The story of Jennie the elephant is being dramatized at The New Victory Theater's Stage 42 in New York in The Vanishing Elephant. The play opened on October 14 and runs through October 29, 2023.
Pack your trunk for a jumbo journey as Jenny the elephant is captured and taken from India to America, far from her family and her forever friend, Opu. Swept up in the circus, she makes magic and history as The Vanishing Elephant with Harry Houdini himself, but Jenny never stops thinking of home. Watch in wonder as this puppet pachyderm grows from tot to teen to towering adult in an unforgettable tale from the imagination of Cahoots NI.
You can buy tickets to The Vanishing Elephant at The New Victory Theater website. Here's a preview.
The website warns the play depicts animal cruelty. For the record, Houdini loved animals and had very strong feelings about animal cruelty. I've read a moving letter he wrote to Harry Kellar (in the David Copperfield collection) in which he bemoans what he has seen during his career and expresses his opinion that there should be laws against such mistreatment. As for Jennie, Houdini said, "I never allowed a hook to be used, relying on block sugar to make her go through her stunt, and she certainly is very fond of me."
I'm always surprised that the New Victory doesn't exploit the fact it was part of Hammerstein's Victoria...technically the Roof Top Gardens, but they were connected. He Walked Through a Brick Wall there.
ReplyDeleteI actually did see that mentioned as I was combing the publicity on the play. I never knew that!
DeleteYou know, are we sure HH performed here? This was called the Belasco back in the day. It was owned by Hammerstein and had a roof garden, but it wasn't Hammerstein's Victoria Theater & Roof Garden which is where HH performed the brick wall. That theater is long gone.
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