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Act II Playhouse announced that Tony Braithwaite will play legendary comedian George Burns in the Broadway hit Say Goodnight Gracie: The Love, Laughter, and Life of George Burns like it was a surprise. As if anyone else could play the lovable cigar-chomper better than Braithwaite, first among Philly funnymen, who's been imitating Burns since grade school for anyone who'll watch (and who wouldn't? He's brilliant) and played him in two of 1812 Productions' holiday anthologies, The Big Time and Another Big Time. Well, OK, the late, great Frank Gorshin (known to us '60s kids as Batman's TV villain The Riddler) did pretty well with this 2003 Tony Award-winning solo show scripted by novelist/playwright/composer Rupert Holmes — but anyone who's seen Braithwaite host the Barrymore Awards (four times) with deft deadpan skill, or enjoyed his hyperkinetic performances in Act II's The Big Bang or the Arden's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, knows that he channels Burns on some sort of supernatural speed dial.
Runs through Oct. 21, $25-$40, Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, 215-654-0200, www.act2.org.