Marcel on the Train review

Ethan Slater in Marcel on the Train (Emilio Madrid) 

Before Marcel Marceau captivated the world with his silent art, the famous mime was a young Jewish man in Nazi-occupied France. And an unsung hero who helped to smuggle Jewish children across the Swiss border and out of harm's way.

It's unfortunate that such an amazing story fails to come alive dramatically in Marcel on the Train, an intimate 100-minute play by Marshall Pailet and Ethan Slater (from the Wicked movies). Pailet directs and Slater tackles the title role in Classic Stage Company's Off Broadway production, which unsuccessfully casts adults as the four orphan children Marcel, posing as a scoutmaster, shepherds across France in a train car. 

Part of Marcel on the Train's problem is that the four kids — played by Alex Wyse, Maddie Corman, Max Gordon Moore and Tedra Millan, all accomplished actors — aren't given the depth of characterization that, for example, the child characters (also played by adults) receive in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. 

The boys bicker; Corman's character, Etiennette, doesn't speak a word, while Millan's weak-bladdered Berthe is convinced she won't live to see adulthood. Marcel playfully tries to ease their fears, engaging them in games and showing them how to make shadow puppets with their hands, but the sequence drags on until real danger threatens, in the form of a Nazi officer (a chilling Aaron Serotsky) who inspects their car.

But despite the danger they face, the characters in Marcel on the Train are too thinly sketched to fully captivate audiences. I'd love to read more about their exploits, but this well-intended drama doesn't do them justice.