Animal Crackers

Certainly best known today for their film work (A Night at the Opera, Duck Soup) The Marx Brothers actually started out treading the boards. They honed their brand of zany, witty antics in three Broadway shows, the last of which was Animal Crackers, which opened in 1928. Later adapted into a movie of the same name, Animal Crackers' plot revolves around the theft of a painting at explorer Geoffrey T Spaulding's (Groucho Marx) homecoming party. It includes all the Brothers' trademark slapstick shtick, vaudeville song and dance numbers and some of Groucho's most famous one-lines (One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas I'll never know).

Now Denver Center Stage Theatre Company is reviving Animal Crackers to close out their 2013/2014 Season. In this situation, the question arises of how to revive a property which was so tailored the specific talents of the original actors. This production will be capturing the comedy of the original, but the cast won't be attempting impersonations of the Marx Brothers themselves. According to director Bruce Sevy, "The challenge is to inhabit the spirit of these guys, while still allowing the play to live and breathe in the moment".

Expect zingers and impressively choreographed falling over a plenty. The cast of nine actors will be playing all 29 characters which will add to the fun. Adapted by Henry Wishcamper, this staging also reintroduces several of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's songs which were cut from the theatrical adaptation.