Marxfest Diary: Days 27-31

I've written a lot about Marxfest recently, but this is my first time writing about it in retrospect. There is a temptation to honor the cliche and say that the month flew by, that it feels like it began only yesterday; oh, Marxfest, we hardly knew ye! But I don't feel that way. It was a long month. It was the longest, best month in the history of human civilization, and it felt long not because it was difficult but because it was substantive, because we packed it so full of meaningful activity that demanded to be experienced as fully as possible.

Matthew Curiano, Bob Homeyer, Robert Pinnock, Noah
Diamond, and Seth Shelden. Photo: Getty Images.

DAY 27: When the Theatre Museum asked Trav S. D. to organize and host a variety program for its awards gala on May 27, did they know that the redoubtable Mr. S. D. would inject their ritzy soiree with a stiff shot of Marxian anarchy? Milling about the Players Club with fellow I'll Say She Is cast members Melody Jane, Seth Shelden, Robert Pinnock, Matthew Curiano, and Bob Homeyer, I felt like we were the Marx Brothers, crashing Margaret Dumont's party and making trouble.

In addition to the I'll Say She Is group, Trav put together a great bill of performers -- Ariella Pizza, Michael Goldfried, Abe Goldfarb, Lady Rizo -- all of whom performed material associated with the Marxes. Young Ms. Pizza impersonated all of the Brothers, in an epic performance of "Everyone Says I Love You." The Players Club didn't know what hit it. You can find a wealth of photos from the event here, here, here, here, and here.

Clockwise from top: Seth Shelden, Brett Leveridge, Noah
Diamond, Trudy Marshall, Kathy Biehl. Photo: Kathy Biehl.

DAY 29: I'm told that the final Epiphany Library screening, Horse Feathers, was well-attended and well-received, though I missed it, as I was catching up with my day job at the time. I was at liberty in the evening, for Trav's third Marxfest lecture, We're All Mad Here: The Marx Brothers in Context, at the Mid-Manhattan Library. It was an excellent talk, every bit as amusing and enlightening as Trav's previous Marxfest lectures -- but with two distinguishing factors that set it apart.

First, there was the turnout. No kidding, that Trav S.D. has the legs of a ballerina. No, no, I'm talking about the turnout, the crowd, which packed the sixth-floor lecture hall of the Mid-Manhattan Library, so the staff had to remove an accordion wall to accommodate more chairs! Throughout this festival, we've been looking for signs that our madness is contagious, any indication that we're doing something to spread the gospel of our Brothers. Exhibit 29: Too many people attended a lecture at the library on a Thursday night! Well -- certainly one too many, and that was the other distinguishing factor. If you missed the fracas before the show, no description of it is going to do you any good.

Incidentally, Trav has published the adapted text of his three Marxfest lectures:
From Angels to Anarchists | Anarchy in Astoria | We're All Mad Here

I finished up the night with Marxfest and/or I'll Say She Is colleagues Brett Leveridge, Seth Shelden, and Kathy Biehl, and our new friend Trudy Marshall (elle est un Marxiste, tendance Harpo), who flew all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to celebrate the Brothers with us. (And the first time she started, she got halfway here when she ran out of gasoline and had to go back.) Trudy and Kathy and I talked long into the night about such subjects as the Marx Brothers.

Kevin Fitzpatrick begins the tour.

DAY 31: All good things must come to an end. The end began exactly where the beginning ended -- the Algonquin Hotel. In the very spot where the legends of the Round Table once lunched -- but even more significantly, the very spot where Kathy cut the ribbon on the first night of Marxfest -- stood our leader, Kevin Fitzpatrick. Kevin's Algonquin Round Table walking tour (which you must take sometime) is exciting in its own right, but this one was spectacular. It was punctuated with references to the Marx Brothers, and Kevin was even kind enough to call on me for an anecdote or two. It was as lovely a day as New York has had this year, and it was a huge, fun crowd -- the largest he'd seen on the walking tour, Kevin told us.

Paul Wesolowski, Seth Shelden, and Brett Leveridge

By this point in the month, one of the greatest pleasures of Marxfest was seeing so many of the same faces from event to event. Each event had its own distinct audience, too, but by May 31 it was clear that there has been a nucleus, a family, that's been with us all along, or here and there, and I don't know why this should seem like such a revelation, but Marx Brothers fans are really terrific people. In the past month I've made many friends, struck up correspondences, met people whose books I've read, met people whose books I'm going to read, and in general, expanded my world far more than I ever thought I would by obsessing about one comedy team from a hundred years ago.

And so...

Melody Jane, Noah Diamond, Seth Shelden, and Trav S.D.
at Flute for A Night at Wit's End. Photo: Amanda Sisk.

For the last night of Marxfest, friend of the festival Don Spiro of Wit's End threw a spectacular speakeasy party at Flute Midtown (which was once Texas Guinan's Club Intime), dubbed A Night at Wit's End.

This was a magical night, and the perfect chaser to the big drink of Marxfest. It was attended by old friends, new friends, and so many of the people who in various ways have made this month the time of our lives. Though it must be acknowledged that on this joyous evening, some were conspicuously absent. The great Jonny Porkpie, Marxfest Committee member and Burlesque Mayor of New York City, had to spend the final week of May in Vienna, continuing the rollicking celebration of the human body which is his primary beat. I barely got out of that sentence alive. You were missed, Mr. Mayor, but I suspect you had a pretty good time nonetheless.

Jesse Gelber and Kate Manning and their band.

In  addition to sparkling conversation, highlights of the evening included a dance lesson, drawings by Adriano, warm words from hostess Kita St. Cyr, and live entertainment from my new favorite act in New York, Gelber and Manning. It feels like many months since they last crossed paths with Marxfest, at Music of the Marx Brothers on May 9. (Read all about it here.)

I might as well admit that I was only at the party about half the time; the rest of the time I was Groucho. (Walking to Flute, a pedestrian who was clearly not a Marxfest participant saw me in costume and shouted, "Hey, Charlie!") Groucho hobnobbed, Groucho posed for a drawing by Adriano, Groucho danced with Amanda Sisk (actually that might have been me). And Groucho was even permitted to perform a couple of songs with Gelber and Manning and company.

(If you can't get enough, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" is here.)

Kathy Biehl, Noah Diamond, Trudy Marshall

Amanda Sisk and Carolyn Raship

Kevin Fitzpatrick took the microphone at one point and said some gracious words about the festival and its family. He also unveiled the key component of a Marx Brothers surprise that remains up our sleeves, which you'll be hearing about later this summer.

We all laughed, talked, sang, and danced into the night, and then we all said goodbye and went home. Marxfest, ladies and gentlemen.

Noah Diamond, Meryl Danziger

So, a question that's come up a lot lately is: Are you going to do it again? Some have not even considered it a question; there have been many references to "next year's Marxfest" as though it were sure as Christmas.

Well, here and now, I can give you the official answer: We don't know! 

Some of us are turning our attention to I'll Say She Is, which you will see in all its glory in the New York International Fringe Festival in August. And as hinted above, there are a few other Marx Brothers happenings around the corner. Some are scattered fragments of Marxfest, and some are just Marx Brothers things we're excited about, like the release of the Marx Brothers TV Collection DVD set in August, the publication of Matthew Coniam's The Annotated Marx Brothers next year, and the publication (hopefully soon) of Robert Bader's epic chronicle of the Brothers' stage career.

Seth Shelden, Melody Jane

Noah Diamond, Amanda Sisk

But okay, okay, I get it. The question was not "Are any Marx Brothers-related events taking place at any point in the future?" The question was whether we're going to do another Marxfest, next year, or ever. And the answer was we don't know. It seems impossible that there won't be another Marxfest, but it also seems impossible to start planning it now! All we can do is tell you to watch this space, and keep playing with us on Facebook and Twitter, and stay tuned.

It's not goodbye -- it's hello, we must be going.

As always, I remain
Yours in Marx,

MARXFEST FLASHBACK: On the first day of the festival, May 1, 2014, the Marxfest Committee performs an
appropriately mad ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Algonquin Hotel, for the Party of the First Part. Left to right:
Noah Diamond, Trav S.D., Kathy Biehl, Jonny Porkpie, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Brett Leveridge.