Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2011-2012 season on Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 2pm with the Tony® Award-nominated solo tour-de-force, Say Goodnight Gracie. Alan Safier stars as George Burns, the world’s favorite and funniest centenarian, in this heartwarming tribute to a man whose career spanned over 90 years of American entertainment history.
In Say Goodnight Gracie, George Burns looks back upon his impoverished, plucky youth on the lower east side of New York and his disastrous but tenacious early years in vaudeville, all leading up to the momentous day when he met a talented young Irish girl named Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, whose endearing dizziness was a perfect match to his flawless comic timing. Together, they rose to the pinnacles of vaudeville, film, radio and television. Gracie’s early retirement and untimely death forced George to start from square one, in life as well as in his career. Eventually, he achieved an equal level of success as a solo raconteur and Academy Award-winning actor. With vintage photographs and video clips from film and television performances, Say Goodnight Gracie brings to life Burns’s fascinating story.
Say Goodnight Gracie is Broadway’s third-longest running solo performance show, having played 364 performances at the Helen Hayes Theatre. It won the 2003-04 National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Play and was nominated for a 2003 Tony® Award in the same category. Frank Gorshin received a 2003 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance for his portrayal of George Burns. Written by Rupert Holmes, this production is directed by Michael White.
The October 30 performance will be followed by a talk-back with Alan Safier and playwright Rupert Holmes, moderated by Entertainment Weekly senior editor Thom Geier.
About Alan Safier
Alan Safier’s career spans five decades and includes stage, TV, commercial, and voiceover work. He has played several celebrated persons in his stage career, including Albert Einstein in the world-premiere musical The Smartest Man in the World, John Adams in 1776, Spiro Agnew in Gore Vidal’s An Evening with Richard M. Nixon, Charles J. Guiteau in the Los Angeles premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, and Truman Capote in the hit off-Broadway revival of New Faces of 1952. He debuted off-Broadway in 1980 in another play called Say Goodnight, Gracie (this one by Ralph Pape and about neither George Burns nor Gracie Allen). His extensive TV and radio experience includes hundreds of voiceovers (most notably as the Kibbles ‘n Bits dog), as well as guest appearances on many TV series (most recently on “The Wizards of Waverly Place”). He is the author of the play My Father’s Voice, as well as several published short stories. www.alansafier.comfor an hour and a half.”
About Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Founded in 1954, the mission of Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is to present outstanding performing arts and arts education programs, reflective of Brooklyn’s diverse communities, at affordable prices. Brooklyn
Center’s presentations explore both the classical traditions and the boldest contemporary performances,
embracing the different world cultures that defines Brooklyn. Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts welcomes over 70,000 people to the 2,400 seat Walt Whitman Theatre each season, and boasts one of the largest arts education programs in the borough, serving 46,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools annually with its SchoolTime series. In recognition of its commitment to quality family programming, Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts has been voted Brooklyn’s Best Theater or Theater Group for Kids as part of Nickelodeon’s 2009 ParentsConnect Parents’ Picks Awards.
Say Goodnight Gracie
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 2pm
Tickets: $30
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College
2/5 trains to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue
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Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts’ programs are made possible in part with public funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Major support for the 2011-2012 season is provided by: Brooklyn College; Target; Con Edison; Macy’s Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; TD Bank; National Grid; and The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Additional support provided by CNG Publications and The Brooklyn Eagle. Backstage catering is graciously provided by Applebee’s.
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges support from New York City Councilman Albert Vann; New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate Levin.
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