Conversations with My Father

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Broadway Playbill

Conversations with My Father is a play by Herb Gardner.

At its core are Eddie Ross (born Goldberg), a Russian immigrant Canal Street bartender, and his son Charlie, who yearns to establish - at the very least - a peaceful co-existence with his angry, remote, and verbally and emotionally abusive father, who has spent forty years in America's melting pot trying to reject his heritage. While exploring the relationship between the two, Gardner also tells the saga of a first generation of American Jews who came of age in the Depression and assimilated at a high price during and after World War II. The play's many vignettes span the years between 1936 and 1976.

The play originally was produced by the Seattle Repertory Theatre. After 30 previews, the Broadway production, directed by Daniel Sullivan, opened on March 22, 1992 at the Royale Theatre, where it ran for 402 performances. The opening night cast included Judd Hirsch, Tony Shalhoub, David Margulies, David Krumholtz, and Jason Biggs. Jason Woliner replaced Krumholtz for the second half of the run, and James Belushi replaced Hirsch, though only for two months before the play closed.