THEATRE INTERVIEW:
Playwright Brochu takes on Zero, his hero
28 MAR/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

It's mathematics, with a theatrical twist. Perhaps only in theatre could one take two larger-than-life characters and put 'em together, only to come up with zero. Actually, make that Zero, as in Zero Mostel, the legendary larger-than-life funnyman best known on stage for scene-stealing performances in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Rhinoceros and Fiddler On the Roof — and, famously, on film for his portrayal of Max Bialystock in The Producers.

ZERO HOUR is a new play created by another large-than-life character, Jim Brochu. It promises to bring Mostel back to life in a context and a setting almost certain to add new dimension to the public persona of the beloved comic, who died way too young in 1977. Fresh from New York, Los Angeles and points south, ZERO HOUR— written by and starring Brochu, under the direction of Piper Laurie — IS all set to open Monday night in the Al Green Theatre of the Miles Nadal JCC, a presentation of Harold Green Jewish Theatre.

Reached in New York as he prepares to decamp for his Toronto run, Brochu happily retraced the genesis of the show all the way back to his early meetings with Mostel, who was then appearing in Forum with Brochu's long-time mentor, David Burns. At the time Brochu was on furlough from the military school he was attending, but still in uniform. After being dubbed General Nuisance by Mostel, the two struck up a lasting friendship. In fact, Brochu has developed a real knack for making famous friends, a knack developed early and still maintained as he boasts a buddy list that includes everyone from the late Ethel Merman (the subject of his stage play, The Big Voice: God Or Merman) to Lucille Ball (whose biography, Lucy In the Afternoon, he authored).

"My idols became my friends," he says simply, "And that is the greatest blessing of all — I know how blessed I have been." Still, Brochu admits, Mostel initially could be a little intimidating to a young school boy: "He terrified me. He absolutely terrified me." Soon, however, the fear passed. "Then, he was very sweet to me," Brochu says. After Forum closed, the two stayed in touch, and a friendship blossomed. So did the idea of a show, albeit slowly.

"This has been long in my head to do this," Brochu says, adding that he figured he had a few things he could bring to the part. "I'm big like him. I'm light on my feet and I like to be a little crazy once in a while," the playwright/actor says. Still, he started small and somewhat tentatively. "The play really took shape when his friends started to come to see the show. They all came with a scowl on their face and their arms crossed — and we all became good friends." And once they became good friends, they started helping Brochu shape the show.

Madeline Gilford was one of them. She was the widow of the late actor Jack Gilford, who starred opposite Mostel in Forum and who, like his wife and Mostel, had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era. "She's the one that taught me about the smell of the studio," Brochu says. "The play takes place in (Mostel's) studio. He considered himself a painter who acted, not an actor who painted."

With tips like that the show has grown, and brought Brochu closer to Mostel. "It really has," he says, with a degree of wonder. "Who can know what makes anybody else tick, but Zero and I are very close in a lot of ways. That's kind of fun — to use your own heart beating for someone else."

And, no, Brochu is not about to make a career out of Mostel, tempting though that may be. "I have the new script in front of me, in fact," he says. "I'm going to be doing P.T. Barnum — a two-character play with me playing the old Barnum and the young Barnum. And then, after Barnum," he continues without missing a beat, "I'm doing Rosemary Clooney."