MY SON THE WAITER: A JEWISH TRAGEDY to Serve at Bucks County Playhouse

By: Feb. 13, 2017
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Brad Zimmerman's My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy is the story of one man's struggle to fulfill his dream and 'make it' as a comedic actor in New York. One part standup, one part theatrical, and all parts uproarious, My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy will open as part of the Visiting Artists Series at Bucks County Playhouse on March 23 and run through April 9.

Tickets range from $45 - $65 plus fees and are available online at www.buckscountyplayhouse.org or by phone at 215.862.2121.

Brad Zimmerman comes to this material firsthand. He spent 29 years "temporarily" waiting tables in New York, all the while chasing a career in acting and comedy. His perseverance and hard work eventually did pay off, and Zimmerman went on to act. He had a small part in "The Sopranos" playing Johnny Sack's lawyer and he was the opening act many well-known entertainers including George Carlin, Brad Garrett, Dennis Miller, Julio Iglesias, and Joan Rivers. He loves how she says, "I've had three great opening acts in my lifetime: Billy Crystal, Garry Shandling, and Brad Zimmerman."

In My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, Zimmerman tells of his acting pursuit, along with stories about his childhood, family, and misbegotten love life with warmth, wit, self-deprecating humor and wicked charm. He combines his years of training as an actor with his innate comedic talent.

And, of course, Zimmerman also examines the trials and tribulations of waiting on tables - particularly for someone not exactly invested in that career and with little tolerance for persnickety diners. When he sat down for a recent interview with The New York Times, he said he would say to restaurant patrons, "I don't want 60 questions, get to the point!" He joked that if diners prefaced their orders by saying they were in a hurry he would say "So, go!" He says he did enjoy some of the bantering he did with diners, and often tried out material on them, however there were also 'the bossy customers who would snap their fingers to get his attention... and the health-food obsessives who elaborately customized their orders and button-holed him over ingredients.' As he says in My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, he was convinced his epitaph would read "I'll be right with you."

Zimmerman worked on the script for My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy for nine years and performed it in small venues all over the country, including a stint at Stage Door Theatre in Florida, where it came to the attention of producers Dana Matthow and Philip Roy (Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, Old Jews Telling Jokes, My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm in Therapy, WaistWatchers The Musical; My Mother's Italian My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy!; Old Jews Telling Jokes; RESPECT A Musical Journey of Women; Baby Boomer Baby; and Cooking With The Calamari Sisters). Since then My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy spent two years at Off-Broadway's Stage 72 at the Triad Theatre in New York, and has toured the USA from coast to coast.

For more information about My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, visit buckscountyplayhouse.org.

IF YOU GO:

My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy
By Brad Zimmerman
March 23 - April 9, 2017
at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 South Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938
Tickets are $45 - $65, plus fees.
Purchase at 215-862-2121 or online buckscountyplayhouse.org. Group Rates (12+) Call Marla at 1-888-264-1788.
Showtimes: Thursday 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm; Friday 8:00 pm; Saturday 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm; and Sunday 2:00 pm

Bucks County Playhouse, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, is the oldest and largest professional Equity performing arts center in Bucks County. Under the direction of Tony Award-winning producers, Alexander Fraser and Robyn Goodman, The Playhouse provides first class professional theatrical entertainment as well as community events, partnerships and arts education programming for visitors and residents of New Hope, Doylestown, Lambertville and the Delaware Valley. In 2017, Bucks County Playhouse is pleased to enter into a new partnership with Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, launching in a summer collaboration of the successful Bucks County Playhouse production of "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story."

Located between Philadelphia and New York, Bucks County Playhouse opened in 1939 in a converted 1790 gristmill after a group of community activists, led by Broadway orchestrator Don Walker and playwright Moss Hart, rallied to save the building. The Playhouse quickly became one of the country's most famous regional theaters, featuring a roster of American theatrical royalty including Helen Hayes, Kitty Carlisle, George S. Kaufman, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, Bert Lahr, Walter Matthau, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Alan Alda, Tyne Daly, Liza Minnelli and Audra McDonald and remained in continuous operation until December 2010. In 2012, The Playhouse re-opened thanks to the efforts of the Bridge Street Foundation, the nonprofit family foundation of Kevin and Sherri Daugherty, and Broadway producer Jed Bernstein.

Since its renovation, significant productions include Terrence McNally's "Mothers and Sons" starring Tyne Daly, which moved to Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards, and "Misery" by William Goldman based on the Stephen King novel which also went on to a Broadway run in the 2015-16 season. Two of The Playhouse's recent productions -- "Company" starring Justin Guarini, and William Finn's "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" -- were named by Wall Street Journal to its "Best of Theatre" list for 2015. The Playhouse's productions of "Steel Magnolias" and "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" broke box office records in 2016.



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