Hello, I must be going...

For one show and one show only, Frank Ferrante's show came to town. Brookfield anyway, which is close enough to count. I got to see 'An Afternoon with Groucho' and it was time well spent.

I dressed up a bit for a show in a theatre with a stage rather than a screen. I was briefly concerned that my sportscoat and slacks would be too dressy but that was not the case. I was not over dressed but I was a bit underage. I think there may have been three people in the audience under the age of forty. Maybe. Lots of older folks but, at one in the afternoon, what do you expect?

There were still tickets available at the door when I arrived a half-hour before show time. I managed to get a seat on the aisle, three rows back. Outstanding.

The Kuttemperoor Auditorium in the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts is lovely. It looks brand-new. There's all this light colored wood and simple but attractive decoration. Up on the ceiling near the lights are a flock of carved pale white birds. It makes for a very warm environment.  The seats are comfy as well.

The curtain was open to reveal the set, such as it was. A Steinway piano. A rose. A plant. A comfy chair and matching couch. An old candlestick phone. A couple books. A Pith helmet and stethoscope hanging from a hat rack. A small writing table with a mirror on it. A decorative rug.

To start the show, accompanist Jim Furmston emerged to sit at the piano. Applause rang out when he tried to sit, causing him to stand and bow. This happened three times, letting me know that Frank was in the audience. Jim played a medley of songs sung by Groucho over the years. At the end, Frank popped up from the audience to introduce the show. As he walked across the stage to the writing table, he shed his jacket, revealing his Groucho clothes, as well as his hat, revealing the Groucho haircut. He continued his speech as he sat before the mirror on the table and painted on the Groucho mustache and eyebrows. He tossed on a pair of glasses, picked up a prop cigar, and, BAM!, when he stood up, he was Groucho.

The show can loosely be summed up in this way: singing a Groucho song, performing a sequence from a movie, interacting with the crowd, telling a story of Marx Brothers history, repeat in some mix of those elements. I think there's about a dozen songs in the show. This mix also means the show moves at a good clip and it's hard to tell what's going to happen next. 'Groucho' also flies about the stage with all the manic energy you would expect from someone recreating the man from those early films.

The couch was dusty. In mid-story he flops down on it, generating a cloud of dust to emerge. The crowd laughed and he visibly fought a chuckle. Still as Groucho, he joked about it, and smacked it, causing more dust to fly. Later visits to the couch were made with excessive care, which caused more laughs.

In mid-Captain Spaulding routine, in mid-joke even, he abandoned the stage for the audience. Wandering about, he chatted with people, joking with them ala Groucho on 'You Bet Your Life'. He talked to a couple that had been married for 61 years. He flirted with ladies.  He teased someone that was dozing. And then he came to my side of the theater. I was sitting on the aisle. He walked past me but stopped at the man behind me. That gentleman, also follicly challenged was urged to lean forward. I did as well, seeking to elude the spotlight, but Groucho had me lean back. Forward, back, forward, back, until our heads were near each other's. 'Ladies and Gentleman, my impression of Mae West!' We laughed.

For some reason, he name checked Pewaukee at one point and a whole side of the audience exploded in applause. A large group was from that city. Their response was so great that he would use them as a 'cheap pop', regularly saying 'Pewaukee!' to get them to react.

The first act ended with 'Lydia the Tattooed Lady', a song I learned first from its appearance on the Muppet Show album as performed by Kermit the Frog. Years later I was fascinated to learn it was a Groucho song and that his version has an extra verse, one that I still haven't memorized 100%. Still, I mouthed along the words with Frank and loved every second of it. I actually got one of the jokes in the song for the first time thanks to Frank's performance. I'm so used to knowing the words that I stopped thinking about what they meant. As he gestured, I went 'Oh!' in my head. Then I felt silly for not getting it before.

After the show itself was done, Frank took the glasses off and told one more story before we left. He spoke of the time he met Groucho at a book signing when Frank was young and Groucho very old. Groucho was physically quite ill and couldn't react as he used to do. As he took questions and mumbled responses, Frank noted that the crowd was rooting for Groucho to be, well, Groucho. An audience member asked "Are you working on any more Marx Brothers movies?" Since Harpo and Chico were long gone, this was an odd question to say the least. Groucho looked at the man and rasped "No, I'm here answering stupid questions." With that, it was better.

Most of the time when a performer is signing and selling merchandise after the show, they rest a bit before emerging. Frank's last act in the show was to bolt up the aisle of the auditorium as Groucho and head for the table in the lobby.

The DVD he was selling is his life of Groucho show, covering the man from 15 to 85. It's a 2001 release and I'm wondering if I already have it. If so, I didn't have it signed by Frank and Jim. Both were very friendly and warm gentlemen. I appreciated meeting them and discussing that which brought us together: Mark Evanier's blog. http://www.newsfromme.com/

Good times. Now if the guy that does the Jack Benny show would just come around...