Zeller's comedy, starring the author and his wife, Dana Zeller-Alexis, is about Benny, who is going through a mid-life crisis and longs to find elusive happiness in the comforting foods he knew as a child: Challah bread, Gefilte fish, egg creams and chicken fat sandwiches. Zeller is well-versed in Yiddish-flavored theatre. He starred on Broadway as Lazar Wolf in the 1990 revival of Fiddler on the Roof and Ari, the 1970 tuner about Israeli independence hero Ari Ben Canaan. Off-Broadway, he acted in the mistaken identity musical Kuni-Leml.
Both Zellers founded the 78th Street Theatre Lab in 1978. Schmaltz is Zeller's second produced play.
Tickets are $15 until Dec. 21; $20 beginning Dec. 23. Call (212) 868 4444.