Waiting tables while struggling through one’s early career is nothing unique to acting or being Jewish. But Brad Zimmerman’s ‘My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy’ is the universal story of one person’s struggle to fulfill their dream and make it in New York. The result is one part theater, one part schtick, and all parts a complete panic.
Zimmerman spent 29 years “temporarily” waiting tables in New York, while chasing a career in acting and comedy. His perseverance finally paid off when he landed a small part in “The Sopranos” playing Johnny Sack’s lawyer, and opened for George Carlin, Brad Garrett, Dennis Miller, Julio Iglesias, and Joan Rivers.
In “My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy,” Zimmerman gives his spiel on becoming an actor, his childhood and family, and his “misbegotten love life” with “warmth, wit, self-deprecating humor,” say promoters.
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. He jokes that when diners prefaced their orders by saying they were in a hurry, he would say “So, go!” Zimmerman also says during the play that 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 nationally, including a stint at Stage Door Theatre in Florida, where it was noticed by 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,” etc.). Since then, “My Son the Waiter” spent two years at Stage 72 at the Triad Theatre in New York, and has toured from coast to coast.
“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 are available online or by calling (215) 862-2121.
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