That's a picture of Groucho Marx above, not of Frank Ferrante. But you might get the two of them confused after you watch Groucho: A Life in Revue, a special which is running on PBS stations this month. This is the biographical play by Groucho's son, Arthur, and Arthur's longtime writing partner, Bob Fisher — and it's been slightly revised from the earlier video version, which starred Gabe Kaplan. It's on in Los Angeles, on KCET, this coming Thursday evening, and if you're not in L.A., consult your local listing or phone your local PBS station and make trouble. Mr. Ferrante is, by the way, wonderful in the role. It ain't easy to do justice to Groucho but he sure does.
While you're at it, start keeping your eye on PBS listings (which you can do at www.pbs.org, among other places) for the Great Performances series. They've been running some amazing shows — that is, if you can get past the constant 5-minute commercials wherein they urge you to support PBS because it has no commercials. Last season, they aired a wonderful concert taped at Carnegie Hall which featured a host of wonderful "divas" singing show tunes.
It was called The Leading Ladies and it reruns next week on many stations and is also available on DVD and VHS. This year, they did a similar show called Broadway Love Songs which had some wonderful moments but wasn't quite as good, up until the end. The last number — which commences with Michael Crawford singing "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" — is an absolutely thrilling moment for any Broadway theater buff. (Oh, hell, I might as well tip the surprise since the PBS promos did: Julie Andrews, who has been unable to sing since a botched throat operation, enters and manages to warble a few, perfectly-appropriate lines. The audience goes absolutely and justifiably crazy.) Broadway Love Songs does not seem to be scheduled for imminent rerunning, at least on the PBS stations I receive, but it may be on yours one more time soon. It will certainly be rerun at some point, and it's also out on DVD and VHS. If nothing else, at least catch the last ten minutes.