Jim Brochu as Zero Mostel. Photo credit: Stan BarouhA Stage Icon Comes to Life
By Lauren Yarger
Seeing Zero Mostel perform in Fiddler on the Roof was one of those rare theatrical experiences where you weren’t watching a performance of a man named Tevye – you were watching Tevye, so real was the actor’s portrayal. The torch now is passed to writer Jim Brochu, directed by Piper Laurie, whose portrayal of Mostel in Zero Hour is so real, so polished, so riveting, that you’d swear Mostel himself were sitting on the stage at DR2 Theatre telling you about his life.
And what a life it is. In the guise of speaking to an unseen reporter from The New York Times, Mostel reluctantly takes a break from his first passion in his painting studio (scenic design by Josh Iocovelli) to reluctantly discuss the ups and downs of his far-ranging and until now, not well known (at least not to me), career.
Working on a painting while talking with the reporter in 1977, Mostel shares details of his first failed marriage and how his parents disowned him when he remarries Kate, a Catholic. Kate encourages him to pursue a career on stage and he finds success as a comedian. The gigs stop coming, though, when Mostel in blacklisted during the McCarthy Senate hearings to investigate a number of artists alleged to have ties with the Communist Party.
It was an “intellectual final solution,” Mostel tells us, saying that Jewish minds getting their message out were the ones targeted. Brochu communicates the full range of emotions that Mostel feels at being questioned, the loss of a close friend who commits suicide over the ordeal and at being forced to work again with "Loose Lips," director Jerry Robbins, who named names during the questioning.
The actor finally starts to get work again when he almost loses a leg when he is crushed by a bus. He survives numerous surgeries, becomes good friends with the bus driver (something good came out of it, he tells us) and overcomes the guilt of his parents’ rejection to go on to fame in shows like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Rhinoceros and Fiddler. Eventually invited to dine with the president, he realizes he’s made it from blacklist to white house.
It’s absolutely fascinating. Brochu’s performance is so full of depth that you feel like you've just spent a couple of hours with the stage legend.
Zero Hour plays at DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th St., NYC. For ticket information, visit http://www.zerohourshow.com/
Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Sexual dialogue
By Lauren Yarger
Seeing Zero Mostel perform in Fiddler on the Roof was one of those rare theatrical experiences where you weren’t watching a performance of a man named Tevye – you were watching Tevye, so real was the actor’s portrayal. The torch now is passed to writer Jim Brochu, directed by Piper Laurie, whose portrayal of Mostel in Zero Hour is so real, so polished, so riveting, that you’d swear Mostel himself were sitting on the stage at DR2 Theatre telling you about his life.
And what a life it is. In the guise of speaking to an unseen reporter from The New York Times, Mostel reluctantly takes a break from his first passion in his painting studio (scenic design by Josh Iocovelli) to reluctantly discuss the ups and downs of his far-ranging and until now, not well known (at least not to me), career.
Working on a painting while talking with the reporter in 1977, Mostel shares details of his first failed marriage and how his parents disowned him when he remarries Kate, a Catholic. Kate encourages him to pursue a career on stage and he finds success as a comedian. The gigs stop coming, though, when Mostel in blacklisted during the McCarthy Senate hearings to investigate a number of artists alleged to have ties with the Communist Party.
It was an “intellectual final solution,” Mostel tells us, saying that Jewish minds getting their message out were the ones targeted. Brochu communicates the full range of emotions that Mostel feels at being questioned, the loss of a close friend who commits suicide over the ordeal and at being forced to work again with "Loose Lips," director Jerry Robbins, who named names during the questioning.
The actor finally starts to get work again when he almost loses a leg when he is crushed by a bus. He survives numerous surgeries, becomes good friends with the bus driver (something good came out of it, he tells us) and overcomes the guilt of his parents’ rejection to go on to fame in shows like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Rhinoceros and Fiddler. Eventually invited to dine with the president, he realizes he’s made it from blacklist to white house.
It’s absolutely fascinating. Brochu’s performance is so full of depth that you feel like you've just spent a couple of hours with the stage legend.
Zero Hour plays at DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th St., NYC. For ticket information, visit http://www.zerohourshow.com/
Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Sexual dialogue
1 comment:
We certainly agree on this one, Lauren!
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