AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO Starring Frank Ferrante Announced Gets Chicago Premiere

Randolph Entertainment is pleased to announce today, on the 42nd anniversary of Groucho Marx's passing, the Chicago premiere of An Evening with Groucho, starring award-winning actor and director Frank Ferrante, will play one night only on Sept. 17, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. at The Spiegeltent ZaZou located on the 14th floor in the Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop-Theatre District, 32 W. Randolph St. Tickets are on sale now by calling 312-488-0900 or by visiting the following link.

Frank Ferrante recreates his PBS, New York and London acclaimed portrayal of legendary comedian Groucho Marx in this fast paced 90 minutes of hilarity. The two-act comedy consists of the best Groucho one-liners, anecdotes and songs including "Hooray for Captain Spalding," and "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady." The audience literally becomes part of the show as Ferrante ad-libs his way throughout the performance in grand Groucho style.

Directed by Dreya Weber (Teatro ZinZanni and award-winning films The Gymnast and A Marine Story) and accompanied by his onstage pianist Mark Rabe, Ferrante portrays the young Groucho of stage and film and reacquaints us with the likes of brothers Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Marx foil, Margaret Dumont and MGM's Louis B. Mayer. A show perfect for all ages!

Described by The New York Times as "the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx's material," Variety applauds "Ferrante's Groucho is a tour de force." Hollywood Reporter says about Ferrante's performance, "An affectionate, funny and unsentimental portrait...a truly delightful show." L.A. Weekly says "Uncanny...astonishing," The Today Show calls

Ferrante "Brilliant" and USA Today praises his performance as "Eerily good."

Groucho's family raves about Ferrante's Groucho interpretation: "Nobody does Groucho better than Frank Ferrante," exclaims Arthur Marx, Groucho's son and co-author of Groucho: A Life in Revue starring Frank Ferrante. "Frank doesn't just do Groucho...he is Groucho!" declares Groucho's daughter Miriam Marx Allen.

Discovered by Groucho's son Arthur when Ferrante was a drama student at the University of Southern California, Ferrante originated the off-Broadway title role in Groucho: A Life in Revue, written by Arthur, portraying the comedian from age 15 to 85. For this role, Ferrante earned New York's Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. He reprised the role in London's West End and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for "Comedy Performance of the Year."

Ferrante played the Groucho role in the off-Broadway revival of The Cocoanuts and played Captain Spalding in several productions of Animal Crackers winning a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his portrayal at Goodspeed Opera House and a Helen Hayes nomination in Washington, DC at Arena Stage. In Boston, he played the Huntington Theatre in the record-breaking run of Animal Crackers that landed Ferrante on the cover of American Theatre Magazine. Ferrante has now performed the Groucho role over 2,500 times in more than 400 cities.

Recently, Ferrante toured An Evening With Groucho for eight weeks in Australia playing 35 cities as well as extended runs at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. His other regional roles include Max Prince in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Walnut Street Theatre (which Ferrante directed in 1997 and 2017); George S. Kaufman in By George (a one-man play written by Ferrante); Oscar in The Odd Couple and leads in The Sunshine Boys, Lady in the Dark and Anything Goes. Ferrante directed M*A*S*H star Jamie Farr in the Kaufman & Hart comedy George Washington Slept Here and at the Walnut revivals of Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound and Lost in Yonkers. In 2001, Ferrante directed, produced and starred in the national PBS television program Groucho: A Life in Revue.

Ferrante is currently starring as The Caesar in Teatro ZinZanni's "Love, Chaos and Dinner" at The Spiegeltent ZaZou in the Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop-Theatre District through September 29, 2019. Ferrante has played more than 1,200 performances as the comic Latin lover Caesar in Teatro ZinZanni in Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco and Palazzo, Amsterdam. On television, Ferrante played a speaking mime on Rob Corddry's Emmy Award-winning comedy "Childrens Hospital" and can be heard on the animated series "Garfield" as the voice of Lyman, Odie's first owner, and on "SpongeBob SquarePants" as Patrick's boss. Ferrante stars in the web series "Caesar's World" now viewable on Funny or Die. He is a question on the TV program Jeopardy. "He took his portrayal of Groucho Marx to New York in 1986." The answer: "Who is Frank Ferrante?"

Individual tickets for the Chicago premiere of An Evening with Groucho begin at $35.50 and are available now by calling 312-488-0900 or by visiting the following link. For more information, visit http://www.eveningwithgroucho.com.

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