Kerry Arnold (Constantine) & Jen Poiry (Nina)

Carolyn Texley (Masha) & Janna Broxon (Harpo)

Carolyn Texley & Darren Turney (Sasha)

Travis Fisher (Groucho), Janna Broxon, & Scott Nedberg (Chico)

The set, designed by Ron Wartzok

Ron & Cynthia Wartzok

The cast of A Day in Hollywood

The cast of A Night in the Ukraine

The Cast of "A Night in the Ukraine" competed at the Indiana Community Theatre League (ICTL) Festival at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, March 7, 1998, and the production was named Second Runner Up in BEST SHOW! In addition, Scott Nedberg was named Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as Carlo(Chico Marx). Congratulations to the award-winning Pulse Opera House players!
From "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia" by Glenn Mitchell, published by B. T. Batsford, LTD, 1996
Perhaps the most acclaimed Marx Brothers pastiche, A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine was the brainchild of Dick Vosburgh, an American-born writer long based in England. Vosburgh had long nurtured a wish to write for the Marxes, frustrated by the knowledge that he was starting out just at a time when the brothers as a team were calling it quits. In a BBC Radio interview, Vosburgh described having taken the project to Richard Jackson, "who steered it to the right place...a tiny, 95-seat theatre called the New End in Hampstead." The show, directed by Ian Davidson, opened there on 10 January 1979 billed as "a Thirties double feature." Vosburgh's book and lyrics were complemented by the music composed by Frank Lazarus. The first half, A Day in Hollywood, presents a context for the Marxes with a revue representing 1930s movies in general, portraying the styles, cliches and stars of Hollywood's golden era; original songs of the period were chosen to illustrate the full spectrum, from the best (Two Sleepy People, Over the Rainbow) to the worst (The Girl Friend of the Whirling Dervish. Who, it seems, "Gives him the runaround.") Similarly enshrined was the Hollywood trailer, in a scene announcing the Marx Brothers in A Night in the Ukraine.
 For his Marx Brothers story, Vosburgh went to The Bear, a one-act farce by Anton Chekhov ("Russia's top gag writer"), placing the Marxes into a pre-Soviet Ukraine. Groucho is cast as Serge B. Samovar, a lawyer in the tradition of Waldorf T. Flywheel and J. Cheever Loophole. The lawyer, born "beneath a lucky Tsar," introduces himself with a song, Samovar the Lawyer, akin to the Kalmar-Ruby Hooray for Captain Spaulding and, especially, Doctor Hackenbush. "They freed the crook and hanged the judge," sings Samovar, establishing his credentials beyond question.
Margaret Dumont finds a parallel in Mrs. Natasha Pavlenko, a wealthy widow for whom Samovar, arriving to collect a debt, makes an unerring beeline. Chico works as footman to Mrs. Pavlenko, sporting a lengthy, perplexing name beginning with "Carlo", finishing in "Mozzarella" and containing numerous syllables in between; when asked how he spells it, he replies "wrong, every time." His exchanges with the lawyer display familial likeness to the best lines from the Marxes' vaudeville acts; when Chico asks "Have a rough trip?" Groucho replies, "No thanks, I just had one," leading one to suspect Uncle Al and the garbage man to be observing from above. Harpo becomes Gino, the gardener, among whose duties are chasing Masha, the maid and playing a bicycle wheel like a harp (after feeding the machine a carrot, then giving it a medical examination). Present also are Harpo's Gookie expression, the business of producing countless articles from his raincoat and the ink drinking from the film version of Cocoanuts. Further in keeping with the Marxes' epics, Vosburgh incorporated a romantic sub-plot (borrowed from another Chekhov work, The Sea Gull) involving Samovar's coachman Constantine (an aspiring playwright) and Nina, Mrs. Pavlenko's daughter.
Samovar the Lawyer was played by John Bay, an American actor who had impersonated Groucho in a one-man show; Chico/Carlo was portrayed by Frank Lazarus, Hollywood/Ukraine's composer; Harpo/Gino was played by Sheila Steafel, one of several women to have made an effective Harpo facsimile; Paddie O'Neil was Mrs. Pavlenko; Maureen Scott was Nina; Jon Glover, who had auditioned for the Harpo role, was Constantine; and Alexandra Sebastian was kept on her toes as Masha.
[click for larger view] Frank Lazarus (Carlo/Chico), Sheila Steafel (Harpo/Gino), John Bay (Groucho/Samovar)
Reviews for the New End production were enthusiastic: the Observer compared many of the jokes to those written by S.J. Perelman; from the Sunday Express, Clive Hirschhorn evaluated it as "for the sheer fun of it, not to be missed," having high praise for the impersonations; and Larry Adler, writing for What's On in London, seemed genuinely surprised by the accuracy of John Bay's performance, describing also a "very original" Harpo while applauding Paddie O'Neil's work. Miss O'Neil's impersonations of Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn (in the Day in Hollywood section) won unconditional praise from Sheridan Morley of Punch, though he seemed less fond of the "shaky pastiche" that was the second half. Despite a mixed review, Morley said he would "not be inclined to miss it." The review appeared on 24 January and it seems fair to speculate that Hollywood/Ukraine subsequently grew upon the critic, for by March the Punch theatre guide described it as "Dick Vosburgh's superb Marx brothers' (sic) evening." It was in this month that the show transferred to the Mayfair Theatre, in London's West End. The Financial Times of 31 March applauded the change of venue, declaring it "just about the right size for this kind of intimate cabaret." "Slightly more confident playing," it continued, "Would transform A Night in the Ukraine into a joy for non-Marx fanatics; for that strangely large band it will probably make the year." It is equally probable that the Guardian's Nicholas de Jongh was among that large band, for his review of 30 March bucks the trend by favouring Night in the Ukraine over its preamble. "I have to admit," wrote de Jongh, "that the quick-fire absurd patter and wise-cracking has an appeal to aficionados." It was during the Mayfair run that American impresario Alexander H. Cohen saw the show and promptly bought the US rights. Cohen had previously taken the Flanders and Swann revues to America, also Beyond the Fringe and its Peter Cook/Dudley Moore descendant Behind the Fridge. Hollywood/Ukraine made it to the States by Spring 1980, having been intended for a Broadway opening the preceding Christmas.
A revised version, directed by Tommy Tune, tried out in Baltimore on 19 April before commencing at New York's Golden Theater on 1 May. Frank Lazarus, repeating his original role, was sole representative of the London cast. David Garrison took over as Groucho and Priscilla Lopez as Harpo, Sheila Steafel's success having led to an insistence on a woman playing the part. Investors included Neil Simon, Jane Fonda, Carol Channing (who saw the show in London) and the Shubert and Nederlander organisations.
Reception in the USA was positive despite a legal argument over use of the team's characters; heirs of Groucho and Harpo, having failed in pursuing an injunction to halt the show's opening, sued for infringement of rights of publicity in the comedians' personas. Although an initial Federal Court decision was in favour of the heirs, a panel of three Appeal Court judges subsequently found against them, though reserving judgment on a technical point (concerning essentially the difference between parody and an unauthorized imitation). It was decided that California law should apply in this case rather than that of New York, because the Marxes had been Californian residents at the time of death. According to Variety's report of the proceedings, there had been precedents in California law, notably an unsuccessful suit brought by the heirs of Bela Lugosi, to suggest inherited rights of publicity to be either non-existent or else limited to merchandising (e.g. T-shirts) originated by a celebrity during his or her lifetime. The heirs requested settlement, under which they would drop their suit if paid a token sum of $9,000 (i.e. $3,000 per Marx Brother) and were permitted to act as agents in moving the show to television or film adaptation within a prescribed period. The period elapsed without any such adaptation and full control reverted to the show's creators (at the time of writing, there has still to be a television or film version of Hollywood/Ukraine).
Priscilla Lopez received a Tony award, as did Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh for choreography. David Garrison was nominated, as was Dick Vosburgh for the book and Frank Lazarus and Vosburgh for the score. Peggy Hewitt, as Mrs. Pavlenko, was nominated for a Drama Desk award, and the entire cast received Drama-Logue awards. Another favourable view was taken by Chico's daughter Maxine, who greeted Lazarus with outstretched arms and a cry of "Daddy!" Similarly, Harpo's widow, Susan, and son, Bill, had much praise for Priscilla Lopez. The Original Cast Album (on DRG Records) was nominated for a Grammy award. The show has been revived on two occasions at the Edinburgh Festival, the first of which presented Ukraine alone, with Michael Roberts as Groucho, the second the entire show with Roberts as Groucho and Frank Lazarus once again as Chico. Revivals have proliferated throughout the USA, including those in Fort Worth (June 1989, this time with a male Harpo), San Jose (December 1989-January 1990), Oregon (June-September 1990), Ohio (September 1990) and St. Louis (December 1990).
Pulse Opera House Cast List
USHER / CONSTANTINE (Zeppo).....Kerry Arnold

USHER.....Nathan Beals

USHERETTE / NINA.....Jennifer Poiry

USHERETTE / GINO (Harpo).....Janna Broxon

USHER.....Charly Dye

SAMOVAR (Groucho).....Travis Fisher

USHERETTE .....Shannon Miller

CARLO.....Scott Nedberg

USHERETTE / MASHA.....Carolyn Texley

USHER / SASHA.....Darren Turney

MRS. PAVLENKO (Margaret Dumont).....Marsha Walton