This new Off-Broadway play centers on famed mime Marcel Marceau’s mission to rescue Jewish children during the Holocaust

Known as one of the greatest mimes of all time, Marcel Marceau’s lesser-known heroism will take center stage in Marcel on the Train, a new Off-Broadway play set to make its world premiere at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater (136 East 13th Street) in February 2026.

The production stars Ethan Slater—who also co-wrote the story with director Marshall Pailet—as a young Marceau in Nazi-occupied France, during the period when he helped rescue more than 70 Jewish children from an orphanage, guiding them across the border into Switzerland as part of the French Resistance.

Slater is no stranger to the stage. The Jewish actor earned a Tony nomination for his role as SpongeBob in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical and starred as Boq in last year’s Wicked movie (yes, he’s also Ariana Grande’s boyfriend—the two met on the set of that film).

But back to Marceau: born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France, in 1923, the Jewish pantomime artist changed his surname—alongside his brother Alain—to avoid standing out as Jewish under the Nazi regime. When World War II began around 1940, the family used forged identity papers to move to Paris. In 1943, Marceau joined the French Resistance and began smuggling Jewish children to safety, posing as a Boy Scout leader to escort them past Nazi patrols.

This isn’t the first time this chapter of Marceau’s life has been portrayed on screen. In 2020, Jesse Eisenberg played the legendary mime in the film Resistance, which also spotlighted his work with the French Resistance during World War II.