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New StageDirect Video: The Magnificent Welles Chronicles the Hollywood Rise and Demise of Cinematic Genius Orson Welles

April 29, 2002

The acclaimed one-man show captures Welles at a fateful moment in his precocious career

PORTLAND, OR StageDirect - America's leading producer of fringe theater on video - has just released The Magnificent Welles. Written and performed by Marcus Wolland, The Magnificent Welles depicts the young director in the spring of 1942 as he struggles - long distance from Brazil - for control of The Magnificent Ambersons, his film following Citizen Kane. In his absence, The Magnificent Ambersons was chopped from 132 to 88 minutes and given a saccharine ending, rendering the masterpiece a flop and signaling the decline of Welles' career as a Hollywood director. The film's original cut - which Welles deemed better than Citizen Kane - remains at large and is arguably the greatest loss in American movie history. The Magnificent Welles was first performed to much acclaim at the 2001 Seattle Fringe Festival under the title Lost Eden, an Evening with Orson Welles.

"The Magnificent Welles is a must-see for Orson Welles fans and anyone interested in the history of American cinema," says StageDirect Artistic Director Jeff Meyers. "It's a brilliant performance, made better by Wolland's uncanny resemblance to the young Welles."

The Magnificent Welles finds the 27-year-old Welles in a Rio de Janeiro hotel room while on location for It's All True. (Shortly after filming The Magnificent Ambersons, Welles was asked by the U.S. Office of Inter American Affairs to film It's All True, a project to promote goodwill between the U.S. and South America in light of World War II. Had Welles not ventured to South America, the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons would likely have gone his way.) The show condenses the events of spring 1942 into a single evening, as Welles recounts his intense career in the guise of writing a memoir. His intimate conversation with the audience is interspersed with frantic phone calls to Hollywood to rescue The Magnificent Ambersons.

"It's inconceivable that Welles accomplished so much by the age of 27," says Wolland. "It's been humbling and exhilarating to inhabit this remarkable man, and I'm especially gratified by the level of confidence StageDirect has shown in the production."

Wolland says the show is benefiting from a recent surge of interest in Orson Welles. The American Film Institute named Citizen Kane the "top movie of all time," and the January 2002 issue of Vanity Fair ran a feature on The Magnificent Ambersons. A four-hour miniseries based on Welles' original script of The Magnificent Ambersons also ran this year on A&E Networks.

The Magnificent Welles was taped at Seattle's Odd Duck Studio in February 2002.

StageDirect captures the best of small-stage, fringe theater for distribution on VHS and DVD. Established in 2001, the Portland-based company scours the Western Hemisphere for high-caliber, offbeat shows that challenge the American stereotype of "theater." Every effort is made during taping and editing to preserve the intimacy and uncommon energy of live performance. StageDirect videos are available through select distributors and video rental shops, and through the company's web site at www.stagedirect.com.

Media Contact

Jody Nichols
503-294-3010
jody@mediacabin.com