Michael Brady went to see our pal Frank Ferrante in An Evening with Groucho in Cary, North Carolina. He files this report…
The show was fabulous. I kidnapped a friend, a fellow actor and Groucho fan and kept him completely in the dark until we got to the space. When he saw the poster, he thought someone local was doing the Arthur Marx-penned show. That made him happy enough, but when he learned it was Frank he just beamed. And what a reward we got for our three hour drive. We loved every minute of it and couldn't believe it was over so soon; two hours translated into an eyeblink. Frank was flawless, and no one could call this an imitation or an impression. He inhabits the role and wears it like it's his favorite suit…and it probably is. We have other Marx Brothers fans in our social and professional coterie, and there's another North Carolina date coming up in April of 2012. My friend and I agreed that we should go again and bring friends. It was that good. What an evening.
It was like a Master's Class, sitting in the audience. I have no doubt that there was nothing that could happen that Frank could not deal with, and that like all great theatre, this show was a perfectly running machine which never runs the same way twice. Everything felt organic and even though I knew 25 years and 2500 performances means that some ad-libs aren't expressly off the cuff (and we both know Groucho wasn't just a great ad-libber, his memory was great: a fireman on You Bet Your Life yields umpteen years of fireman quips out of his back pocket, and that's without resorting to a glance away at a cue card), and like the best theatre it felt like this had never happened before, and it was just for us. Frank was in complete control the entire time.
It was inspiring. As an actor, I've seen the toolbox Frank dips into, and on rare occasions I've held a tool or two — I did David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries last year for 12 or 15 nights as a one-man show — but we were clearly in the hands of a master craftsman.
And absolutely, he shook our hands, we got pictures and he signed our DVDs we bought. We waited till last so we could share a little with him; I don't know about my friend Anthony but I know I blurt out that I'm an actor to other creative types not so that they can know, but as a reminder to myself, and that whatever I just saw is one of the reasons I do what I do. Anthony showed the pic of himself as Groucho from A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine and I mentioned Santaland. We just wanted to Frank to know that we appreciated what he does on another level, and we didn't belabor the point.
I mentioned you and the website saying that Mark Evanier is who I want to be when I grow up, and we both agreed that you weren't grown up to begin with.
He asked me to mail you back, saying hello from him, and that the range of your website astounds him. No matter where he tours, there's one person in each audience that name-checks you, and he's grateful for it. In Cary, North Carolina, it was me, and I'm grateful as well.
Actually, it was you and my pal Jim Amash. He was apparently at the same performance…his second time seeing Frank as he Hackenbushes all over the place.
I printed this just to remind folks that it isn't just my opinion that Frank does a great show. It seems to be the view of darn near everyone who's seen him do his one-Marx show. I get a lot of messages like this from folks who go see Frank on my recommendation. I'll probably be getting some soon from Auburn, Washington because that's where he'll be this weekend. To check and see if and when he'll be coming your way, consult his schedule. It's a great theatrical experience.