FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

 

 

For more information, contact:

Jenni Benzaquen

Press Director

Geffen Playhouse

(310) 208-6500, ext. 126

jenni@geffenplayhouse.com

 

 

MARCEL MARCEAU

UNIVERSALLY ACCLAIMED AS THE WORLD’S GREATEST MIME, BEGINS PERFORMANCES AT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE ON TUESDAY, JULY 30

 

SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT PERFORMANCES

RUN THROUGH AUGUST 18

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – July 19, 2002 – Emmy Award-winner Marcel Marceau, universally acclaimed as the world’s greatest mime, begins performances at Geffen Playhouse on Tuesday, July 30.   His three-week special engagement runs through Sunday, August 18 with an official press opening on Wednesday, July 31 at 7:30p.m.   Mr. Marceau will be performing different pieces from his vast repertoire including his masterful pantomimes of style and pantomimes of Bip.

 

Los Angeles Times calls Mr. Marceau “not merely the greatest star mime of the century but an icon of Western culture…Marcel Marceau makes the human body into a theater of wonders, the only theater any of us will ever need.”   A full biography for

Mr. Marceau follows at the end of this release.

 

Tickets for Marcel Marceau can be purchased directly at the Geffen box office or by calling the box office at 310-208-5454.  Ticket prices range from $45-$49 with discounts available for Geffen Playhouse subscribers and groups of fifteen or more.  The group sales number is (661) 250-7424. Geffen Playhouse is located at 10886 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood Village.  The performance schedule for Marcel Marceau is Tuesdays - Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00p.m.  Please note: there will be no Sunday evening performances.  Visit the Geffen Playhouse website at www.geffenplayhouse.com.

 

Geffen Playhouse is headed by Producing Director Gilbert Cates, Artistic Director Randall Arney and Managing Director Stephen Eich.

 

MARCEL MARCEAU BIOGRAPHY

 

Universally acclaimed as the world’s greatest mime, Mr. Marceau was born in Strasbourg, France.  In 1944, he enrolled in Charles Dullin’s School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where he studied with the great Etienne Decroux.  He began his career in pantomime in a piece entitled Baptiste and presented his first “mimodrama,” Praxitele and the Golden Fish, at the Bernhardt Theatre.  In 1947, Mr. Marceau created “Bip,” the clown who, in his striped pullover and battered opera hat, has become Mr. Marceau’s alter-ego.  His style exercises include such classic works as The Cage, The Mask Maker, The Public Garden and the famous Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death.

 

In 1949, following the receipt of the renowned Deburau Prize for his second mimodrama, Death Before Dawn, Mr. Marceau formed his Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only company of pantomime in the world at the time. 

 

Mr. Marceau made his North American debut at the Stratford Festival and first toured the United States in 1955-56.  He has since toured this country on a regular basis for over 40 years and his extensive intercontinental tours have included South America, Africa, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Russia and all of Europe. 

 

He received two Emmy Awards for his television appearances on The Maurice Chevalier Show and Laugh In.  In 1973, he appeared on the BBC as 17 different characters in

A Christmas Carol.  He has been a favorite guest of Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore.  Mr. Marceau has appeared on film in Barbarella with Jane Fonda, Shanks and Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie.  He created, directed and performed the title role in Candide for the Ballet Company of the Hamburg Opera.

 

Mr. Marceau’s children’s books include his highly acclaimed The Alphabet Book and Marcel Marceau’s Counting Book and the recently published Bip in a Book.  Other publications of his paintings, poetry and illustrations include La ballade de Paris et du Monde, The Story of Bip, The Third Eye and Pimporello. 

 

Numerous honors have been bestowed upon Mr. Marceau, including the highest honors

conferred by the French Government: Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur des Arts et Lettres and Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite.

 

In the 1997-98 season, Marceau’s famous copyrighted character Bip celebrated his 50th Anniversary.  In that same season, he and his company, La Nouvelle Compagnie de Mimodrame Marcel Marceau, created a new mimodrama The Bowler Hat, presented in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Taipei, Caracas, Santo Domingo, Venezuela and Munich.  In 2000, Marceau returned to the United States to perform at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. and, while in the capital, addressed the National Press Club, broadcast nationally on National Public Radio, and was invited for a personal visit with President Clinton at the White House.  In 2002, Mr. Marceau is serving as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging in Madrid, Spain.

 

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