An Evening with Groucho

Frank Ferrante

Frank 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 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. 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); 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 Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Lost in Yonkers and this season directed and played the lead role, Pseudolus, in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. 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?”

Gerald Sternbach

Jerry 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 recently accompanied a nine-week run of An Evening With Groucho at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and just concluded a run of the west coast premiere (in LA) of the long running off-Broadway hit show, Cagney. 

Groucho Marx

The New York Times summed up the comedy genius as “America’s most gifted funny man.” Born Julius Henry Marx on Oct. 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 20 years of touring 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 wild over the brothers’ irreverent humor, the expert pantomime, the wisecracks, the physical shtick and 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 in 1932. As a solo act, 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 14 highly rated seasons from 1947 to 1961 on ABC radio then NBC television. Groucho was a major fixture in 1950s television with his “secret woid” and a duck that dropped from the sky to pay wacky contestants “an extra hundred dollars.” In the late 1960s, a renewed interest in the anarchic hijinks of the Marx Brothers swept across the nation — particularly among college age students. Fortunately, Groucho survived long enough to experience his renaissance. He made television appearances, performed at Carnegie Hall at age 82 and received a special Academy Award in 1974 for “the brilliant and unequaled achievements of the Marx Brothers.” On August 19, 1977 Groucho Marx died at age 86. His final request? “Bury me next to Marilyn Monroe.”

Dreya Weber

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.

Tamara L. Honesty

Tammy is thrilled to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and is excited to make her debut designing in the Shelterhouse Theatre. In the past, she has designed 10 shows for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Touring Company. Her New York credits include Ghosts (Oberon Theatre Ensemble, off-off Broadway). Regionally, Tammy has designed repeatedly at the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio. Recently, designing the world premiere of Family Ties. Her regional design work has earned a Cincinnati Acclaim Award, USITT OVS Board’s Choice Award, Peggy Ezekiel Awards of Outstanding Achievement, and was showcased in the World Stage Design 2013. She earned her MFA in Scenic Design from West Virginia University and BA in Theatre from Wilmington College.  Currently, she is the Assistant Professor of Scenic Design at Kent State University’s School of Theatre and Dance.  Visit www.edwardlaynedesigns.com. Social media: @tammyhonesty

Mark Williams

Mark returns to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having previously designed The Second City 2: Less Pride … More Pork (2012) and The Second City’s Holidazed and Confused Revue (2016). Theatre credits include Prelude To a Kiss; Marvin's Room; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; Terminal Café (Chicago premiere); Fences; Uncle Vanya; The Trojan Women; Hamlet; Much Ado About Nothing; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Chess; Oklahoma!; Pippin; Carousel and Tintypes. Opera credits include Cendrillon (The National Opera Association Award Winner), Leonard Bernstein's Mass, The Merry Widow and Owen Wingrave. Dance production credits include Swan Lake, Giselle, The Miraculous Mandarin, Carmen, Firebird, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire. He has worked on various Disney theme park projects as lighting liaison at Disney's Hollywood Studios, as well as shows on the Showboat Branson Belle at Silver Dollar City, and he lit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex and the production of Pets Ahoy at SeaWorld San Antonio. Special projects include the United States Air Force 50th Anniversary Gala (Las Vegas), Odyssey Arts Festival (Chicago) and Louisville Mega Cavern (Kentucky). He is currently teaching Lighting Technology and Design at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.

Jenifer Morrow

A stage manager at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park since 1994, Jenifer became the PSM (head of the department) in 2005. She has worked on more than 100 productions, including a number of regional and world premieres, and has traveled to several other theatres to bring co-productions back to the Playhouse. Her recent credits include Shakespeare in Love, Little Shop of Horrors, The Second City’s Holidazed & Confused Revue, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Low Down Dirty Blues, The Secret Garden, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Buzzer, Chapatti, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Venus in Fur, 4000 Miles, Fly, Double Indemnity, The Book Club Play, The Three Musketeers, Thunder Knocking on the Door, Speaking in Tongues, High, The Fantasticks, Daddy Long Legs and The Fall of Heaven. Jenifer served as the PSM at Santa Fe Stages for several seasons. She has also stage managed at La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Long Wharf Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, The Ordway and Players Theatre Columbus. One of her most memorable experiences was stage managing the U.K. tour of Miss Evers’ Boys at The Barbican Centre in London and at the historic Bristol Old Vic.