Sydney Fringe Festival has announced its tentpole production for 2023.

The musical The Marvellous Elephant Man will play for four weeks in the Sydney Spiegeltent, the pop-up centrepiece of the Fringe Festival’s new hub at the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter.

The Marvellous Elephant Man. Photo © Paul Scott Photography

One of the hits of the Adelaide Fringe and recently revived in Melbourne (read Limelight critic Patricia Maunder’s review here), The Marvellous Elephant Man is loosely based on the story of Joseph (AKA John) Merrick, a man whose severe physical deformities led to him working in a Victorian freak show under the stage name “The Elephant Man”.

Conceived and composed by Marc Lucchiano and Jay and Sarah Nandagopan, The Marvellous Elephant Man debuted in the 2022 Melbourne Jazz Lab. Its current iteration is co-directed by Guy Masterson and Chris Mitchell, and the Sydney cast will include Opera Australia veteran Kanen Breen as the show’s villain, Dr Treves, tenor Ben Smith in the title role and Annelise Hall as the angelic Nurse Hope.