Zero Hour

By Elli Davis, March 30, 2011

• Zero Hour
• Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company
• Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Avenue)
• Now through April 16
• 

Zero Hour

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of watching Jim Brochu bring his brilliant, powerhouse performance as Zero Mostel in ZERO HOUR to the Al Green Theatre. Most of us remember Zero Mostel as Tevye in the stage production of Fiddler on the Roof, or in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, or even in Mel Brook`s The Producers. Zero Hour provides us with many back stories about the shows, the man, his life, his triumphs, his pain and his HUMOUR.
 
One of 8 children his Orthodox Jewish parents moved from Brooklyn to Connecticut and back to New York so he would be exposed to “culture” and the Arts. His mother felt it was an honour to be gifted enough to be in the Arts. Zero always considered himself to be a painter who acted, not an actor who had a hobby of painting. This two act tour de force takes place in his West 28th Street studio where he is painting and being interviewed by the New York Times for an article about his upcoming performance in Merchant, but dies before the opening night. 
 
The extended back story about the McCarthy Hearings on Un-American Activities helps us understand not only who Mostel was off stage, but also how powerful those hearings were in destroying lives. But Zero Hour is also, like Zero himself, comedic. “Why were actors picked on by the House committee? Did they think we were giving secret acting lessons to the Russian Communists?” 
 
Zero had been hired by Hal Prince to star in Forum. The show was a bomb in New Haven. Audiences didn’t laugh, they didn’t even smile. Prince decided to bring Jerome Robbins in to “fix” the show. 10 years earlier, Robbins had named dozens of actors and helped black list such names as Mostel, Jack Gilford, Burgess Meredith and more. Mostel never got over Robbins, who he called Loose Lips, being a snitch and told him so at the first rehearsal. But, says Mostel, “he was a genius” and turned Forum into a smash hit.” They reunited again for a show called “Fiddler on the Roof”. Mostel credits Robbins for saving his life when he had a creative breakdown an hour before opening night curtain. 
 
This is a biography performed with sensitivity, genius and passion. Mr. Brochu is Zero Mostel on stage. He has mastered every nuance, every movement right down to a quiver in his lip. One man shows can be demanding on both actors and audiences. Zero Hour commands your attention for two marvelous acts. You will leave the theatre having a new appreciation and understanding of how powerful a brilliant actor can be given a brilliant script. Kudos to for Mr. Brochu having written AND acted in it.

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