Julie Benko, Alex Wyse & More Join Ethan Slater in MARCEL ON THE TRAIN at Classic Stage Company

Classic Stage Company has announced casting for the world premiere of Marcel on the Train, co-written by Marshall Pailet and Tony Award nominee Ethan Slater, who will also star as Marcel Marceau.

Directed by Pailet, the production will run from February 5 through March 15, 2026, with an opening night set for February 22 at CSC’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater.

Slater will be joined by Julie Benko, Maddie Corman, Max Gordon Moore, Aaron Serotsky, and Alex Wyse, with additional casting to be announced at a later date.

Marcel on the Train tells the untold story of Marcel Marceau before his rise as the world’s most famous mime. As a young man in Nazi-occupied France, Marceau used imagination and courage to help guide Jewish children to safety. The play reveals the man behind the mask, showing how quiet defiance became a profound act of resistance.

The creative team includes Scott Davis (set design), Sarah Laux (costume design), Brandon Stirling Baker (lighting design), Jill BC DuBoff (sound design), and Geoff Josselson (casting). The production is presented by special arrangement with Mix and Match Productions, led by Maxwell Beer and Mitch Marois.

About the Cast

Ethan Slater (Co-author & Marcel) is a writer and actor best known for playing Spongebob in Broadway's SpongeBob Squarepants (for which he received a Tony Nomination and won the Drama Desk award), and for playing Boq in movies Wicked and Wicked: For Good (coming November 2025). He was most recently onstage in Spamalot on Broadway, and at CSC playing The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in Assassins. His musical, Edge of the World (written with Nick Blaemire) also had a sold out one-night only concert at CSC, making Classic Stage feel very much like an artistic home. Similar to Marcel Marceau, Ethan’s work on film and on stage has been greatly inspired by two things: physical comedians and being Jewish. So when Marshall called to tell him of the birth of his first child, Ethan couldn’t wait to add to that joy with the idea for this play (see Marshall’s bio for his side of the story). Selected other Film/TV/Theater: “Gen V” (Amazon), Lost on a Mountain in Maine (dir. Andrew Kightlinger), The Designer (upcoming, dir. Em Johnson), “Elsbeth” (CBS), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “Fosse/Verdon” (FX), Who’s Your Badghdaddy (Off-Broadway dir. Marshall Pailet), PEMDAS (OYL Theater Company, dir. Ianthe Demos). Graduate Vassar College. 

Julie Benko (Berthe) became a Broadway sensation as Fanny Brice in the recent revival of Funny Girl, earning the Dorothy Loudon Award and a New York Times "Breakout Star" nod for her celebrated performance in the show. She also appeared on Broadway in Harmony, Fiddler on the Roof, and Les Misérables. Favorite regional credits include My Fair Lady, Jane Eyre, Once, Our Town, Rags, and more. She’s released three studio albums with her pianist-husband Jason Yeager—stream them wherever you get your music. Upcoming: feature film “Caravan” and Guys and Dolls at Shakespeare Theatre Company. MFA in Acting, NYU-Tisch. @jujujuliebee | juliebenko.com

Maddie Corman (Etiennette) began her career as a teenager in the films Seven Minutes in Heaven and Some Kind of Wonderful. She has worked extensively in television (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Good Wife,” “Younger,” “Madame Secretary,” “Bull”) and film (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Sunshine Cleaning, Morning Glory). Her New York theatre credits include Broadway’s Next Fall and Picnic, as well as Richard Greenberg’s The Babylon Line. Maddie wrote and performed the award-winning solo play Accidentally Brave, produced Off-Broadway and now streaming on HBO/MAX.

Max Gordon Moore (Adolphe). Appearances on Broadway include Tammy Faye, The Nap, Saint Joan (MTC), Indecent, and Relatively Speaking. Off-Broadway appearances include The Trees (Playwrights Horizons), The Golden Shield, Man from Nebraska (Second Stage), Love Love Love (Studio Theatre), Describe the Night (Atlantic Theatre), Coriolanus (The Public), The Master Builder (BAM), Mothers (Playwrights Realm), Man and Superman, and It’s a Wonderful Life (Irish Rep). TV and Film appearances include “New Amsterdam,” “East New York,” Here Today, “Succession,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Instinct,” “Madam Secretary,” and “The Good Wife.” Max is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Yale School of Drama

Aaron Serotsky (The Man). Selected Credits: Television: “Dopesick,” “Julia,” “FBI: International,” “The Good Doctor,” “The Best Man: The Final Chapters,” “City on a Hill,” “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago Med,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Ray Donovan,” “The Bold Type,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Homeland.” Film: Men In Black: International, Barry Levinson's The Survivor, A Kid Like Jake. Theater: Broadway (August: Osage County), Off-Broadway, National Tours, Regional, and International.

Alex Wyse (Henri). Select credits: Broadway: Good Night Oscar, Waitress, Spring Awakening, Lysistrata Jones. Tour: Wicked. Off-Broadway: Ride the Cyclone, Bare, Triassic Parq. Regional: Hartford Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Maltz Jupiter, Huntington, Wallis Annenberg. TV: “Elsbeth,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," "The Other Two," "Iron Fist," "Masters of Sex," "NCIS: Los Angeles," “The Bold and the Beautiful," "Switched at Birth," “Agent X,” "Modern Family,” "Bored to Death.” As a writer and/or director: the Off-Broadway hit Cellino v. Barnes, the GLAAD-nominated Summoning Sylvia, the Emmy-nominated “Indoor Boys," and the musicals Picking Up Speed and Regina Comet (both albums streaming everywhere.) BFA: BU.