‘Say Goodnight Gracie,’ brings the life of George Burns to Arizona stages

“Say Goodnight Gracie” is the hit Broadway play that invites you to spend a hilarious, heart-warming evening in the uplifting company of the world’s favorite and funniest centenarian George Burns, who spanned 100 years of American entertainment history, is now miraculously alive and kicking in a stunning tour de force. “Say Goodnight Gracie” was Broadway’s third longest running solo performance show and was nominated for the 2003 Tony Award for best play and won the 2003-04 National Broadway Theatre Award for best play. “Say Goodnight Gracie, The Life, Laughter and Love of George Burns and Gracie Allen,” a Tony Award nominee and Broadway’s third longest running solo performance show, comes to the stage at 7 p.m. tonight in Tucson at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.

Other Arizona performances of the show are at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb 21, at the Palm Ridge Ballroom, 13800 W. Deer Valley Drive in Sun City West; at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Feb. 22 at North Ridge Community Church, 6363 E. Dynamite Rd., Cave Creek; and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at Pence Center at Central Arizona College, 8470 N. Overfield Rd. in Coolidge.

Starring Don McArt, who has performed on stage, screen and television with artists from Dana Andrews and Margaret O’Brien to Shirley Temple, Groucho Marx, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, the show is the third in the Curtain Call series of small-venue, neighborhood-friendly venues statewide.

When asked about portraying George Burns on stage, McArt said, “Who wouldn’t want to pay tribute to a comic genius? He was the best.”

Individual tickets are $27.50. Ticket information and online purchases are available at www.curtaincallusa.com.

Phone orders can be made by calling 480-303-2300.

“Say Goodnight Gracie,” written by multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes (The Mystery Of Edwin Drood and creator and writer of the nostalgic Emmy Award-winning comedy series Remember WENN), is a tender, funny, life-affirming love story of Burns and his beloved Gracie.

In “Say Goodnight Gracie,” George is in limbo between this world and the next, unable to join his wife and partner Gracie until he gives the command performance of his lifetime for God.

He looks back upon his impoverished, plucky youth on the lower East Side of New York, his disastrous but tenacious career in Vaudeville, the momentous day when he meet a fabulously talented young Irish girl named Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen and their instant chemistry, with his flawless timing a perfect mate to her dizzy delivery.

George carries viewers from their marriage through their rise to the top and through Gracie’s death which forced George to start from square one in life and his career, eventually achieving an equal level of success as an Academy Award-wining actor portraying everything from a Sunshine Boy to God.

McArt, who portrays Burns, grew up in a General Motors factory town north of Indianapolis. His long-time acting career took off after appearing in a wide variety of comedy shows, including roles in either the Broadway or national companies of “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple” and “There’s A Girl in My Soup” with well-known stars.

Moving to Hollywood, McArt joined Fred MacMurray in Disney’s “The Absent Minded Professor” and “The Son of Flubber,” and he appeared on television with Gale Storm, Robert Taylor, Dwayne Hickman and as one of the hairy “cousin” characters on “The Addams Family” with Caroline Jones and Jon Astin.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740