Marcel on the Train

 Marcel on the Train
Classic Stage Company
February 28, 2026

Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Marcel on the Train uses the art of mime to tell the story of Marcel Marceau’s escape from France during the Nazi occupation in 1943.  The play is beautifully written by Marshall Pailet and Ethan Slater.  The scenic design by Scott Davis and lighting by Studio Luna seamlessly transport the audience to numerous locations by creating simple and bold effects.  Marshall Pailet directs this amazing cast with a sharp eye for detail and a skillful knowledge of physical storytelling. 

Marcel (played by Ethan Slater) is asked to take a group of Jewish orphans on a train across the French border to hike into Switzerland.  He and his partner (played by Aaron Serotsky) come up with the plan and create the falsified documents for the children, who are dressed as boy scouts.  Marcel tries to keep the children’s spirits up, especially Berthe (played by Tedra Millan), who is filled with fear and cynicism.  When the train car is searched, one of the children, Henri (played by Alex Wyse), engages the Nazi Officer (played by Aaron Serotsky) in a playful battle of wit.  They successfully get past the check point, then realize they will have to start hiking immediately without meeting up with the second group of orphans.  The humor that Marcel used to keep the children distracted while on the train is of little use in the snow and cold, but his imagination gets them through a dangerous encounter. 

Ethan Slater as Marcel Marceau
Photo courtesy fo Classic Stage Company

Ethan Slater is genuine and warm-hearted as Marcel.  He uses the only tools he knows to get the children across the border.  He fuels them with hope to get their courage up and keep them moving forward.  The core of the art that Marcel Marceau becomes famous for is clearly grounded through this experience.  His trust and belief in his whimsey and imagination deliver him and the orphans to safety. 

Alex Wyse, Tedra Millan, Max Gordon Moore, and Maddie Corman play the four orphans escaping with Marcel.  These actors create distinct characters who face their fears in different ways.  Alex Wyse portrays Henri as precocious and gutsy.  He steps up in the face of danger, and glibly brings his companions through a perilous situation.  Tedra Millan’s Berthe is highly pessimistic in the way she views the world.  She has a clear sense of reality and does not buy into any sugar coating.  Max Gordon Moore plays Adolphe as both antagonist and fainthearted.  He is always picking on Henri, then takes a back seat when Henri makes his bold move.  Maddie Corman delivers a touching performance as Etiennette, who does not speak.  She has a heartbreaking storyline, but never gives up hope.  These characters bicker, disagree, and poke fun at one another, yet pull together when their survival is on the line. 

Max Gordon Moore, Alex Wyse, Ethan Slater, & Tedra Millan
Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Aaron Serotsky plays numerous roles, each of which is vital to the progression of action.  He transforms for each character, radiating a different energy with each costume change.

Marcel on the Train is an exceptional telling a heroic and poignant story.  The use of mime uniquely creates a throughline for the action.  The performances are outstanding.  The Classic Stage Company production is playing through March 22. 

Domenick Danza

The Babylon Line

The Babylon Line

Lincoln Center Theatre

At the Mitzi E. Newhouse

December 31, 2016

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of The Babylon Line is astounding.  Richard Greenberg’s script is prolific.  His characters are bold, honest, peculiar, and real. Director Terry Kinney finds just the right rhythm and flow for the play in order to keep the audience focused on the characters, their challenges, and their connections.

It is 1967 and Aaron Port (played by Josh Radnor) commutes on the Babylon Line to teach a creative writing adult education class in Levittown, Long Island.  His class is an eclectic mix of six students.  He is drawn to one student in particular, Joan Dellamond (played by Elizabeth Reaser).  She is a bit of an outcast, yet has a promising writing style with a unique voice.  The students in the class gradually open up in their writing, while the instructor remains separate and aloof.  The class comes to an end, yet their stories do not.

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

There are strong performances by the entire cast.  Josh Radnor is charming and allusive as Aaron Port.  Elizabeth Reaser has a quirkiness that is disturbing and off beat.  As the details of her character are revealed, the depth of these qualities hold true.  She grows and changes due to the connection to Josh Radnor’s’character.  Their honesty and relationship is riveting.  Randy Graff is commanding as Frieda Cohen.  Maddie Corman and Julie Halston join with her in creating a trio of Long Island housewives that are both funny and sad.  Perhaps the most amusing touch by Mr. Greenberg is when he builds Maddie Corman's character into the main character in his play Our Mother's Brief Affair.  Frank Wood and Michael Overholtzer are brilliantly underplayed and ever present.  These actors all create rich, realistic characters with the specific backstories in Mr. Greenberg’s script.  Their relationships keep the energy flowing throughout the play.

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

The set by Richard Hoover and costumes by Sarah J. Holden strongly establish the time period and location of the play.  Lighting by David Weiner and sound by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen allow for a consistent tone and smooth transitions.  All of this supports Mr. Greenberg’s theme that the ending of a story is really the beginning.

The Babylon Line is playing at Lincoln Center Theatre at the Mitzi E. Newhouse through January 22.  Time is running out.  Get there before it closes.

Domenick Danza