Groucho Marx News

SiriusXM announced today year-end and decade specialty programming across its music, talk and entertainment programming platforms as well as exclusive content only available on the SiriusXM app.

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) presents Frankie Avalon in concert on Thursday, November 21 at 8:00pm. The original a?oeTeenage Idola?? (and a?oeTeen Angela?? in Grease), Frankie Avalon comes to the Valley for the very first time, bringing a feel-good evening of pop favorites to The Soraya a?" with music and stories of his long career in show business.

400 Years in Manhattan, the rollicking 'multimedia monologue' in which New York storyteller Noah Diamond leads the way through four centuries of history, is extending its run in the 2019 United Solo Theatre Festival. After selling out its first two performances, a third has been added, on November 6 at 9:00 pm.

As the lights come up on the Tony Winning Cleveland Play House's opening production of its 104thseason, it's 1942 and the Oberon Play House (a stand-in name for CPH), is about to open its season. There is a major problem, however. The plays scheduled are all Shakespeare, the company's males are all off fighting in World War II, and the director is in the service of his country.

Reviving their own production, Pacific Opera Project's The Mikado recently opened in Los Angeles. With an opening comes the opinions of critics.

In 400 Years in Manhattan, 'recovering tour guide' Noah Diamond tells the story of the island of Manhattan, accompanied by an expansive multimedia presentation. Diamond, best known for his performance as Groucho Marx in the Off Broadway revival of I'll Say She Is, made his New York debut on a double-decker tour bus. 'That was my day job for years,' he says, 'and I always thought: What I'm really doing here is writing a show.'

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.

This current production makes a compelling argument for the freshness and timelessness of FIDDLER and its message. The performers fill every scene and musical number with a renewed sense of urgency, determined to show that the forces that worked upon Tevye's family and his tight-knit community are still very hard at work all these decades later.

Acclaimed TV late night show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children's book author, much-in-demand corporate speaker, lovable TV and movie voice-over artist, pioneering car builder and mechanic, and philanthropist….it's no wonder that Jay Leno is widely characterized as "the hardest working man in show business."

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce that its final production in the 2018 - 2019 "lost" musicals in staged concert series Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys will now include a special event with Minnie's Boys composer Larry Grossman, "A Conversation with Larry Grossman," Thursday, May 23 at 4:45 p.m. and feature a new song added to this Chicago premiere.

'It only takes a moment' for America to fall in love with 'Hello, Dolly!' as the national tour is entertaining audiences across the U.S. with this classic tale. Check out what the critics are saying in the reviews from various tour stops below!

Baby's touchy-feely storyline follows three unrelated couples as they anticipate the joy and the pain of parenting.

It took an Australian, with a little help from Leonardo da Vinci, to bring to New York some of America's greatest past icons. How? The bigger question is: Did da Vinci's great range of inventions include a time machine?

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce that its final production in the 2018 - 2019 'lost' musicals in staged concert series Porchlight Revisits MINNIE'S BOYS will now include a special event with MINNIE'S BOYS composer Larry Grossman, 'A Conversation with Larry Grossman,' Thursday, May 23 at 4:45 p.m. and feature a new song added to this Chicago premiere. Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys, book by Groucho Marx's son Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher, music by Grossman and lyrics by Hal Hackady with direction and choreography by Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by Christie Chiles Twille, is presented for three performances Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 23 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Each Porchlight Revisits production begins with the 'Behind the Show Backstory' multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Artistic Director Michael Weber, discussing that evening's production including the show's creative history, juicy backstage gossip and much more. Single tickets are $37 for the performance and 'A Conversation with Larry Grossman' is free to the public. Both are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

Actress Fay McKenzie Waldman passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of April 16th at the age of 101. She was born February 19, 1918 into a show business family where she was the youngest of two sisters and an actress cousin, and made her screen debut at only ten weeks old in "Station Content" (1918) in which she was carried in the arms of Gloria Swanson. Her parents, Eva & Bob "Pops" McKenzie were already veteran performers and apparently wanted their daughter to get an early start in films. She nearly stole the show from Oliver Hardy as "the baby" in the Alice Howell short "Distilled Love" (filmed in 1918 but released two years later). By the time she was six, Fay was considered an old hand, having played diverse parts in her father's stock company. Among her early films was the 1924 Photoplay Medal Winner, "The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln." 

Steve Katz, founding member of legendary bands Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Blues Project will be at the Warner's Studio Theatre on Friday, April 26 at 8 pm for an evening of stories and songs. National recording artists Lucinda and Michael will open the show! Steve, a guitarist, songwriter and record producer, was also an original member of Even Dozen Jug Band and American Flyer. As a producer and musician, his credits include albums by the Irish band Horslips, Lou Reed and Elliott Murphy. Katz studied guitar with Dave Van Ronk and Rev. Gary Davis. Between 1963 and 1980, he knew and was friends with seemingly everyone in rock 'n' roll and appeared on iconic stages at the Monterey Pop Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Woodstock, the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and the Ed Sullivan Show. He dined with Brian Epstein, partied with Groucho Marx, jammed with Mose Allison, worked with the Beatles' George Martin, shared a bag of potato chips with Jimi Hendrix and was told to get a haircut by Mickey Spillane. He was a producer of hit albums (for Lou Reed), a record company executive (Mercury, Green Linnet) and songwriter ('Sometime in Winter,' 'Steve's Song ).

New Village Arts presents the World Premiere of a new adaptation of the classic commedia dell'arte comedy THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS. This new version of the Italian classic by Carlo Goldoni is translated by AJ Knox, and adapted by Knox and Samantha Ginn. Ginn also stars as the titular servant, Truffaldino.

Hello folks, we're into the Follies! To kick off the new Follies Song Insights, we're looking at the song that kicks off the Follies-style numbers which close the show: 'Buddy's Blues', with Buddy himself Peter Forbes and music director Nigel Lilley.

Porchlight Music Theatre's final production in its 2018 - 2019 'lost' musicals in staged concert series is Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys,  with book by Groucho Marx's son Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher, music by Larry Grossman and lyrics by Hal Hackady with direction and choreography by Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by Christie Chiles Twille.  Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys is presented for three performances Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 23 at 2 p.m. and  7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street.

Steve Katz, founding member of legendary bands Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Blues Project will be at the Warner's Studio Theatre on Friday, April 26 at 8 pm for an evening of stories and songs. National recording artists Lucinda and Michael will open the show!