HERSHEY FELDER, BEETHOVEN by Carol Kaufman Segal

            Hershey Felder is a pianist, actor, playwright, composer, producer, and director.  With talent plus, I judge him a genius.  As a playwright, actor and pianist, he created the role of American composer George Gershwin in the stage play George Gershwin Alone.  His performance, in every way, was stupendous and was a big success.  Thus, his roles followed as Polish composer Frederick Chopin (Monsieur Chopin), Ludwig Van Beethoven (Beethoven, As I Knew Him), Leonard Bernstein (Maestro Bernstein), Franz Liszt (Franz Liszt In Musik), Irving Berlin (Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin), and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Our Great Tchaikovsky).

            This latest production by Felder takes place in October, 1863.  This time it is, again, about Beethoven in which he portrays Gerhard von Breuning, son of Beethoven’s lifelong friend and physician, Stephan von Breuning, as well as Beethoven.  Gerhard, in his teens, became a regular companion to Beethoven during his final few years when his hearing loss had developed into total deafness.  Gerhard became a doctor, and years after Beethoven’s death, published his memories of those years.  Felder found his source for this performance from those papers.

            Hershey Felder tells his story as Gerhard Breuning, how he first encountered Beethoven when he was 12-years old and he and his father chanced upon him while on a walk.  He found out that his father and Beethoven had a relationship when they were young, but that Beethoven grew up with a malicious father and the relationship was not always stable.  However, his own friendship with Beethoven was cherished

            As the story takes place, Felder takes on the characters of both Bruening and Beethoven in conversation with each other.  He adds Beethoven’s music to emphasize the story, and all the while, we are privy to a remarkable performance by a remarkable man as an actor and pianist who also wrote the play and created the scenic design.  Joel Zwick directs.

            Watching Hershey Felder, in each of his productions, has been one of the highlights of my theater experiences.  To watch him perform intricate music, while emoting at the same time, is uncanny to me.  I look forward to seeing any of his performances, even repeats   I will be watching for the opening of his next story about a famous composer, France’s Claude Debussy, when the time comes for it to open.

            Hershey Felder, Beethoven is playing at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills.  Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM and 7:30 PM, and Sundays at 2 PM and 7:30 PM, closing Sunday, August 19, after the 2 PM performance.  Tickets are available online at www.TheWallis.org/Beethoven, by phone at (310 746-4000, or at the Theater Box Office.

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