Photo Coverage: ZERO HOUR - Opening Night Party

ZERO HOUR, Jim Brochu's award-winning play about the life of theatre legend Zero Mostel is making its Off-Broadway premiere at Theatre at Saint Clement's. Previews began Saturday, November 14th. Produced by Kurt Peterson and Edmund Gaynes in association with The Peccadillo Theater Company, the show celebrated its Opening Night on Sunday, November 22nd at 7 p.m. The limited engagement of ZERO HOUR will continue through January 31st.

Three-time Academy Award nominee Piper Laurie directs the production which has played enormously successful engagements in Washington DC, San Francisco, Houston, and a 16-week sold-out run in South Florida which garnered Brochu the 2009 Carbonell Award as Best Actor in a Play. ZERO HOUR, originally produced in Los Angeles, received the LA Stage 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.

With partner, composer Steve Schalchlin, Jim Brochu penned the award-winning Off-Broadway musicals The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman? In addition to his theatrical work, Brochu's acting credits also include appearances on "All My Children," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," "Cheers," "Wings," and "Bram and Alice."

Performances of ZERO HOUR will be Monday at 7 pm, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Theatre at Saint Clement's, 423 West 46th Street (between Ninth & Tenth Ave.) Tickets are $35 and $55 and are available through Telecharge.com 212-239-6200. For more information, visit www.ZeroHourShow.com.

Photos by Amy Shaughnessy

Jim Brochu and Theodore Bikel

Jim Brochu and Theodore Bikel

Tamara Brooks, Jim Brochu, and Theodore Bikel

Tamara Brooks, Jim Brochu, and Theodore Bikel

Victoria Mallory, Kurt Peterson, Jim Brochu, and Harvey Evans

Victoria Mallory, Kurt Peterson, Jim Brochu, and Harvey Evans

Victoria Mallory and Kurt Peterson

Jim Brochu and Piper Laurie

Jim Brochu and Piper Laurie

Jim Brochu enters Sardi's to thunderous applause!

Cady Huffman

Marge Champion