Was produced on Broadway, starred Bradley Cooper

I saw the movie quite some time ago and absolutely loved it. This play is no different. It moves the human heart. The only thing that I did not enjoy was the fact that it was so brief. You glimpse John Merrick here, through the wisps of fog that separate him from you, and it's almost like his presence in the play is him smiling at last, peaceful and finally sleeping.

5 stars. ( )

I'm really not sure how I feel after reading this. Oh- it was an excellent work. It's about so much more than one man's deformities, or even about societal condemnation of the abnormal. There are riches and depth here, considering the error of the superiority of the liberal, so proud to be helping the least of these, or what we can gain from others we pity, or rather, if it's even possible to realize that we can gain from them because "they" are our equals, and not the other, but humans of value, and . . . there is that of God in them.

I remember when the movie came out. I thought this would be very cool. A man who was half man, half elephant. I was nine. It was not the movie I expected.

I picked up this play knowing what to expect, considering it for a high school presentation. And still, I feel emotionally floored, and don't know how to pick myself up. This is tragedy like Romeo & Juliet is a comedy. I want to say that it is devoid of hope- but it is too real. It is how people actually are. Not just those deformed, but those who respond to the deformities.

And I don't want to see that mirror. ( )

I'll have to put this in the category of plays much better than it reads. If I had been a producer or director reading this play for the first time, I probably would have given it a pass. It's hard to see the impact and the power from the rather simplistic plot and poorly developed characters. In reading this particular work, I come to understand how much of a role having the right people performing your play can do. In the reading, it sounds stunted and even silly. If I had not seen it performed, this probably would not persuade me to go to a performance. ( )

Last year, I finally watched the David Lynch film; and as I did with a few other movies last year, thought I would also read the book. However, then I learned that the play had no connection with Lynch's film other than the subject matter, so I put it off. Of course, since the play and the film are based on a real person, the structures of both are similar enough that I could have followed up one with the other... Hindsight.

I've actually been sitting on this book for a while, having picked it up from a friend while we were both taking part in a yard sale. It was this and another book of screenplays that I traded him for a DVD box set. Felt like a fair trade.

It's interesting seeing the differences in interpretation between Pomerance and Lynch. I'll eventually read the actual published history that Treves wrote (along with Montagu's book, both mentioned in the play's introductory note) which inspired Pomerance to write this play. ( )