Say Goodnight Gracie

SAY GOODNIGHT GRACIE WAS ANYTHING BUT A SNOOZER!
Oh George, I hardly knew you! «Say Goodnight Gracie: The life, laughter and love of George Burns and Gracie Allen» chronicles the life of Naftaly or Nathan (known by his family as Nattie) Birnbaum and we are introduced to Burns (Joel Rooks) as he had come to the end of his life at the ripe age of 100 years old. His only wish is to join his wife and preforming partner Gracie Allen, but he is in limbo between Heaven and Hell and must perform the act of a lifetime before God before he can be admitted to heaven. What follows is Burns taking us through the 100 years of his life and we get to know him as a comedian, husband, and actor as we progress through his life.
George takes us back to his earliest of days growing up in abject poverty as the ninth of twelve children growing up in poverty as the son of immigrant Jewish parents in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Due to losing his father at an early age, we learn that while his childhood was hard, it was one that was filled with laughter. His first break in show business came while working in a syrup shop at the age of 7 and he joined the Pee Wee Quartet. George’s account of that time goes like this: «We called ourselves the Pee-​Wee Quartet. We started out singing on ferryboats, in saloons, in brothels, and on street corners. We’d put our hats down for donations. Sometimes the customers threw something in the hats. Sometimes they took something out of the hats. Sometimes they took the hats.»
By the age of 10, George quit the fourth grade to do show business full-​time. From that day on his only school would be the school of Hard Knocks. Many entertainers struggle in their early days and George was no exception. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be the rul that no matter what he pursued, nothing seemed to pan out. Like many performers of his generation, he tried practically anything he could to entertain, including working with a trained seal, trick roller skating, teaching dance, singing, and adagio dancing in small-​time vaudeville. But if you were to look up tenacious in the dictionary, you’d find yourself a picture of George Burns.
All of that changed when he met his future love of his life, Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen. They had instant chemistry and it’s easy to see why George fell in love with her. And that is what comes across in this one man show. The only live actor on stage is George and we only become acquainted with Gracie through what can best be described as multimedia presentation that also features the skillful vocal talents of actress Didi Conn («Frenchie» from GREASE) as well as evocative music and moving images from George’s long life and good times. His wooing of her, their marriage and their rise to the pinnacles of Vaudeville, Movies, Radio and Television. Gracie’s demise forced George to start from square one in life and in his career, eventually achieving an equal level of success as a solo raconteur and Academy Award-​winning actor, portraying everything from a Sunshine Boy to, oh… God.
Say Goodnight Gracie is a tender, funny, life-​affirming love story … a personal guided tour through an American century in the company of George Burns, a man who laughingly lived and loved each day for all it had to offer, until he finally went «gently into that good night» to forever reunite with his beloved Gracie. This had me in laughter and close to tears, but it was never close to putting me to sleep.