By Ernest Kearney — Hershey Felder began doing his solo shows based on the lives of great composers some twenty-five years ago at the old Tiffany Theatre on Sunset Boulevard. This fact is missing from his resume to avoid having to deal with the East Coast hubris of both drama critics and the ticket buying Manhatteners who tend to have a rather vicious prejudice against shows originating in Los Angeles.
Though, unbeknownst to them, so very many do.
Felder who has performed as Gershwin, Chopin and Beethoven now returns to L.A. with Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story, playing through June 16 The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
It is the story of 19-year-old Felder’s first trip to Paris told from the perspective of his favorite composer Achille-Claude Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918).
The love object of the title is a triptych affair: the city of Paris, the music of Debussy, and Felder’s own mother who died tragically young at 35 when Felder was barely a teen.
In seeing himself as a young man wandering the nocturnal Parisian streets through the eyes of the long dead composer, Felder evokes a fittingly dream-like state; fittingly, because Debussy described music as “a dream from which the veils have been lifted.”
Felder attains a pentimento-like effect as the old French composer’s life fades to reveal that of the young American pianist, all the while punctuated by Debussy’s wraithlike melodies such as Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Clair de lune.
Felder achieves beautiful moments, and the sincerity of the work is nothing other than staggering.
If fault can be found it is in Debussy’s consistency of composition which offers little in the way of variety. Felder’s masterful playing of Debussy’s pieces more than compensates for the lack of range in the works, once again managing to humanize the artist while celebrating his harmonies in a fashion that inspires and enthralls any audience.
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Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story
Featuring the Music of Claude Debussy
Written and Performed by Hershey Felder
Directed by Trevor Hay
Production Extended through Sunday, June 16
Due to Popular Demand
at the
Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts
Dates:
Friday, May 24 – Sunday, June 16, 2019
Weekdays, 7:30 pm; Saturdays, 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Sundays, 2 pm and 7 pm
Extension Performances:
Thursday June 13, 7:30 pm;
Friday, June 14, 7:30 pm
Saturday, June 15, 2 pm
Saturday, June 15, 7:30 pm
Sunday, June 16, 2 pm
Venue:
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Bram Goldsmith Theater
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
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