ZERO HOUR is no zero!!!

We very rarely see a show on a Saturday night . . . because more often than not that’s when tourists usually descend on the theater district. Sometimes we have to break our own rules because a show has a limited run and we simply have no other night to fit it in.

This was our situation this past Saturday night. It was Thanksgiving weekend and we were full of turkey and not terribly interested in eating. We also weren’t really sure what we would be in for when we bought tickets for Zero Hour. But we loved Zero Mostel and we adored "Fiddler on the Roof" so we figured, why not?

We arrived at St. Clement’s Theater at 423 W. 46th Street (between 9th and 10th) and immediately thought how could anyone portray Zero in a church? Next we realized that Zero would not have fit in the seats in this theater. They are tiny, tiny, tiny. We, of course, adore Piper Laurie's work as an actress and were curious how her directing would be. And who the hell is Jim Brochu though?

We quickly discovered that he’s the actor/playwright who wrote this one man show and who also performs it. The show turned out to be a very wonderful little surprise . . . the set was impressive for such a small production . . . totally evocative of a garret art studio. Brochu looks so much like Zero and has his mannerisms down so well that there were moments when we thought Mostel was still alive.

Although we were slightly disappointed there was so little attention paid to “Fiddler on the Roof” the feeling was easily superseded by learning so much about the famous Blacklisting of the 1950’s. This July we saw the movie “Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg” which also discussed Blacklisting. But apparently there’s much we still didn’t know. But the movie is when first heard about Philip Loeb’s suicide. During Zero Hour we discovered that Loeb was Mostel’s best friend and ultimate houseguest of Zero and his shiksa wife when he lost everything as a result of being blacklisted. There’s apparently still much to learn about this subject and it really was wonderful to be simultaneously educated and entertained.

Zero Hour is a little gem and worth the ticket price. We rate it zero plus 8!