A fresh show each night

Jennifer K Mahal

Hal Linden has to start from scratch every time he does a cabaret

show.

“I have no preconceptions about the audience,” Linden said. “And they

have no preconceptions about me.”

The latter part may not be entirely accurate for people that remember

Linden as Barney Miller. The actor made people laugh week after week

playing the irascible cop. But Linden, who performs this weekend at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center, said fewer and fewer people know

the half-hour television show that made him a recognizable face.

“I deal with Barney right off,” Linden said. “Most people have no idea

what I’m about to do, so I deal with that right away. I deal with the

fact of Barney Miller.”

The Tony and Emmy-award-winning performer said he does not joke about

his former cop persona. There are jokes in his show, Linden avers, but

not about Miller.

Doing cabaret shows was sort of a childhood dream for the 70-year-old,

who was born in New York with the name Harold Lipshitz. He started

studying clarinet when he was 8, becoming a professional musician in his

teens and singing with bands.

“I always had the idea that someone would discover me and give me a

record contract,” said Linden, who chose his stage name while passing

through Linden, N.J. on his way to an acting gig. “I wanted to become a

singer like Vic Damone. The dream was always there.”

His first professional show as an actor was a small part in a summer

stock performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town.”

“I was in the chorus,” he said.

Bit parts and secondary roles followed until he got an amazing break.

He was cast as the understudy to the lead in the Broadway run of “Bells

are Ringing” with Judy Holliday.

“The girl I was going with recommended me,” he said. “I auditioned

seven times. No representative, no agent, no nothing.”

When a bout of Asiatic flu downed the lead on opening night, Linden

had to step in. He had never done a leading role before.

“My constitution was good and strong and I got through the whole run,”

he said. “Having my first Broadway show in the lead was traumatic. I won

the understudy role and a week later I was on.”

On stage, Linden found a home.

“It was amazing to me because you have to be sure what you know and

what you don’t know,” he said. “I was incredibly comfortable. I got

laughs, no problem. People standing in the wings, their mouths dropped.”

He may have played the role like an expert, but Linden admits he was a

neophyte, especially when compared to Holliday, whom he describes as a

gracious actress.

Take for example the time she and Linden were doing their “Just in

Time” number, dancing in front of the curtain.

“I took her in my arms in dance position and danced across the stage,”

he said. “Two or three times I felt her hand on my back, twisting me so I

was out to the audience. It never occurred to me. I was just playing the

moment, singing to her. She twisted me to play to the audience. Most

leading ladies would have left me singing upstage.”

After spending some time on Broadway -- and winning a Tony for “The

Rothschilds” -- Linden said he was asked to put together a program of

songs.

That led to an offer to perform in a hotel.

“Then I needed an arranger with the music, I added this or that song,

and before I knew it I was doing cabaret and I’ve been doing it ever

since,” he said. “In 30 years, the act has metamorphosed. New numbers,

new ideas. What happened is my innate sense of theater took over.”

The act started as an autobiographical -- “most shows are,” he said --

revue of songs he sung on Broadway and songs he hadn’t sung, but wanted

to sing.

“It had to do with remembering,” said the man with no plans to retire

any time soon. “Not only about my memories, but getting the audience to

remember.”

Now the show is more of an homage to the Great White Way, as seen

through Linden’s eyes. It also includes some of his clarinet skill, which

has been seen with in Orange County before when he performed with the

Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

There is no script for the show, which has also never been put on CD,

making it fresh for every audience that comes along.

“It’s powerful to take the audience from having no preconceived idea

of what I’m about to do and bring them along to the point that they

care,” Linden said. “It is what I pride myself on.”

FYI

What: Hal Linden

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, Founders Hall, 600 Town

Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Dec. 13-16; 7:30 p.m. today, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m.

Sunday

Cost: $46-$49

Call: (714) 740-7878