Character Man
Opening Night: February 28, 2014
Closing: March 30, 2014
Theater: Urban Stages
Drama Desk Award winner (Zero Hour) Jim Brochu puts his stamp on an original musical valentine to the Great White Way. Character Man is a salute to the memorable character actors of Broadway, filled with hilarious theatre stories and touching personal recollections. Sprinkled with juicy backstage lore, the show spotlights the careers of Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Barney Martin and Brochu’s own mentor, two- time Tony Award winner David Burns. Character Man delivers the iconic songs of ground-breaking composers including Meredith Willson, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick and Stephen Sondheim and celebrates the Golden Age of the American Musical.
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March 5, 2014
Jim Brochu’s Character Man is a show for the ages, if the ages are 60 and up. An accomplished actor, singer and mimic, Brochu had a major success in 2009 with Zero Hour, in which he channeled the turbulent waters of Zero Mostel into marvelous theatrical energy. In his heartfelt new show, the homage is broader: He acts as dapper docent for a tour of Broadway comic actors of the 1960s and ’70s, including not only Mostel but such less iconic figures as David Burns (Brochu’s mentor), Barney Martin, Jack Gilford and George S. Irving.
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March 6, 2014
Jim Brochu is a professional Character Man — as anyone who has seen him in The Man Who Came to Dinner or his one-man show Zero Hour, about Zero Mostel, knows — but he’s also a professional fan, burning with love and admiration for the quirky, one-of-a-kind personalities that make the theatre hum. As luck would have it, he happened to grow up among the members of the tribe, first from the vantage point of the orange juice concession that once was a mainstay of every Broadway house, and later in more intimate form. His new one-man show is an ardent love letter to the great character actors of Broadway’s late golden age.
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March 10, 2014
Jim Brochu made his off-Broadway debut back in 1968 and has worked steadily ever since. Never heard of him? No wonder: He’s what’s known as a “character man” — someone whose quirky personality and lack of matinee-idol looks relegate him to supporting roles. And when actors like those do land a lead, it’s usually comic rather than romantic. Some character men become famous — like Zero Mostel, the subject of Brochu’s previous solo, 2009’s Zero Hour. But, mostly, we recognize these guys by their faces rather than their names. In his new off-Broadway offering, Character Man, Brochu lovingly covers a whole bunch of them: Mostel, Jack Gilford, Jackie Gleason — but also women like Kathleen Freeman, who played the foil in most of Jerry Lewis’ movies.
READ THE REVIEWMarch 5, 2014
Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founder, Artistic Director and Peter Napolitano, Producing Director) is presenting the world premiere of Jim Brochu Character Man, directed by Robert Bartley with extraordinary set and graphics by Patrick Brennan (including landscape paintings) and wonderful music direction by Carl Haan. Brochu, who did an abbreviated version earlier at the Metropolitan Room, has written the book for this extraordinary production which opens with a title song that was written by Roger Edens for Ethel Merman and has additional lyrics by Brochu as we see projected photographs of famous character actors on the stage including Phil Silvers, Lou Jacobi, Jack Gilford, Bert Lahr, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Jack Albertson.
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March 9, 2014
A few years back, Jim Brochu had a hit with his one-man show, Zero Hour, in which he reincarnated the great Zero Mostel. Now, in Character Man, a blend of cabaret, theater and scrapbook, he pays homage to a much larger lineup of actors and produces a solidly satisfying evening. Mr. Brochu defines a character man as someone able to play either leading or supporting parts while displaying “unusual characteristics or peculiarities,” who works in television, movies and theater but rarely becomes a household name. (Audiences might know him as “Oh yeah, that guy.”) On this roll call, Mostel is present, but so are Jack Gilford, George S. Irving, Barney Martin, Lou Jacobi and Charles Nelson Reilly, to name a handful of Mr. Brochu’s colleagues and inspirations.
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