North Coast Repertory Theatre Presents AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO

Award-winning actor/director Frank Ferrante re-creates his acclaimed New York and London stage portrayal celebrating America's greatest comedian - Groucho Marx. You will feel as though Groucho is back, as Ferrante sings, dances and performs classic routines on the North Coast Rep stage, April 23 & 24 at 7:30pm.

The two-act comedy consists of the best Groucho one-liners, stories, routines and songs including "Hooray for Captain Spalding," and "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady." The audience becomes part of the show as Ferrante ad-libs his way throughout the performance in magnificent Groucho style. Ferrante portrays the young Groucho of stage and film in a way that is "nothing short of masterful" (Chicago Tribune) and reacquaints us with the humor of brothers Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields and Marx foil Margaret Dumont. "An Evening With Groucho" is a show perfect for all ages! Dreya Weber directs with accompaniment by Gerald Sternbach.

Tickets for GROUCHO are $40. To order tickets, please visit www.northcoastrep.org, or call the box office: 858-481-1055. North Coast Repertory Theatre is located at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075.

Frank Ferrante (Groucho/Writer) recently directed and played the lead role, Pseudolus, in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre receiving rave reviews and acknowledgment in the Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten performances in the country for 2017. Described by The New York Times as "the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx's material," Animal Crackers and A Night at the Opera co-author Morrie Ryskind called him "the only actor aside from Groucho who delivered my lines as they were intended." Discovered by Groucho's son Arthur when Frank was a drama student at the University of Southern California, Frank 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, Frank 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." Frank played the Groucho role in the off-Broadway revival of The Cocoanuts and has 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 Frank on the cover of American Theatre Magazine. Frank has now performed the Groucho role over 2,500 times in more than 400 cities. Recently, Frank 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 Frank also directed); George S. Kaufman in By George (a one-man play written by Frank); Oscar in The Odd Couple and leads in The Sunshine Boys, Lady in the? Dark and Anything Goes. Frank 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. This season, Frank In 1995, he directed and developed the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Old Wicked Songs. In 2001, Frank directed, produced and starred in the national PBS television program Groucho: A Life in Revue. Frank has played over 1,200 performances as the comic Latin lover Caesar in the cirque show Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco and in Palazzo in Amsterdam. On television, Frank 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. Frank 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?"

Dreya Weber (Director) has directed extended runs of An Evening with Groucho at Seattle's ACT, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse and Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Dreya recently directed and choreographed Sensatia at the Faena theater in Miami. Dreya produced and starred in The Gymnast and A Marine Story, collectively honored with 48 U.S. and international film festival awards including seven "Best Actress" honors.Dreya co-directed and wrote the recently released independent feature Raven's Touch in which she plays the title role. She conceived and directed Caesar's World, now viewable on Funny or Die. Dreya writes extensively for many cirque/theater venues including Teatro ZinZanni, Palazzo and Le Studio. Her stage credits include As You Like It at Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company, A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings at CTG and the award-winning West Coast premiere of Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow in which she played Vivien Leigh. On the East Coast, she appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Comedy of Errors, Childhood (with Glenn Close), Inadmissible Evidence and Macbeth. Dreya conceived and choreographed Pink's performances at the 2010 and 2014 Grammy's and was associate choreographer for Michael Jackson's This is It. For more than a decade, Dreya has created the aerials for all of Pink's record-breaking international tours. Her creative direction and aerial choreography has been featured in over 15 international arena tours including those for Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Madonna, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue.

Gerald Sternbach (Accompanist) is one of the busiest musical directors in LA with 12 Ovation nominations (2006 win), seven Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nominations (winning in 2006, 2007 and 2011). He has accompanied and worked with a variety of artists including Marilyn Horne, Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, Carol Burnett, Adam Lambert, Nancy Wilson, Lainie Kazan, John Lithgow and Judith Light (most recently for her Emmy nominated performance on Transparent). For Mel Brooks, he not only played for his Live at the Geffen show (filmed for HBO), but Jerry made his West End debut at the Prince of Wales Theater playing a one night only concert with him. Southern California credits: the world premiere of Wishful Drinking (written and starring the late, great Carrie Fisher); Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday Concert at the Hollywood Bowl; Grey Gardens (associate conductor, Ahmanson Theater); I Only Have Eyes for You (arranger/musical director, Montalban Theater); Sondheim on Sondheim and Closer than Ever (International City Theater); and Love, Noel and Enter Laughing (by Carl Reiner, both at the Wallis Annenberg Center). Broadway credits include associate conductor for Seven Brides for Seven?Brothers, Merlin and The Tap Dance Kid. National tour credits include Les?Misérables (LA premiere company) and the national tour of Andrew Lloyd?Webber's Song and Dance (starring Melissa Manchester). He has been an adjunct professor at Cal State University, Los Angeles for over eight years and was musical director at the Jerry Herman High School Music Theater Awards held at the Pantages Theater for four years. As a songwriter/composer, Jerry has contributed songs to three Ringling Brothers' Circuses; Heartbeats (with Amanda McBroom); A-5-6-7- 8! (with Faye Greenberg); Club Mom (with Elin Hampton); and Biting Broadway! The First Successful Vampire Musical (with Jordan Beck, Richard Hochberg). His song (written with Faye Greenberg) "Mary," a tribute to Mary Tyler Moore, was sung by Eric McCormack on the 2004 TV Land awards in the presence of the original cast of the landmark sitcom, one of the thrills of his life. Jerry accompanied extended runs of An Evening With Groucho at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse and Bucks County Playhouse and recently concluded a run of the Los Angeles premiere of the long running off-Broadway hit show, Cagney. Jerry is the musical director for the newly announced Reprise 2.0.

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