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Ethan Slater is stepping into the shoes of a legend.
The Tony Award-nominated actor and Wicked star, 32, will play famous French mime Marcel Marceau in Marcel on the Train, an Off-Broadway world premiere he co-wrote with Marshall Pailet.
Directed by Pailet, the production will run at Classic Stage Company in New York City from Feb. 5 through March 15, 2026. An official opening night is set for Feb. 22.
Marcel Marceau became a global sensation with his signature character Bip the Clown, his expressive silence and artistic mastery transforming mime into a respected art form. He performed professionally for over 60 years, and died in 2007 at the age of 84.
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Emilio Madrid
The play focuses on Marceau’s extraordinary real-life story growing up as a young man during World War II. As has been widely reported, Marceau risked his life in Nazi-occupied France as a member of the French Resistance, using disguises and his creative imagination to help keep Jewish children quiet during their dangerous escape to safety.
“In the shadows of World War II, Marcel on the Train reveals the man behind the invisible mask,” a description for the inventive play reads, praising the piece for showing audiences how “sometimes, the loudest resistance begins in the most quiet places.”
Joining Slater will be a sea of theatrical stars, including Julie Benko (Harmony), Maddie Corman (Accidentally Brave), Max Gordon Moore (Tammy Faye: The Musical), Aaron Serotsky (August: Osage County) and Alex Wyse (Good Night, Oscar).
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
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Emilio Madrid
Slater, a veteran of Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants and Spamalot, will next be seen on the big screen as Boq in Wicked: For Good. The second part of the film adaptation of Wicked, which he stars in opposite girlfriend Ariana Grande, opens on Nov. 26, 2025.
This is the third project Slater has worked on at Classic Stage Company. In 2021, he played Lee Harvey Oswald in CSC’s revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Last year, Edge of the World — a musical he co-wrote with Nick Blaemire — had a sold out one-night only concert at CSC.
Emilio Madrid
In his official bio, Slater says he was inspired to write Marcel on the Train because, like Marcel Marceau, “[his] work on film and on stage has been greatly inspired by two things: physical comedians and being Jewish.”
The actor pitched the idea of the show to Pailet when Pailet called to tell him about the birth of his first child. “It was a very short and tired conversation ending with Ethan saying, ‘maybe this isn’t the best time,’ ” Pailet recalls, admitting that the next day he realized, “huh that was actually a good idea.”
“I look forward to writing about this play’s genesis someday using the third person,” he teases.
Individual tickets for Marcel on the Train will go on sale in November. For more information, visit www.classicstage.org.
