One Night Only!
Award-Winning Entertainer Frank Ferrante Stars In AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO
Performed for the First Time Under the Magical Teatro ZinZanni Spiegltent – Tickets On Sale Now, August 10
An Evening with Groucho
Directed by Dreya Weber
Award-winning actor and director Frank Ferrante recreates his PBS, New York, and London acclaimed portrayal of legendary comedian Groucho Marx in this fast-paced 90 minutes of hilarity. The two-act comedy consists of the best Groucho one-liners, anecdotes, and songs including “Hooray for Captain Spalding,” and “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.” The audience literally becomes part of the show as Ferrante ad-libs his way throughout the performance in grand Groucho style. Accompanied by his on-stage pianist, Seattle Music Director Mark Rabe, Ferrante portrays the young Groucho of stage and film, and reacquaints us with the likes of brothers Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Marx foil, Margaret Dumont, and MGM’s Louis B. Mayer. A show perfect for all ages!
Teatro ZinZanni 222 Mercer Street, Seattle
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Show starts at 8:00 p.m.
TICKETS: Starting at $30 — ON SALE NOW
Box Office: (206) 802-0015
http://www.zinzanni.com/seattle
*An Evening with Groucho is a one-night only special event. It is not a version of the Teatro ZinZanni evening show. Food and beverages are not included in the ticket price for this special event but will be available for purchase the night of the show.
About Frank Ferrante (Writer/Groucho)
Frank Ferrante is currently performing in Teatro ZinZanni’s Hotel L’Amour running through September 25. He is an actor and director and described by The New York Times as “the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx’s material.” Animal Crackers and A Night at the Opera co-author Morrie Ryskind called him “the only actor aside from Groucho who delivered my lines as they were intended.” 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. For this role, Frank earned New York’s Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. He reprised the role in London’s West End and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Comedy Performance of the Year.’ Frank played the Groucho role in the off- Broadway revival of The Cocoanuts and has played Captain Spalding in several productions of Animal Crackers winning a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his portrayal at Goodspeed Opera House and a Helen Hayes nomination in Washington D.C. at Arena Stage. In Boston, he played the Huntington Theatre in the record-breaking run of Animal Crackers that landed Frank on the cover of American Theatre Magazine. Frank has now performed the Groucho role over 2500 times in more than 400 cities. His other regional roles include Max Prince in Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre (which Frank also directed); George S. Kaufman in By George (a one-man play written by Frank); Oscar in The Odd Couple and leads in The Sunshine Boys, Lady in the Dark and Anything Goes. Frank directed M*A*S*H star Jamie Farr in the Kaufman & Hart comedy George Washington Slept Here and revivals of Simon’s
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound and Lost in Yonkers. In 1995, he directed and developed the world premiere of the Pulitzer finalist Old Wicked Songs. In 2001, Frank directed, produced and starred in the national PBS television program Groucho: A Life in Revue. Frank has played over 1200 performances as the comic Latin lover ‘Caesar’ in the cirque show Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco and in Palazzo in Amsterdam. On television, Frank played a speaking mime on Rob Corddry’s Emmy Award-winning comedy Childrens Hospital and can be heard on the animated series Garfield as the voice of Lyman, Odie’s first owner and on SpongeBob SquarePants as Patrick’s boss. Frank stars in the web series Caesar’s World now viewable on Funny or Die. He is a question on the TV program Jeopardy. “He took his portrayal of Groucho Marx to New York in 1986.” The answer: “Who is Frank Ferrante?” Immediately following this run, Frank leaves for a 33 city tour of Australia with ‘Groucho’.
About Mark Rabe (Accompanist)
Mark Rabe has worked as a music director and actor/singer in the Seattle area theatre and cabaret scene for almost 30 years (where DO they go?). Music direction credits include Goblin Market at ACT Theatre, Oh, Coward! at Seattle Repertory Theatre, numerous shows for nationally renowned Seattle Children’s Theatre, many for Showtunes Theatre Company (including Falsettos, Nine, and Working in concert in Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall), as well as many other Seattle area theatres. As an actor, he has played another bemused pianist, Cosme McMoon, struggling to keep up with the famously erratic would-be singer Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir. Other favorite roles include Hamlet, Max in Lend Me A Tenor, William Carney/Oscar Wilde in Man Of No Importance, The Snake in Children Of Eden, & Arthur in Camelot. This past July he played the principal role of Jack Point, melancholy jester, in The Yeomen Of The Guard for the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Nationally, he has played The Duplex in New York City, and various theatre as in cities all across the country with An Evening With Groucho, including the Pasadena Playhouse. This spring he happily tagged along with Groucho from the West Coast to the Midwest to the Eastern seaboard, and best of all, to Bath, England.
About Dreya Weber (Director)
Dreya Weber produced and starred in The Gymnast and A Marine Story, collectively honored with 48 US and international film festival awards including seven ‘Best Actress’ honors. Dreya co-directed and wrote the recently released independent feature Ravens Touch in which she plays the title role. She conceived and directed Caesar’s World starring Frank Ferrante, now viewable on Funny or Die. Dreya writes extensively for many cirque/theater venues including Teatro ZinZanni, Palazzo and Le Studio. Her stage credits include As You Like It at LAWSC, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings at CTG and the award-winning West Coast premiere of Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow in which she played Vivien Leigh. On the East Coast, she appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Comedy Of Errors, Childhood (with Glenn Close), Inadmissible Evidence and Macbeth. Dreya conceived and choreographed Pink’s performances at the 2010 & 2014 Grammy’s and was associate choreographer for Michael Jackson’s This Is It. For more than a decade, Dreya has created the aerials for all of Pink’s international tours including the record breaking Australian leg of her Funhouse Tour attended by over 660,000 fans. Her creative direction and aerial choreography has been featured in over 15 international arena tours including those for Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Madonna, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue. Dreya is currently performing in Teatro ZinZanni’s Hotel L’AMour.
About Groucho Marx (Legend)
The New York Times summed up the comedy genius as “America’s most gifted funny man.” Born Julius Henry Marx on October 2, 1890, Groucho was the third of five sons born to poor immigrant parents Sam and Minnie Marx. Chico and Harpo preceded him. Gummo and Zeppo followed. Straight from the streets of New York’s upper Eastside, Groucho was thrust onstage at age 15 as one third of the singing Leroy Trio. Eventually, brothers Harpo, Chico, Gummo and Zeppo joined the act that began as the singing Four Nightingales and evolved into the world’s funniest vaudeville act known as the Marx Brothers. After twenty years of touring their act all over the country, the Marx Brothers finally hit pay dirt with a musical comedy called I’ll Say She Is. Audiences and critics went wild over the Brothers’ irreverent humor, the expert pantomime, the wisecracks, the physical shtick, the outrageous musical talent. Said one local Philadelphia critic about the show, “It was as if a tornado hit town. We’ve never seen anything like the Marx Brothers.” I’ll Say She Is moved to Broadway in 1924 and was an instant sensation legitimizing the Marx Brothers as world-class talents. Two more Broadway hits followed – The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers introducing audiences to Groucho’s most renowned incarnation – Captain Spalding, the African Explorer. In 1930, Groucho and his brothers moved to Hollywood and changed the face of film comedy forever. There they made Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, A Night in Casablanca and Love Happy between 1931 and 1949. The Four Marx Brothers appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1932. As a solo, Groucho launched a career on radio and television with his Emmy Award winning work as the host of the comedy quiz show You Bet Your Life. The show flourished for fourteen highly rated seasons from 1947 to 1961 on ABC radio then NBC television. Groucho was a major fixture in 1950’s television with his “secret woid” and a duck that dropped from the sky to pay wacky contestants “an extra hundred dollars.” In the late 1960’s, a renewed interest in the anarchic hijinks of the Marx Brothers swept across the nation – particularly among college age students. Fortunately, Groucho Marx survived long enough to experience his renaissance. He made TV appearances, performed at Carnegie Hall at age 82 and received a special Academy Award in 1974 for “the brilliant and unequalled achievements of the Marx Brothers”. On August 19, 1977 Groucho Marx died at age 86. His final request? “Bury me next to Marilyn Monroe.”
About Teatro ZinZanni
Teatro ZinZanni is an original show, which combines European cirque, cabaret, spectacle, and live music meanwhile serving up a multi-course feast. The show is presented in a gorgeous, climate-controlled, antique cabaret tent (known as a spiegeltent). Imported from Belgium, the spiegeltent is nicknamed the Moulin Rouge. Built in 1910, it boasts stained glass, hand-carved wooden interior columns, polished crystal and mirrors. Guests are seated restaurant-style in this unique venue, and the action of the show takes place throughout the circular structure. The Moulin Rouge comfortably seats 285 guests. In addition to its year-round, world class dinner shows, Teatro ZinZanni also produces original family-friendly experiences, summer camps, and special one-night-only events throughout the year.
Portland Timbers (7-6-8 29pts) Midfielder Diego Valeri scored a goal in each half to lead the Portland Timbers to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Seattle Sounders (6-11-2 20pts) FC Saturday afternoon at Providence Park in Portland. Fanendo Adi had the third goal for the Timbers while Chad Marshall had the lone goal for the Rave Green.