George & Gracie (and Frank)

The touring version of “Say Goodnight Gracie” is ostensibly about two show-biz legends: George Burns and Gracie Allen. Yet it is also has something to do with a third show-biz legend: Frank Gorshin. Gorshin stars as the cigar-chomping Burns in this hit 2002 Broadway one-man show. He is a gifted actor and impressionist who has always been respected by his Hollywood peers. Yet his enduring status as an American cultural icon stems from two words that begin with B: “Batman” and the Beatles. More on those later. First, we should give you an idea of what Gorshin will be doing on stage at the Opera House Wednesday night in this 2003 Tony nominee for Best Play.

The show will open with Gorshin, as Burns, in limbo between this world and the next. To join his wife Gracie in heaven, he must give a Command Performance for God.

The rest of the show consists of Burns telling the story of his rags-to-riches life, from the tenements of the Lower East Side, to vaudeville stardom as part of the duo Burns and Allen, to his Oscar-winning movie career (he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar at age 80 for “The Sunshine Boys”).

This multimedia presentation features film clips of Burns and Allen in their primes. It also includes “conversations” between Gorshin and Gracie, using the recorded voice of actress Didi Conn.

Yet mostly it’s just Burns, telling stories, remembering Gracie and re-creating old vaudeville gags.

“Mr. Gorshin is an experienced and polished impressionist, and on his entrance, he is Burns incarnate,” wrote New York Times theater critic Bruce Weber.

“He’s got the signature gestures down – the puff on the cigar, the tongue inserted beneath the lower lip, the fingertip to the forehead to signal a smart move.”

Gorshin began his career as a teenager doing impressions of his idols: Al Jolson, James Cagney, Cary Grant and Edward G. Robinson. At age 17 he won a talent contest in Pittsburgh. The prize was a gig at a nightclub where Alan King was headlining.

He served in the Korean War and began a career as an actor with a role in “The Proud and the Profane” in 1956.

In “Bells Are Ringing,” a 1960 Dean Martin musical, Gorshin had a chance to show off his mimicry skills with a not-so-subtle imitation of Marlon Brando.

Meanwhile, he had built up a successful nightclub career in Hollywood and Las Vegas with his impressions. By 1964 he was an in-demand variety show guest, which explains why he was booked on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964.

It turned out to be one of the most famous TV shows of all time, because of another act that was on the bill: The Beatles.

It was their American TV debut and to say that they overshadowed Gorshin, who was hot at the time, barely hints at the debacle it was for him and the other performers on the show. The audience was full of 14-year-old girls who wanted nobody but John, Paul, George and Ringo.

They were polite and even gave Gorshin a few girlish laughs for his over-the-top impression of Dean Martin. But the aftermath was a disaster – suddenly, everybody else on the bill was relegated to a footnote.

But Gorshin recovered, thanks to a 1966 guest spot on “Batman,” the campy TV show. He was booked to play a minor villain, The Riddler, but his crazy laughter and angular body language turned the character into the most popular recurring villain on the show. He was also the only actor on “Batman” to score a Tony nomination.

Gorshin was later quoted as saying that he developed The Riddler’s maniacal laugh from listening to his own high-pitched giggle at Hollywood parties.

In 1969, he received another Emmy nomination for his role on a “Star Trek” episode which has become a classic, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” He also became a familiar guest star on TV shows ranging from “The Carol Burnett Show” to “Wonder Woman.”

In 1970, Gorshin took to Broadway for the first time as the lead in “Jimmy,” a musical based on the life of former New York mayor Jimmy Walker. Since then he has regularly appeared in national touring shows and regional theater.

But his biggest stage triumph didn’t come until he was in his late 60s, when he opened “Say Goodnight Gracie” on Broadway in 2002. The show, with a script by Rupert Holmes – yeah, the same guy who wrote “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” – was an immediate hit and ran for 364 performances.

When it closed in 2003, Gorshin took it on the road and has been rolling along ever since.

Which means that George Burns, who already had one of the longest show-biz careers on record, continues to entertain the nation, 109 years after his birth.