"Hey, Evanier," no one has said to me lately, "What's your friend Frank Ferrante doing these days?" Well, he's as busy as ever, of course. I refer you to the photo at above left…and no, he's not a bellhop now. He's in character as Forte, a bellhop who serves as the host of "Luminaire," the popular dinner show from Cafe Zazou. Cafe Zazou is not unlike Teatro Zinzanni, the long-running producer of similar dinner shows, many of which have featured Frank in the past.
"Luminaire" is performed in Chicago in an exquisite setting and what you do is you buy tickets for it here, then on the night of your tickets, you and your companion(s) get a little dressed-up and you go for an evening of fine food and fine entertainment with Frank Forte as your Master of Ceremonies. There are jugglers and acrobats and music and comedy and audience participation…and I haven't seen this production but I saw Frank do this in San Francisco and the reviews here are even better.
He's there through the end of April and if I can overcome my reticence to get on a plane before then, I'm going to go back and have what I'm sure will be a wonderful time.
And before you ask: No, he is not forsaking his role Groucho Marx in his one-man-and-a-piano-player show, An Evening With Groucho. Yes, it's the one I've been touting on this blog for decades now. If you saw the show broadcast recently on PBS, you're probably dying to see it in person now…and you can if you're near Chicago on the evening of November 22. Frank's using his night off from "Luminaire" to do his Groucho show in the same room and tickets are available from the same place. If I were back there then, I'd go see him one night in one show and the next night in the other…kind of a Ferrante double-header.