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ASL Meets Broadway in "Elephant Shoes"
23 Jun
Summary
- The musical is a modern adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac.
- It features a deaf protagonist and incorporates ASL.
- Innovative staging uses supertitles and projections.
Two River Theater is currently staging "Elephant Shoes," a groundbreaking musical that reimagines the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story for a modern audience. The production co-stars a deaf actor as Cy, the founder of a tech startup who falls for a hearing woman, Roxy. Instead of whispering from the bushes, Cy uses American Sign Language (ASL) to convey romantic messages to his friend who woos Roxy on his behalf.
Directed by Jeff Calhoun, the musical ingeniously integrates ASL and spoken dialogue for all audience members. On-stage supertitles and projections of lyrics and words enhance accessibility, particularly during musical numbers. This innovative approach ensures that signs, captions, and speech function as cohesive, integral components of the performance, not mere interpretive aids.
