THE STORY: As The New York Daily News describes: “MARATHON '33 does not fall into any pat category, for it is not a comedy or a drama or a musical or a vaudeville show, even though it makes brilliant use of each. It is a documentary—a sharp and terribly accurate summary of a cheesy, sleazy period of our time. The period is 1933—a period of depression when many people would do literally anything in order to eat. Some of these people found themselves in dance marathons, an incredible—now—blending of sadism and masochism where audiences filled big arenas like Madison Square Garden to watch idiots try to dance themselves dead in a month or two or more…There is no curtain now at the ANTA Theatre and the stage comes way out, and the downfront members of the audience don’t know for sure if the people next to them have also bought their tickets or are members of the cast. The cast, employing most of the members of the Actors Studio, is big enough for two musicals. And it is very, very good, down to the last man and woman and boy and girl…I have not seen many plays which pack so much vivid detail into so little time on one set. If you see MARATHON '33—and I urge you to do so—you will find yourself smack dab back in a time which never could have been, but was."
A brilliantly theatrical play, dealing with the marathon dance craze of the thirties, the play becomes a compelling human document and a sometimes humorous, sometimes scathing, comment on a unique period in our history.
“…chock full of theatre—vivid, exciting, funny, touching, human and even horrifying theatre.” —New York Daily News.
“…big and brash…” —New York Journal-American.
“…sharp, poignant, comic, incredible but scrupulously honest…” —New York World-Telegram & Sun.
