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Say Goodnight Gracie

The Life, Laughter and Love of George Burns & Gracie Allen

Written by Rupert Holmes
Directed by Michael White

Alan Safier stars in Say Goodnight Gracie, 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 over 90 years of American entertainment history, is now alive and kicking — and singing and dancing! — in a stunning tour de force solo performance for Alan Safier. With vintage photographs and video clips from film and television performances, "Say Goodnight Gracie" brings to life Burns's fascinating story.

In Say Goodnight Gracie, we discover George in limbo between this world and the next, unable to join his beloved wife and partner Gracie Allen 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 … their instant chemistry, with his flawless timing a perfect mate to her dizzy delivery ... 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 in the “Sunshine Boys” and “Oh, God.”

Say Goodnight Gracie is a 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. The play has been created with the approval and cooperation of the Estate of George Burns and Gracie Allen. Its author is multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes, whose Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning musical The Mystery Of Edwin Drood and who is also creator and writer of the nostalgic Emmy Award-winning comedy series Remember WENN

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.

Say Goodnight Gracie was Broadway’s third longest running solo performance show and was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award for BEST PLAY and won the 2003-04 National Broadway Theatre Award for BEST PLAY.

RAVES | REVIEWS

“You’ll be in heaven yourself, at least for an hour and a half.”
-Bruce Weber, The New York Times

"SAFIER is amazing. He has the audience's rapt attention from beginning to end. They completely forget it isn't Burns onstage. A stellar performance."
—Shirley Stary, Lakeside (Ohio) Association

"ALAN SAFIER's portrayal of the legendary comedian George Burns ranks among the best. He seems to channel the heart and soul of the cigar-smoking star. Safier IS Burns!"
—Ron Jewell, Bartlett (Tenn.) Performing Arts Center

"You'll laugh and cry and laugh some more. ALAN SAFIER's portrayal of George Burns is AMAZING!"
—Kim Simari, Merrimack Hall, Huntsville, Ala.

"ALAN SAFIER's presentation of George Burns is amazing! He isn't acting. He IS the man."
—Dwight Vaught, Arts Alive!, Kenosha, Wisc.