After more than a century, the mystery of "The Elephant Man" has been solved. This fascinating story, which has touched the hearts and imaginations of readers throughout the world for over a century, is now complete. The mystifying question has been answered: How could this poor, deformed fellow, so cruelly treated by his fellow man for so long, turn out to be such a gentle, loving creature? Read about it in the new Third Edition of The Elephant Man by Ashley Montagu -- the book whose first edition inspired the movie and the Tony Award-winning play by the same name.
Based on the novel The Elephant Man by Ashley Montagu, Pomerance weaves the tale of John Merrick for the stage. During it's initial opening American run in 1979, The Elephant Man won three Tony Awards, Three Obies, The Drama Desk Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. After a successful opening with Philip Anglim playing John Merrick, rock idol David Bowie took over the role from July 29, 1980 to January 3, 1981. It was his first attempt as a stage actor and won great reviews.
John Merrick had lived for more than twenty years imprisoned in a body that condemned him to a miserable life in the workhouse and to humiliation as a circus sideshow freak. But beneath that tragic exterior, within that enormous and deformed head, thrived the soul of a poet, the heart of a dreamer, the longings of a man. Based on the extraordinary motion picture that captured the heart of America.
Audio CD. John Morris composes the memorable and haunting soundtrack to the 1980 David Lynch masterpiece, The Elephant Man. Performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. 11 tracks including, The Elephant Man Theme, The Nightmare, The Belgian Circus Episode, and Pantomime.
Telling the story of the Elephant Man, whether as a drama, a film, a sequence of poems, or a medical case study, often reveals as much about the observer as it does about the subject. At the heart of his story, the authors suggest, is Merrick's humanity--and telling his story helps us define our own. Merrick faced what every human being who grows old or falls ill must endure, the sufferer's painful questions about cause and effect, about personal guilt or cosmic cruelty. He knew the isolation felt by every outsider--the poor, the homeless, the victimized, even the modern "superstar." And, like each of us, he must have wondered if appearance is, after all, a misleading mask.
