Thaaaat’s It!
Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks remembers one of his first acting roles, on tour with Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof. “I had one critical line, ‘Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness.’ I was supposed to shout it at Zero, right in his face, and I was sure I was giving my all. But every night, just before the line, he’d whisper, ‘Give it to me. Come on, give it to me.’
“Finally I got so angry I just lost it. I stood up on my toes. I went white; I screamed; I was actually spitting in that face I detested so much, ‘Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!’ And this time, the audience roared. And Zero said to me under his breath, ‘Thaaaat’s it! Thaaaat’s it!”