Spend a heartwarming evening in the company of the world’s favorite centenarian, George Burns, as actor Alan Safier brings the entertainer to life in “Say Goodnight Gracie,” at the Northshore Performing Arts Center Feb. 20.
George Burns, who spanned a century of American entertainment history, returns to life in this productio, written by Rupert Holmes. As Broadway’s third longest running one-man show, the production originally starring Frank Gorshin, and won the 2003-04 National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Play and was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award in the same category. Featuring vintage photographs and television clips, this multimedia presentation also includes evocative music and the vocal talents of actress Didi Conn (Frenchie from “Grease”) heard as the voice of Gracie Allen.
In “Say Goodnight Gracie,” George Burns remains in Limbo between this world and the next, unable to join his beloved wife and partner Gracie until he gives the command performance of his life… for God. He looks back upon his impoverished youth on the lower east side of New York, his early years in vaudeville, the momentous day when he met Gracie and began to woo her, and their rise to the pinnacles of vaudeville, film, radio and television. Gracie’s early retirement and untimely death forced George to start from square one both in life and in his career. Eventually, he achieved an equal level of success as a solo raconteur and Academy Award-winning actor.
Alan Safier embraced the role of George Burns in 2008. He has played several other celebrated persons on stage, including Albert Einstein in “The Smartest Man in the World,” John Adams in “1776,” Spiro Agnew in Gore Vidal’s “An Evening with Richard M. Nixon,” and Truman Capote in the hit off-Broadway revival of “New Faces of 1952.” “Say Goodnight Gracie” is the 68th production in his stage career.
Safier may also be familiar to audiences from hundreds of TV and radio voice-overs (notably as the Kibbles ‘n Bits dog and the voice of TurboTax). He has appeared on the daytime dramas “Passions,” “Days of Our Lives” and “Generations.” Safier teaches voice-over workshops at theatre festivals and universities across the country, and is the author of the play “My Father’s Voice” as well as several published short stories.
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