Writer, actor, and pianist Hershey Felder returns to the New Vic Theatre with a brand-new work called Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me. This Southern California premiere, presented by Ensemble Theater Company, recently ran at Theatre Works in Northern California to an enthusiastic reception. “I’m telling the story of how I got to what people know me for,” says Felder. “But it’s a story that no one knows…. For the first time, the audience gets to see me, and who I am as a person.”
While Felder’s previous productions at Ensemble have been historical explorations of famous composers, The Piano and Me is a more personal story of the author’s musical journey. The Piano and Me replaces the previously scheduled Monsieur Chopin, which has been in Felder’s repertoire for 20 years. “We can do Monsieur Chopin anytime,” says Felder. “People are saying (of The Piano and Me) that this is really timely, something I need to do now.”
Felder has been creating shows about musicians for three decades and is excited to introduce himself to the audience as himself, rather than as Gershwin or Rachmaninoff or Chopin. “This one is the most me,” he says. “It’s largely about what happened to me, but in the context of the world. It’s about how music can save us in the most difficult times.”
In the show, Felder plays 16 characters, all of whom had an impact on his life. “I can’t act this show,” he says. “I need to just let the story come out because I’m so close to it. It’s about how you deal with tragedy. That’s what people are finding so intimate and universal about it.”
See the Southern California premiere of this show, which features music by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Mozart, and others, at the New Vic Theatre (33 W. Victoria St.) April 30–May 10. See etcsb.org.
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