oc - groucho

1An Evening with Groucho | Overture Center

A PROVIDEO COMEDY AND THEATER SERIES EVENT

Frank Ferrante in An Evening with Groucho

Jim Furmston, Music Director

There will be one 15-minute intermission.

Mr. Ferrante and Mr. Furmston will sign copies of their DVDs and CDs in the lobby immediately following the performance.

SAT, APR 21, 2012 | Capitol Theater

Stay after this performance for an Overture Meet the Artist event. Meet the Artist is supported in part by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts. Learn how you can help make arts experiences real for hundreds of thousands of people in the greater Madison area at overturecenter.com/contribute.

This program is part of Overture’s Take 10 Series for students and educators. Funding for Take 10 is provided by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts. Learn how you can help make arts experiences real for hundreds of thousands of people in the greater Madison area at overturecenter.com/contribute.

This program is part of Overture’s Community Ticket Program. Funding for the Community Ticket Program is provided by American Girl’s Fund for Children, a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, and by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts. Learn how you can help make arts experiences real for hundreds of thousands of people in the greater Madison area at overturecenter.com/contribute.

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3An Evening with Groucho | Overture Center

ABOUT THE SHOW

NPR recently picked Frank Ferrante’s award-winning portrayal of American comedy legend Groucho Marx as one of the country’s top five solo shows. The list included Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain and Lily Tomlin. For more than twenty years and 2,500 performances Frank has traveled the world entertaining audiences of all ages from New

York to London to PBS television. Frank’s fast-paced show highlights classic Marx Brothers routines, songs, stories, dances and hilarious audience interaction. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “masterful.” The New York Times called him “artful.” And the Seattle Weekly recently said of Frank, “See this man. He is comic genius.”

WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY

FRANK FERRANTE (Groucho) is an actor, director and producer 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

won 1987’s New York’s Theatre World Award and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. 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 D.C. at Arena Stage. In Boston in 1988, he played the

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Please join us for an informal discussion and talk-back in Capitol Theater immediately after tonight’s performance.

Meet the Artist

4 Overture Center | An Evening with Groucho

WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY cont.

Huntington Theatre in the record-breaking run of Animal Crackers that landed Frank on the cover of American Theatre magazine. His other regional roles include Max Prince in Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre (which Frank also directed); George S. Kaufman in By George (a one-man play written by Frank); Tom in the farce Perfect Wedding; 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 revivals of Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound and Lost in Yonkers. In 1995, he directed and developed the world premiere of the Pulitzer finalist Old Wicked Songs. In 2001, Frank starred in, directed and produced the national PBS television program “Groucho: A Life in Revue.” Frank currently stars as the comic lead ‘Caesar’ in the European cirque Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco and Seattle. Recently, he became a question on the classic TV program “Jeopardy”. “He took his portrayal of Groucho Marx to New York in 1986.” The answer: “Who is Frank Ferrante?” For more information regarding Frank Ferrante’s work please log on to www.eveningwithgroucho.com or www.grouchoworld.com.

JIM FURMSTON (Music Director/Piano) enjoys a versatile career as recitalist, accompanist and composer. He is a native of Canada and a graduate of the U.S.C. Thornton School of Performing Arts. His performances have garnered international acclaim in both worlds of classical and popular music. For many years, Jim was a studio pianist for many leading artist teachers of our time including Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Janos Starker, Zvi Zeitlin, Peter Pears, Jascha Heifetz and Brooks Smith. Jim was invited to perform a debut recital at New York’s Lincoln Center and also performed on the inaugural program of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute. After college Jim was in demand as a session player for television and film and as a coach for many singers. In Hollywood, Jim accompanies many stars, collaborating over the years with Billy Davis, Marilyn McCoo, Nell Carter, Carol Channing, Debbie Reynolds, Joel Grey, Sally Struthers, Jane Seymour, Jeff Goldblum, Marni Nixon, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gene Barry, Ann-Margret, David Hasselhoff, Tony Orlando, John Rubinstein, Gedde Watanabe and Greg Marx (Gummo Marx’s grandson) to name a few. Jim’s musical interests have always been wide ranging, with exposure to seemingly every kind of musical style and performance practice from medieval tocattas to electro-jazz. Jim began his collaboration with Frank Ferrante in

5An Evening with Groucho | Overture Center

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6 Overture Center | An Evening with Groucho

Billy Elliot the Musical is a glorious celebration of dance—all kinds of dance. Tony Award®–winning choreographer Peter Darling took a story about an aspiring ballet dancer and expanded the palette to one full of all kinds of movement.

This movement—ranging from walking to highly choreographed tap, hip hop, jazz, ballet, acrobatics, and folk dancing—is used as a form of expression.

“I didn’t want to convey that only one form of movement is of value,” says Darling. “I want-ed to use as many different forms of movement as possible.”

One key number, “Solidarity,” exemplifies that fusion of movement. Finding a way to in-clude the miners in the dance numbers posed a special challenge, as they are characters who are resolutely opposed to men dancing.

“I started to think about when men dance. They do social dancing and folk dancing. There’s a tradition of male dancing in Russian folk dance, Eastern European folk dance, Ap-palachian clog folk dance,” Darling said. “All human movement—walking, running, jumping, and falling—is dance. If someone corrals it and gives it form, it’s dance. So it was fine to have them dance within the context of social dance. It was not fine for them to do ballet.”

The development of dance as movement and as a celebration within the show is key.

“We’re celebrating dance; dance is worthy of celebration and all forms of dance can tell a narrative,” Darling said. “Ballet can tell a narra-tive. Tap can tell a narrative.”

Tap fuels the show at least as much as, if not more than, ballet.

“Tap is rhythmically exciting and an expres-sive kind of dance,” says Darling. “It’s synonymous with show business and musicals. Billy Elliot is very much a musi-cal; it’s not a ballet.”

Darling uses tap in multiple forms in the show—from the exuberant show-stopping finale to the dark and powerful “Angry Dance,” Billy’s response when his father orders him to give up ballet and he needs an outlet for his anger.

“Tap actually lends itself extremely well to anger,” says Darling. “The ‘Angry Dance,’ in a way, is about Billy wanting to stop dancing. But the rhythm in his head keeps on going. If you want to stop your feet from moving, you slam them to the floor. So that’s where the idea came from: Billy would slam his feet to the floor, and there would be a rhythmic element to it. And it went from there.”

The dances in Billy Elliot advance the nar-rative or reveal something about the characters.

By moving directly from the tear-jerking scene where Billy reveals to his dance teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson, a letter his mother wrote him before she died, to “Born to Boogie,” a jazzy up-tempo number, Darling upends our expectations.

Mrs. Wilkinson gives Billy a chance to re-ally explore how he can have fun with his danc-ing rather than just concentrating on technique.

“In the number, Billy starts to do Michael Jackson moonwalking, and she starts to do a few old steps,” Darling said. “It’s a conversation, a fun dance, which is what jazz is.”

Billy Elliot does feature ballet, but not al-ways in the traditional sense. Darling infused the ballet choreography with contemporary movement—including street dance, hip hop, and acrobatics. Billy shows off these talents in the number “Electricity” at The Royal Ballet

School.“The idea is that The

Royal Ballet is looking for young dancers with potential, who are phe-nomenal movers,” says

Darling. “And Billy shows that he’s a phenom-enal mover who can also turn three pirouettes.”

That number underscores the beauty and vi-tality of ballet.

“Ballet can be one of the most thrilling things you’ll ever see, because of the amount of training, technique, and strength required to do it,” Darling said.

The finale looks back at a time when musi-cals often closed with a big production number.

“The finale is supposed to be completely dif-ferent from the rest of the show,” says Darling. “There’s a comparison to be made to the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which is about something hard, gritty, and realistic. And then at the end they go into a celebration of Bollywood mov-ies. The idea on my part is that at the end of the show, you acknowledge the genre that the show is part of, musical theater.”

‘Billy Elliot’ is very much a musical, it’s not a ballet. - Peter Darling, choreographer

Liam Mower as Billy. Photo by David Scheinmann

tue, jul 10 – Sun, jul 15 608.258.4141 | overturecenter.com

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9An Evening with Groucho | Overture Center

WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY cont.

1983 and has accompanied Frank in An Evening with Groucho since the premiere in 1984. Currently when not on the road, Jim can be found working with celebrity clientele or assisting Irma, the Magic Castle’s resident piano ghost at the legendary Hollywood club. Other recent projects included music for two illustrated children’s books—The Thrift Store Bears and Adventures with the Thrift Store Bears. Jim composed and produced the CD that comes enclosed with the books. Please go to www.teddytraveler.com for more information. When Jim is not working on musical projects, he can be found on a squash court or in front of his computer tracking the music of the S&P index.

GROUCHO MARX (Legend) The New York Times summed up the comedy genius as “America’s most gifted funny man.” Born Julius Henry Marx on October 2, 1890, Groucho was the third of five sons born to poor immigrant parents Sam and Minnie Marx. Chico and Harpo preceded him. Gummo and Zeppo followed. Straight from the streets of New York’s upper Eastside, Groucho was thrust onstage at age 15 as one third of the singing Leroy Trio. Eventually, brothers Harpo, Chico, Gummo and Zeppo joined the act that began as the singing Four Nightingales and evolved into the world’s funniest vaudeville act known as the Marx Brothers. After twenty years of touring

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WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY cont.

their act all over the country, the Marx Brothers finally hit pay dirt with a musical comedy called I’ll Say She Is. Audiences and critics went ballistic over the brothers’ irreverent humor, the expert pantomime, the wisecracks, the physical shtick, the outrageous musical talent. Said one local Philadelphia critic about the show, “It was as if a tornado hit town. We’ve never seen anything like the Marx Brothers.” I’ll Say She Is moved to Broadway in 1924 and was an instant sensation legitimizing the Marx Brothers as world-class talents. Two more Broadway hits followed - The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers introducing audiences to Groucho’s most renowned incarnation - Captain Spalding, the African Explorer. In 1930, Groucho and his brothers moved to Hollywood and changed the face of film comedy forever. There they made Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, A Night in Casablanca and Love Happy between 1931 and 1949. The Four

Marx Brothers appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1932. As a solo, Groucho launched a career on radio and television with his Emmy Award winning work as the host of the comedy quiz show “You Bet Your Life.” The show flourished for fourteen highly rated seasons from 1947 to 1961 on ABC radio then NBC television. Groucho was a major fixture in 1950’s television with his “secret woid” and a duck that dropped from the sky to pay wacky contestants “an extra hundred dollars.” In the late 1960’s, a renewed interest in the anarchic hijinks of the Marx Brothers swept across the nation - particularly among college age students. Fortunately, Groucho Marx survived long enough to experience his renaissance. He made TV appearances, performed at Carnegie Hall at age 82 and received a special Academy Award in 1974 for “the brilliant and unequalled achievements of the Marx Brothers”. On August 19, 1977 Groucho Marx died at age 86. His final request? “Bury me next to Marilyn Monroe.”

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RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONSBach Dancing & Dynamite Societybachdancinganddynamite.org | 608.255.9866Children’s Theater of Madisonctmtheater.org | 608.255.2080Forward Theater Companyforwardtheater.com | 608.234.5001Kanopy Dance Companykanopydance.org | 608.255.2211Li Chiao-Ping Dancelichiaopingdance.org | 608.835.6590Madison Balletmadisonballet.org | 608.278.7990Madison Operamadisonopera.org |608.238.8085Madison Symphony Orchestramadisonsymphony.org | 608.257.3734Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallerywisconsinacademy.org | 608.265.2500Wisconsin Chamber Orchestrawcoconcerts.org | 608.257.0638

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