An Evening with Groucho

I was surprised to see a few weeks back that the Capitol Theatre was hosting an "Evening with Groucho" - a one man show by Frank Ferrante who has made a living impersonating Groucho Marx.    Groucho has been at the top of my list since about 1971 when I first saw "Night at the Opera" on the big screen my freshman year at the University of Buffalo.    Over the last 40 years I've seem all the Marx Brothers movies many times and most of them on the big screen as well as on the tube.    There are many imitators (most notably Alan Alda doing Groucho for years on MASH), but only one original, so I wasn't expecting much, but even bad Marx Brothers (At the Circus, Love Happy, The Big Store)  is better than no Marx Brothers so I wasn't going to miss this one.

First, Ferrante nails it!!!!    Second, the music was excellent - yes, excellent.   In fact the music really made the show.   Not that the one liners and ad libs were bad (I haven't laughed that much in a long time)) but more that the music was performed much like it must have been on stage back in the Vaudeville days.    Live music and dance - what a novelty in these times.

We got there about 40 minutes before the start of the show, so I could get the best seat in the house (think front row aisle) and it was not taken.   Clarie couldn't see over the front of the stage so we moved back one row, but still right on top of the action.   Ferrante actually sat a few rows behind us while Art Pierce was doing the into.   Then Ferrante starts yelling to the crowd to move down front -  interrupting Art.   I knew this was gonna be different - and good.   He then comes out of the crowd, goes on stage, and puts on the Groucho grease paint -  back to the audience - way cool to see the transformation!!!!   Then,  piano player Jim Furmston starts playing an overture of many of  the Marx Brothers tunes I was familiar with from the movies - had my foot tappin right at the start.    Right into "Captain Spaulding" which Ferrante went into with the pith helmet and did the dance routine (which was way more physical than I remember for the movie) all over the stage.    I was hooked - he was Groucho!!

Ferrante also spent a lot of time in the audience.   He came down several times to ad lib with folks, made passes at several ladies, and the poor guy in front of me was the butt of a lot of jokes (like calling for an usher to bring him coffee to keep him awake) He landed in our laps while he was harassing the spotlight crew for not keeping the light on him.    He even used Stittville, Boonville, and Marcy in his ad-libs, and had some good ones about the Rome crowd on a Sunday night.   All night long it was like that - you felt like you were part of the show with him.   It's a rare gift.

The jokes were perfect, many of the classics from the movies, and  the ad libs spot on Groucho, and the songs - wow!!!   Spaulding was good, but "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" was a show stopper.   The energy he puts out is amazing, and his eyes always seemed focus on the audience.   He dances all over the stage - hopping on and off the couch that was there as a prop.   

He also did a number I'd never seen or even heard of "A Doctor is a Mans Best Friend" that was cut from A Day at the Races.   Good, but I can see why it hit the cutting floor - it really did not fit the examination scene with Margaret Dumont.    

My favorite song from all the Marx movies is "Everyone Says I Love You" from Horse Feathers, and that came later in the first set.   He was perfect on that, and flirted with several ladies he had met in the audience while performing it.   

He and Furmston ended the first set with Furmston playing Chico's endless piano riff from  Horsefeathers, and they traded the one liners almost exactly like the movie scene. 

In the second set, Ferrante told some of the stories behind the Marx brothers - how they got their names, a little personal stuff on each, Margart Dumont, and some musical stuff - like how Harpo started playing the harp.   They were mixed in between the songs, gags, and ad-libs and the timing was perfect.  Laughed my ass off.  

Yeah, for one night I really felt like I had spent and evening with Groucho - and hated to see it end - thanks Frank!!!