The Palm Beaches Theatre presents My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy February 4 – March 27, 2016. It’s Actor/Comedian Brad Zimmerman’s hilarious and inspiring story
about the grit and passion required to ‘make it’ as an artist and the sweet rewards that come from never giving up on your dream.
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. Zimmerman paid his dues “temporarily” waiting tables in New York for 29 years, all the while chasing a career in acting and comedy. He tells of his pursuit, along with stories about his childhood, family, and misbegotten love life with warmth, wit, self-deprecating humor, and wicked charm, and 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:
“I don’t want 60 questions, get to the point!” he said he would tell restaurant patrons when he sat down for a recent interview for The New York Times. 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.”
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 to become the opening act for a number of well-known entertainers, including George Carlin, Brad Garrett, Dennis Miller, Julio Iglesias, and Joan Rivers who said “I’ve had three great opening acts in my lifetime: Billy Crystal, Garry Shandling, and Brad Zimmerman.”
Zimmerman worked on the script for My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy for 9 years and performed it in small venues all over the country, including a stint at Stage Door Theatre in Margate, 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). Since then My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy spent 2 years at Off-Broadway’s Stage 72 at the Triad Theatre in New York, and has toured the USA from coast to coast.
My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy will run from February 4th through March 27th at the Palm Beaches Theatre in Manalapan located at 250 South Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan, FL (East Ocean Ave. & A1A – Formerly Florida Stage/Plaza Theatre)
Tickets are on sale now, and are available on line at MySonTheWaiter.com or by phone at 844-448-7469. For group rates (12 +) call 888-264-1788. Tickets for My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy range from $40 – $65.
