Goodman's Zeppo auditions by not auditioning

Zeppo is the forgotten Marx Brother. Not as loud as Chico, not as verbally adept as Groucho, not as sweet and clownish as Harpo, Zeppo was relegated to playing the setup man for his brothers' many brilliant comic moves.

Still, if you are going to revive a hit 1920 Marx Brothers Broadway musical like "Animal Crackers" - and the folks at the Goodman Theatre are doing that in a show that begins previews today - you are going to need a Zeppo.

And the person they called to play Zeppo is Chicago actor Ed Kross.

"Actually they called me to be a reader," Kross says. "They asked me to read scenes while they were casting."

A reader is the person who reads other roles while the director and the rest of the casting staff audition actors for parts. It is an honor to be called to be a reader, but it is not considered a high prestige, star-turn job. The reader is not auditioning for the show; the reader is only there to keep a scene going while everyone focuses on the actors being auditioned.

That didn't bother Kross. "Are you kidding me?" he says. "Everyone was amazingly talented. I got to sit there and listen to the top people in this town read for roles in this very funny show."

Of course, Kross was not just listening to the top funny people in Chicago; he was supplying them with their setup lines. He was playing Zeppo to their best Groucho or Chico or Harpo. And that is how Kross got cast by not auditioning.

"Look, I spent six days with the director and the casting people," he says. "And they got to hear me read lines over and over again."

By the end of the process, everyone knew Kross had to be Zeppo.

The funny thing is that over the past 20 years Kross has made a name for himself as a loud, wiseguy style comic actor, and a dead ringer sometimes for Phil Silvers. And like Silvers, Kross could also sing and dance. But Kross was also not afraid to tackle serious roles. That's how he became a member of the American Theater Company ensemble, and why, when the whole ensemble broke away to form their own company, The American Blues Theater, he joined them.

It was that versatility, plus his strong comic timing, that landed him a role in "Animal Crackers."

"I was cast in April," Kross says, "and immediately after I was cast they sent an e-mail to everyone in the cast and asked us to start doing more cardio. They told us this show is going to be nonstop for all of us. Start eating right. Start drinking lots of water. There are only nine of us in the show and we play all the roles in this huge Broadway-style musical and we are all part of the chorus."

He couldn't be happier. All his life Kross has loved performing. "Performing was all I ever wanted to do," he says.

Kross came by his interest honestly. His parents were both singers. His mother, Barbara Kross of Lombard, even once performed at the Goodman in the 1950s. "She was an opera singer," Kross says. "She sang in 'La Traviata' in the old Goodman space in 1958. But she gave up her singing career to start her family."

As sometimes happens, the performing bug was passed on to the next generation. Growing up in the 1960s and '70s, Kross fed on a steady diet of old movies and hit TV shows, especially those focusing on show business and performing.

"It's funny," Kross says, "I have seen all of the Marx Brothers movies. And everything I have done in theater leads up to this role. So when they approached me and asked if I wanted to be Zeppo I was like, are you kidding me?

"I feel I am the luckiest of the four actors who are playing Marx Brothers," Kross adds, "even though no one remembers Zeppo. Because I get to do so much else in the show. I will play Zeppo and then run and be in the chorus. I am also playing a second character, the romantic lead. I get to sing a love ballad.

"It's a real roller coaster ride. And I love it."

• "Animal Crackers" opens in previews today, Sept. 18, with the official opening on Sept. 28. The show runs through Oct. 25 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago. Tickets may be purchased through goodmantheatre.org, at the box office or by phone at (312) 443-3800.