Hal Linden sparks up the Old Globe

By Alex Owens | Contributor

Every good play requires lots of rehearsal, but a few margaritas don’t hurt either.

So when Hal Linden started work a few weeks ago on the Old Globe Theater’s production of “The Twenty-seventh Man,” he made sure to take his fellow actors over to Barrio Star for some Mexican food.

“On the third day of rehearsal, I took the actors to dinner and we swilled some margaritas and bonded,” Linden, 83, said. “I try to do that with every play.”

The bonding was especially important for “The Twenty-seventh Man,” because it is what he calls a “company play.”

“There are four performers on stage and the interaction counts,” Linden said. “You have four thoughtful actors justifying or acting out what the characters are doing in the play.”

The “Twenty-seventh Man” has its West Coast premiere Feb. 14 at the Old Globe, and Linden is enjoying working out his role of Yevgeny Zunser, an elderly Yiddish writer brought to a Soviet prison in 1952 along with 26 others.

“People have always asked me what I like doing most: films, TV, stage or performances, and I used to say, ‘All of the above,’” he said. “But I realized that my favorite part is rehearsal. That’s when an actor is most creative.”

Ensemble work comes naturally to Linden, who rose to national fame in the 1970s in the title role of “Barney Miller,” a groundbreaking sitcom about a New York police station also starring a talented cast that included Abe Vigoda, Ron Glass and Max Gail.

The setting of Linden’s new play is both different and similar to “Barney Miller.”

It takes place in a Soviet prison in 1952, where Stalin’s secret police have rounded up 26 writers, the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia, and a young teenager.

Linden plays Yevgeny Zunser, a role that, according to playwright Nathan Englander, requires someone who’s seen life.

“When [Director] Barry [Edelstein] told me Hal was going to do the part, I fell out of my seat,” Englander said. “I thought, ‘He’s going to kill [in the role]!’”

The play debuted to acclaim in New York back in 2012, with Edelstein as director.

Linden didn’t see the play during its New York run and was unaware of the real-life events that inspired it, but he was hooked when he read Englander’s script.

“Good words,” he said. “That’s what gets me.”

Edelstein said Linden has brought a lot to the character, much of which has been illuminating to the director.

“A new actor always brings new insights because acting is always a reflection of an individual’s personality,” he said. “‘Comparisons are arduous,’ Shakespeare tells us, and the actor who played Zunser in the premiere was wonderful. But Hal’s warmth, approachability, and gentleness are very much highlights of the character this time around.”

Edelstein said Linden’s life experience add depth to the character and a lot of fun to the cast and crew.

“Hal’s just a great storyteller,” he said. “A ‘tummler’ as we’d call it in Yiddish. He is just full of amazing showbiz stories that make us laugh long and loud, and he seems to have one for every occasion.

“And he’s very self-deprecating: Who’d have thought you could weave an Abe Vigoda reference into a rehearsal for a play about Stalin?”

“The Twenty-seventh Man” runs Feb. 14 – March 15 at the Old Globe Theatre. For ticket information, go to TheOldGlobe.org or call 619-23-GLOBE.

—Alex Owens es un escritor independiente con sede en San Diego. Él puede ser contactado en [email protected].