Jim Brochu, author and star of "ZERO HOUR," and his special guest, actress/producer/director Lee Grant, will introduce a screening of "The World of Sholom Aleichem" this evening, January 14th at 5:30 p.m. at The Paley Center for Media (25 West 52 Street).
Also scheduled to appear at the event is Bel Kaufman, author of the best-selling novel "Up the Down Staircase" and granddaughter of famed Yiddish writer
Sholom Aleichem.
"The World of
Sholom Aleichem" was first broadcast on December 14, 1959, on
David Susskind's dramatic anthology program "The Play of the Week." The acclaimed teleplay (adapted by
Arnold Perl from his 1953 Off-Broadway play) was drawn from writer
Sholom Aleichem's touching tales of Jewish life in the ghettos of Eastern Europe. The broadcast featured several actors who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy Era-including
Zero Mostel,
Lee Grant,
Jack Gilford,
Morris Carnovsky, and
Sam Levene-and proved to be one link in a chain of events that brought about the end of the blacklist.
"ZERO HOUR" opened on November 22, 2009 to rave reviews, and the limited engagement is set to run through January 31st at Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street). Three-time Academy Award nominee
Piper Laurie directs "ZERO HOUR," which was originally produced in Los Angeles where it received the Ovation Award for Best New Play.
Starring
Jim Brochu as
Zero Mostel, "ZERO HOUR" is set at Mostel's West 28th Street painting studio where a naïve reporter attempts to interview the famously volatile actor, prompting an explosion of memory, humor, outrage, and juicy backstage lore. It is July 1977 and the actor is giving his final interview before leaving for the pre-Broadway tryout of "The Merchant" in Philadelphia. Mostel only played one performance as Shylock before his sudden death at the age of 62.
"ZERO HOUR" traces Mostel's early days growing up on the Lower East Side as the son of Orthodox Jewish immigrant parents, through his rise as a stand-up comedian, from the Borscht Belt to Manhattan's most exclusive supper clubs, and from the devastation of the blacklist to his greatest Broadway triumphs, most notably as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" and working through his love-hate relationship with
Jerome Robbins.
The Off-Broadway premiere of "ZERO HOUR" is produced by
Kurt Peterson and
Edmund Gaynes in association with The Peccadillo Theater Company.
Tickets to the Paley Center are $10, $8 for students and senior citizens, and free for members. For further information, go to
www.paleycenter.org.
For more information about "ZERO HOUR," visit
www.ZeroHourShow.com.
