{"id":237493,"date":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/ensemble-bonding\/"},"modified":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T08:00:00","slug":"ensemble-bonding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/ensemble-bonding\/","title":{"rendered":"Ensemble bonding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hal Linden sparks up the Old Globe<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Alex Owens | Contributor<\/p>\n

Every good play requires lots of rehearsal, but a few margaritas don\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

So when Hal Linden started work a few weeks ago on the Old Globe Theater\u2019s production of \u201cThe Twenty-seventh Man,\u201d he made sure to take his fellow actors over to Barrio Star for some Mexican food.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the third day of rehearsal, I took the actors to dinner and we swilled some margaritas and bonded,\u201d Linden, 83, said. \u201cI try to do that with every play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Twenty-seventh9_printweb\"<\/a>
Photo by Jim Cox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bonding was especially important for \u201cThe Twenty-seventh Man,\u201d because it is what he calls a \u201ccompany play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are four performers on stage and the interaction counts,\u201d Linden said. \u201cYou have four thoughtful actors justifying or acting out what the characters are doing in the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cTwenty-seventh Man\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have always asked me what I like doing most: films, TV, stage or performances, and I used to say, \u2018All of the above,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut I realized that my favorite part is rehearsal. That\u2019s when an actor is most creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensemble work comes naturally to Linden, who rose to national fame in the 1970s in the title role of \u201cBarney Miller,\u201d a groundbreaking sitcom about a New York police station also starring a talented cast that included Abe Vigoda, Ron Glass and Max Gail.<\/p>\n

The setting of Linden\u2019s new play is both different and similar to \u201cBarney Miller.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes place in a Soviet prison in 1952, where Stalin\u2019s secret police have rounded up 26 writers, the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia, and a young teenager.<\/p>\n

\"Twenty-seventh3_printweb\"<\/a>
Hal Linden will play an imprisoned Yiddish writer (Photo by Jim Cox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Linden plays Yevgeny Zunser, a role that, according to playwright Nathan Englander, requires someone who\u2019s seen life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen [Director] Barry [Edelstein] told me Hal was going to do the part, I fell out of my seat,\u201d Englander said. \u201cI thought, \u2018He\u2019s going to kill [in the role]!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The play debuted to acclaim in New York back in 2012, with Edelstein as director.<\/p>\n

Linden didn\u2019t 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\u2019s script.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood words,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what gets me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelstein said Linden has brought a lot to the character, much of which has been illuminating to the director.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new actor always brings new insights because acting is always a reflection of an individual\u2019s personality,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Comparisons are arduous,\u2019 Shakespeare tells us, and the actor who played Zunser in the premiere was wonderful. But Hal\u2019s warmth, approachability, and gentleness are very much highlights of the character this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelstein said Linden\u2019s life experience add depth to the character and a lot of fun to the cast and crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cHal\u2019s just a great storyteller,\u201d he said. \u201cA \u2018tummler\u2019 as we\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he\u2019s very self-deprecating: Who\u2019d have thought you could weave an Abe Vigoda reference into a rehearsal for a play about Stalin?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Twenty-seventh Man\u201d runs Feb. 14 \u2013 March 15 at the Old Globe Theatre. For ticket information, go to TheOldGlobe.org<\/a> or call 619-23-GLOBE.<\/p>\n

\u2014Alex Owens es un escritor independiente con sede en San Diego. \u00c9l puede ser contactado en alexowenssd@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hal Linden sparks up the Old Globe By Alex Owens | Contributor Every good play requires lots of rehearsal, but a few margaritas don\u2019t hurt either. So when Hal Linden started work a few weeks ago on the Old Globe Theater\u2019s production of \u201cThe Twenty-seventh Man,\u201d he made sure to take his fellow actors over […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Ensemble bonding","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}