TV Legends Hal Linden And Bernie Kopell Team Up For TWO JEWS, TALKING Off Broadway This Summer

Tony & Emmy Award Winner Hal Linden (The Rothschilds, Barney Miller) and legendary television star Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat, Get Smart, That Girl) will pair up for the world premiere of the new comedy Two Jews, Talking.

Written by Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe winning writer Ed. Weinberger, the two-hander will be directed by OBIE Award-winning director Dan Wackerman and will have an open-ended run off Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th St). Previews begin on Saturday, August 20th at 2:00PM. The official opening is slated for Sunday, August 28th at 3:00PM. https://www.telecharge.com/ticketsearchresults.aspx?ProductId=13850

Two Jews, Talking takes us on a hilarious romp through time! Two one-act plays bring Lou and Bud together in the Biblical past, and Phil and Marty together in contemporary Long Island. They philosophize about women, sex, food, the divine, and destiny in this tale of companionship and friendship. The show's humor evokes a sense of nostalgia for simpler times - when comedy was rooted in pure fun.

"After 3 years of Covid, it's time to laugh again," said director Dan Wackerman. "Hal Linden and Bernie Kopell are just what the doctor ordered. They are truly masters of comedy and it's an honor and a pleasure to be directing them in an original play by the legendary Ed. Weinberger - a name synonymous with some of the greatest comedies in the history of television. We New Yorkers need and deserve a show like this!"

Two Jews Talking was first presented as a staged reading at the Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina. All four performances at the 500-seat theatre were sold out.

The production features scenic and lighting design by Harry Feiner, sound design by Trevor Trotto. The Production Stage Manager is Catrina Kopell. The Assistant Stage Manager is Jacqueline Perez.

Tickets are $79.50 and $119.00. Performances are on Fridays at 7:00PM, Saturdays at 2:00PM and 7:00PM, and Sundays at 3:00PM.
Hal Linden's career has spanned more than 65 years with memorable roles on stage, television, in film and a cabaret-style variety show that he tours nationally. Linden is perhaps best known for his portrayal of police precinct captain Barney Miller in the hit television series that aired on ABC from 1975-1982, earning multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his work. He made his Broadway debut in 1957 in the musical Bells Are Ringingopposite Judy Holliday and subsequently toured with the national company. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 1971 for his portrayal of Mayer Rothschild in The Rothschilds. To date, he has performed in more than 20 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. His outstanding stagecraft led to roles on both the big and small screen. His feature film credits include: Bells Are Ringing (1960), When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979), Starflight One (1983), Out To Sea (1997) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, A New Life (1988) with Alan Alda, and Time Changer in 2002. Audiences know Linden best from his many roles on television. He hosted ABC's FYI, a sixty-second information series, (similar in format to the network's popular Schoolhouse Rock), which aired three times a day in the early 1980s and for which he earned two Emmy Awards. Linden garnered a third Emmy in 1984 for his portrayal of a rabbi in The Writing On The Wall, for the CBS series Schoolbreak Special. He hosted the popular ABC children's series Animals, Animals, Animals in the 1970s. The show, produced by ABC News, earned numerous Emmys and the Peabody Award. More recently, he's had numerous guest appearances on some of television's most popular shows including: Royal Pains, Supernatural, Two Broke Girls, Hot In Cleveland, Gilmore Girls, Will and Grace, The Drew Carey Show, The Nanny, The King of Queens, Touched By An Angel, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU.

Bernie Kopell is the history of classic television and, if you accept the medium as an art form, a virtual living national treasure. While he may be best known to people for his role as Dr. Adam Bricker on The Love Boat, Kopell has also appeared on well over a hundred TV series over the decades. His television roots stretch back all the way to the days of the immortal Jack Benny, Steve Allen and Danny Kaye. Over the years, he has played some of the most memorable characters on TV, from the diabolical Siegfried, head of Kaos on Get Smart, to a Puerto Rican dentist on The Flying Nun, to Marlo Thomas' neighbor, Jerry Bauman on That Girl. He has had guest spots on virtually every television comedy show since television practically began. Now, thanks to Nick at Night, TV Land, and the popularity of these shows, Kopell jokes with mock dismay, "My Whole life is coming back to me!" He has been honored with a special stone on the Celebrity Path at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York City. Since he grew up in Brooklyn and used to visit the garden on field trips as a schoolboy from nearby P.S. 130, he found it "very sweet and humbling" to be recognized along with Mel Brooks, Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara Streisand to name just a few.

Ed. Weinberger has written for such diverse comedians as Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, and Johnny Carson (for five years on The Tonight Show). He began his career in the early '60s with Dick Gregory. He wrote and produced for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, co-created Taxi, Dear John, and The Cosby Show. He also executive produced and created Amen, Sparks, and Good News. Honors include three Golden Globe Awards, a Peabody, and nine Emmy Awards. In 2000, he received The Writer's Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award. Weinberger is the author of the one-man play A Man and His Prostate, which starred the late Ed Asner and toured nationally for over five years.

Dan Wackerman (Director) is the artistic director of The Peccadillo Theater Company. Some directing credits for Peccadillo include: Paul Osborn's Morning's At Seven, Rex Pickett's Sideways (NYC premiere), George Kelly's The Show-Off, Thornton Wilder's A Wilder Christmas, Clifford Odets' Rocket to the Moon (Drama Desk nomination), William Inge's A Loss of Roses (Best Theatre of 2014, Wall Street Journal), Jeffrey Hatcher's Ten Chimneys (NYC premiere), the Schwartz/Fields/Abbott/ Smith musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Musical Revival), Elmer Rice's Counsellor-at-Law (Obie Award for Outstanding Direction, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, Outer Critics Circle nominations for Outstanding Direction & Revival) and The Talk of the Town by Ginny Redington & Tom Dawes (MAC nomination). Playwriting credits include Fancy, a Country Jukebox Musical (world premiere, Meadow Brook Theatre, '21) and Uncle Ted (Scenes from the McCarrick Report).

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