Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 22, 2007 issue
Hayes Center Presents An Evening with Groucho February 23
Actor Brings Marx Brothers Legacy to Blowing Rock
Story by David Brewer
This Friday night, February 24, the audience at the Hayes Performing Arts Center will be transported back in time to the first half of the 20th century as award-winning actor, director and playwright Frank Ferrante presents An Evening With Groucho, a play based on the work of American comedy legend Groucho Marx.
The show will start at 8:00 p.m. Purchase tickets online or at the Hayes Center box office for $30.
Billed as a fast-paced, 90-minute show, An Evening With Groucho is a two-act show of the best one-liners, anecdotes and songs culled from the famed Marx brother’s groundbreaking career. Though he has performed the role of Groucho more than 2,500 times, Ferrante insists that the extended improv element of each show makes each one unique.
Accompanied onstage by longtime pianist and foil Jim Furmston, Ferrante portrays the young Groucho of stage and film, reacquainting the audience with the likes of brothers Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, as well as Groucho contemporaries Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo, Marx foil Margaret Dumont and MGM's Louis B. Mayer.
“To me, what makes the show exciting for the audience is the improv, making the audience a part of the show,” said Ferrante. “The improv allows me to bring my own ability into play. I love exploring that part of the character.”
Discovered by Groucho's son Arthur when Frank was a drama student at the University of Southern California, Frank originated the off-Broadway title role in Groucho: A Life in Revue (written by Arthur) portraying the comedian from age 15 to 85.
“Arthur saw me and said, ‘If I ever do a show about my father, I’d like to use you,’” said Ferrante. “Arthur is one of my best friends if not my best friend. We still speak regularly. That was my initial experience with professional theater. It was an amazing and incredible start in a way and it led to a lot of different roles.”
Since then, Ferrante has been portraying Groucho Marx from New York to London, winning the New York Theatre World Award and earning nominations for an Outer Critics Circle Award and the Laurence Olivier Award for Comedy Performance of the Year.
Throughout the years, Ferrante has been heralded by critics in his role as Groucho Marx, called “hilarious” by the New York Post, “a tour de force,” by Variety and “brilliant,” by The Today Show.
In 2001, Frank starred in, directed and produced the national PBS television program Groucho: A Life in Revue. Frank currently stars as the comic lead in the European cirque Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco and Seattle.
Though he has played many roles throughout the years, Ferrante says that he still enjoys doing 40 to 50 Groucho shows each year, inhabiting and exploring the irreverent, silly and spontaneous comic’s body of work. Ferrante describes his job as trying to “whip the audience into a laugh frenzy,” no matter their age or familiarity with the Marx Brothers.
“My job is to be as funny as possible,” said Ferrante. “It doesn’t matter to me whether they know Groucho or not.”
To purchase tickets or for more info, click to www.brcac.org or call 828-295-9627.
Want To Go?
Date: Friday, February 23
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Hayes Performing Arts Center
Cost: $30