When the incomparable Groucho Marx passed away in 1977 at the age of 86, he left behind a dozen classic movie comedies, kinescopes of 11 seasons of his TV game show, You Bet Your Life, and countless well-crafted or ad-libbed one-liners. In addition, there is An Evening with Groucho, Frank Ferrante’s one-man celebration of his comedy idol, which draws on each of the above sources.
Of course there are plenty of performers who have taken on the mantle of Marx — often imitated, never duplicated. All it takes is a black grease pencil for drawing on a moustache and eyebrows, a pair of wire-rim glasses, a jaunty cigar and enough internet access to research Groucho’s career. Having gotten inside Groucho’s skin for more than 40 years — and some 3,000 performances — Ferrante’s vocal, visual and kinetic impression is indeed remarkable.
In the show, we hear snippets of Groucho’s timeless song hits, such anarchic tunes and lyrics as “Lydia, The Tattooed Lady,” “Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” “Hello, I Must Be Going” and, from his foray into operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Titwillow,” from The Mikado. And we get such rimshot worthy punch lines as “One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I’ll never know,” his irascible insults (“I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll be glad to make an exception.”) and such deliciously groaning puns as (“Time wounds all heels.”)
But Ferrante has chosen to wear two too many hats with his show, writing and directing it himself as well as playing the central character. His script gets the facts right and it is stuffed with the familiar, and still funny, jokes and songs so closely associated with Groucho. But the show has no shape, gags crop up unmotivated and out of context. They still draw laughs, but have a lot less impact than they might have if a more experienced adaptor had built the 75-minute intermissionless evening with dramaturgical impact in mind.
Admittedly, I saw the show two weeks into its run at Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre. And what was specified in the program as a two-act production with a 15-minute intermission had shrunk considerably since its opening night here. That can happen easily with a new work, but is all but unheard of in a show performed for the past four decades.
And the pacing of the show seemed off. Ferrante appeared to be hurrying his delivery as if he were intent on finishing by 9 o’clock and catching the last train home. Timing is so crucial in comedy, a mandate that Ferrante seems to have forgotten.
Perhaps there was a time when Ferrante was sharper and his Evening With Groucho was a more satisfying experience. As a presumptuous guess, it appears that he got negative feedback from his early performance at the Wick and he decided to cut the show short and avoided losing much of his audience at an intermission.
Only diehard fans of Marx need bother with An Evening With Groucho. Others should keep an eye on their cable schedules for sightings of, say, Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera. And there is always YouTube for an occasional episode of You Bet Your Life. While you can admire Ferrante’s life-long dedication to Marxist tribute, his current efforts fall short of spending time with the real thing.
AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO, Wick Theatre, 7901 N, Federal Hwy., Boca Raton. Through Sun., Nov. 3, $89-$99. 561-995-2333.