A chat with Chris Mitchell – producer of The Marvellous Elephant Man: The Musical
The original Australian musical production of The Marvellous Elephant Man: The Musical is up for three Green Room Awards, Melbourne’s premier, peer-presented performing arts industry awards to be announced tomorrow.
The Marvellous Elephant Man: The Musical is up for three Green Room Awards tomorrow Photo by Paul Scott
J-Wire spoke with The Marvellous Elephant Man’s producer, Chris Mitchell.
JW: Congratulations on your nominations, Chris. Tell us about the history of The Marvellous Elephant Man. How did you come to turn a triumphant 1980 movie (The Elephant Man) starring Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and Anne Bancroft into a musical?
CM: MEM was written by Marc Lucchesi and Jayan and Sarah Nandagopan over a number of years. The original concept came about when a friend of Marc’s told him he was going to write a musical about Rasputen. Marc told him “I’ll do you one better: I’ll do the Elephant Man”. As he uttered those words, the melody and lyrics for a song popped into his head and he sang “Oh, you might not think it’s relevant, but he was sired by an elephant and that’s why he’s the Elephant Man”. That was nearly 10 years ago.
JW: Is it the same story as the film? If not, how does The Marvellous Elephant Man, the musical differ from the film?
CM: It’s a very different story. Ours is something of an adult fairytale reimagining. Unlike the true story, Dr Treves is a villian in our telling. He exploits John (Joseph) Merrick for fame and fortune. Treves is engaged to Nurse Hope, with whom John forms a relationship. Eventually the two fall in love. Outraged, Treves plots his revenge, which culminates in his creating a Frankenstein’s monster-style Apex predator to face off with John in a big final showdown. It’s very silly and a whole lot of fun.
JW: What effort did it take to turn the concept into reality? What were the obstacles you faced?
CM: It took a monumental effort from the entire team to bring The Marvellous Elephant Man to stage … and it didn’t help that I had never produced a musical before! Despite a long history in indie theatre and cabaret production, I had no idea of the sheer scale of taking 11 cast members, five musicians and crew on the road across three cities and nearly 100 shows.
JW: What was the audience reaction to The Marvellous Elephant Man? Be honest, what percentage enjoyed it and what percentage had reservations? Re the latter, what were the reservations? Did you receive any constructive suggestions as to how the show could be improved further?
CM: The show has received rave, five-star reviews and countless return audience members. I would say 95 per cent of the audience love it, however it isn’t for everybody. The show is a satire and in today’s climate of identity politics satire can too often can be misconstrued for vitriol, which sadly was the sentiment of a very small number of more sensitive critics. The most constructive suggestions we received was encouragement to lean into our instincts as creatives. It’s when we do that, that our audience responds the best.
JW: Where to from here? Whether or not you receive any Green Room Awards, is The Marvellous Elephant Man up for a repeat season in Australian capital cities and, if so, when and where?
CM: We have some big things in the works. It’s too early to make any announcements, but “yes”, MEM will be back, however it’ll be a return season following our inaugural international run.
JW: Do you think our sense of humour will translate abroad, or do you intend to tweak it for international consumption?
CM: We are very confident that our sense of humour will be appreciated as much, if not more, abroad. With comparisons to The Book of Mormon and Rocky Horror Show, the reception we have received from interested foreign parties has been overwhelming. The future looks marvellous.
