health declines. However, it is Treves who will learn a lesson about his own unbending standards as to what normality is. He and others attempt to introduce him to “normal” life by teaching him religion, among other things, and Merrick becomes a favorite with London”s aristocratic society for his great redemption.
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The physician believes it would be in Merrick”s best interest to stay in a hospital where he can be cared for and studied. Merrick”s costume is purposely a bit off-kilter because the clothes would have been given to him, rather than fitted.
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“When you put a corset on you walk differently, sit differently,” and it really adds to the truthfulness of the time period and the characters, Tyler said. Kendal (Kristin Brownstone) would have had the best of the best, she said, so her dress is made of silk, with all the underpinnings a well-to-do woman would have worn–including corset and lobster tail bustle. “You do a lot of research, and Lisa Mallette was very determined to be realistic to the period,” she said. I”ve wanted to play this part for years, and now I finally get the chance.”Ĭostumer designer Patricia Tyler”s Victorian dresses, which took weeks to construct, and suits also bring a sense of realism to the play. “But that”s the fun part for me,” he said, “stretching yourself as an actor. The actor also takes care to “roll out” of the character”s slumped posture “as opposed to just snapping out of it and possibly tweaking something. Quoting from the script, Psarras added that Merrick”s face was “utterly incapable of any expression whatsoever.” With this, literally comes the task of remembering to breathe.
#The elephant man script play skin
Not to mention a head the size of a waist and sac-like masses of skin hanging off of him from head to toe.” “Merrick had very unique deformities including a serious bone disorder, a curved spine and a lame hip. “I think I”ve settled into a physical choice that is sustainable, not dangerous, and gives hints of the real ailments that Merrick had, and the audience will hopefully fill in the rest,” the actor said. Psarras does his best to fill in any gaps through mannerisms. In the play, physician Frederick Treves (Max Tachis) describes Merrick in vivid, sometimes clinical terms so that members of the audience can easily visualize the Elephant Man. It”s something he”s been hoping to do for a long time. Psarras joins a long and diverse roster of men who have taken on the role, among them Philip Anglim, David Bowie, Mark Hamill and Bradley Cooper. Pomerance”s script calls for no prosthetics–warning that actors with back issues shouldn”t even attempt the role–and sticks with the tradition that a handsome man should convey Merrick”s deformities through his performance alone. He plays John Merrick, a character modeled after Joseph Merrick, a young man with a disfiguring neurological disease. Second St., San Jose, and offers yet another challenge for George Psarras. The show runs March 17-April 17 at 529 S. Challenging the imagination of its audience and the perceived importance of fitting into society, City Lights Theater Company presents Bernard Pomerance”s “The Elephant Man.”