The Story

Meet Orson Welles

Incomparable master, insufferable braggart.

At the height of his fame, on the brink of disaster. Seducing his audience while baring his soul.

"...a genuine tour de force."

The Seattle Times

Citizen Kane rocketed Orson Welles into boy genius Hollywood stardom, a trajectory rarely witnessed before or since. Only in his mid-20s, he was given complete artistic control over his next film, the movie he thought was certain to be his masterpiece.

Instead, The Magnificent Ambersons ruined Welles, who waged and lost a power struggle with the studio. The Magnificent Welles captures Welles, alone in a Brazilian hotel room while on location for another movie, as he gradually realizes his masterpiece is slipping away.

"Marcus Wolland deftly impersonates Welles" (Seattle Weekly) in this acclaimed one-man show that is alternately a memoir of Welles' breathtaking career and a chronicle of his efforts to recapture control of the film.

"Wolland bears a remarkable resemblance to Welles. There are moments his curling lips, arched eyebrows and body language suggest Welles playing Charles Foster Kane and others when he suggests a more vulnerable side to Welles.... Wolland ... turns the show into a genuine tour de force."

The Seattle Times