Saturday I saw one of the last performances of Sunset Boulevard at Desert Stages Theatre, but on Sunday afternoon I saw one of the first performances of The Elephant Man. I saw this play in August of 1980 at the Blackstone Theatre in Chicago with David Bowie playing John Merrick, the Elephant Man. So I knew going into seeing this play once again they don't use prosthetic make-up on the actor playing John Merrick. They show you on screen pictures of the real John Merrick, so you know the extent of his extreme deformity, and they explain how his deformity caused his physical limitations. Then it's up to an incredible actor to carry off this deformity without the help of any prosthetic make-up, and keep the audience believing they are seeing in front of them a disfigured body with many physical limitations. Not an easy task, but actor Jimmy Shoffman really made you feel you were looking at the Elephant Man. He did a marvelous job as well as the other members of the cast. BRAVO!
On a side note: I'm not sure, but I think Michelle Hoffman, Drama Critic for the Arizona Republic was sitting next to me at this performance. If it was not her, then some woman was taking notes throughout the play for whatever reason.
