CHOPIN IN PARIS at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Makes a A lot-Anticipated Return to the Bay Space

Felder has been extraordinarily productive over the previous two years whereas COVID made touring unfeasible. Holed up in his residence in Florence, Italy (poor man), he not solely honed his already razor-sharp expertise on the keyboard, he additionally discovered a brand new efficiency venue on the web. Felder carried out a collection of livestreamed world premiere works with audiences tuning in world wide. Some 18 of his packages are presently accessible at hersheyfelder.net, every thing from exhibits exploring the lives and music of composers like Tchaikovsky and Irving Berlin to boundary-breaking musical movies on Dante and the Venetian Jewish ghetto, with a few cooking exhibits thrown in for good measure.

I caught up with the peripatetic Felder final week from his residence in Venice, Italy (once more, have to be tough to be him!) as he was ending filming there for his new Chopin and Liszt venture earlier than heading off to Poland to shoot extra footage. He understandably sounded a bit exhausted at what was the tip of one other lengthy day for him, however his customary good humor and skill to tug cultural factoids out of skinny air have been firmly intact. We talked about what it was like to return on the highway, how Chopin had figured into his progress as a younger musician, and plans for a Sondheim program this December. All through, he employed his distinctive polyglot syntax and seemingly infinite data of all issues performing arts. He is the form of man who you ask a easy query and someway his reply leads from legendary theater director/producer Hal Prince to the movie Throw Momma from the Practice of all issues, with a number of different seeming non-sequiturs in between. The next dialog has been condensed and edited for readability.

You latterly accomplished a run of Chopin in Paris on the Wallis in Beverly Hills. Was that your first time again in entrance of a stay viewers since COVID?

By way of a run, sure. I would executed a number of performances in Italy over the 2 years, you already know once we had breaks from mask-wearing and so forth, so it wasn’t completely my first time again. However when it comes to America, sure, it was my first time again since COVID, completely.

How did it really feel to be again performing an actual run of a present for a stay viewers within the U.S.?

For me it is loads like using a bicycle as a result of I did it for 27 years, so it’s extremely acquainted, it is not one thing that I’ve to determine “How do I do that?” You simply form of fall again into it. By way of the viewers and the play itself, that wasn’t totally different, that’s what it’s – aside from the viewers sporting masks, however I feel we have all gotten accustomed to it. So I simply went and did my job, and that is what I do.

Nevertheless, now I do not go wherever or do something however this present, as a result of it’s good to be sure you do not get sick. I had gotten sick three or 4 weeks earlier than. I received that BA.5 factor, and let me let you know it is no joke. I am nonetheless exhausted from it, despite the fact that I did the run. It hangs round, so it is critical stuff, it is onerous work. And I used to be very fortunate as a result of we did promote out, however it’s as a result of I do a really particular factor and I’ve had an viewers for years. However I perceive from a whole lot of my colleagues that issues aren’t fairly what they have been.

By way of the festivity of doing the present, opening evening isn’t actually a gap evening as a result of you’ll be able to’t have huge gatherings, you do not have a bar within the foyer the place individuals go and congregate, there is not any greeting patrons after. So, yeah, it is totally different, that is for certain. I do not exit, I do not occasion, I do not [normally] do this anyway, however you already know it is simply that one must be cautious.

Is that irritating? You strike me as an actual individuals particular person.

No, I’m really fairly shy. I’m a individuals particular person onstage, however I am probably not a social butterfly. I imply, I do my job, and I am beneficiant as a lot as I may be with the viewers. However privately, I am not. I am very shy and really very, very quiet.

I’ve heard a whole lot of performers are that means.

Yeah, you give a lot to the viewers that you would be able to’t very properly carry on giving, in any other case you don’t have anything left to provide.

Does Chopin in Paris bear any relation to Monsieur Chopin, which you created numerous years in the past and carried out elsewhere?

Sure. The narrative is comparable, however the structuring of the play is totally different. You at all times need to search for new and extra enjoyable methods to do a narrative, and I discovered a distinct angle involving interplay with the viewers and it really works very properly. I imply, you’d by no means assume it, however it’s a substantial amount of enjoyable, and there is a whole lot of laughter. Chopin was a cutup, and in his youth one of many methods he handled no matter fears he had was to be very witty along with his salon listeners. So there’s a whole lot of that, and a whole lot of it’s off the cuff which makes it actually enjoyable.

Chopin in Paris was directed by Joel Zwick, with whom you might have a longstanding creative relationship. How did the 2 of you initially join?

Via a man by the title of Stu Silver who I used to be writing a musical play with. I would met Stu via actor Rex Hays in New York via a workshop I used to be doing for Hal Prince, of all individuals. Rex requested me to fulfill Stu Silver as a result of he stated we have been very comparable. Stu had written Throw Momma from the Practice and he was fairly well-known for having written Cleaning soap with Billy Crystal. And so I went to fulfill him in California, we labored collectively and he stated Joel Zwick was a really pricey good friend of his and that I wanted to fulfill him. And it turned out that Joel and I have been third cousins. So it is a lengthy story, however that is the way it occurred.

One of many issues I at all times take pleasure in about your biographical works is the way you discover a particular emotional connection to every particular person you painting. What was the important thing to discovering the character of Chopin?

Psychological sickness is a giant factor on this piece. I do not need to fake that I’ve a grasp of it, however I attempt to perceive what it means. With Chopin it is in all probability what the case was, so it from that human perspective and the way he suffered was necessary.

Do you bear in mind what the primary Chopin piece you ever discovered to play was?

Ah … my goodness, that is a query! [long pause]

As a result of I assume Chopin’s music would have performed a big position in your schooling as a pianist.

Oh, no query, completely. I am simply attempting to assume which the primary one was… I do know which one I wished to learn to play, and I attempted, however I used to be what, seven years previous? It was the Butterfly Research in G Flat, Op. 25 No. 9, however everyone is aware of it because the “Butterfly Research.” It is the primary one which I heard and so I wished to deal with it on the instrument. My trainer stated, “Oh, it is too onerous” and I stated, “I am gonna study it.” So I simply pressured myself to attempt to study it, bar by bar, and I labored at it for god is aware of how lengthy. After which after all, I took on simpler items of his and finally labored my means again as much as that.

Do you might have a present favourite Chopin piece that you just hold discovering new issues in?

Every little thing, you discover that in every thing [he wrote]! His music is simply so lovely.

You’ve got at all times had so many alternative pots on the hearth, and now that is actually the case with these cooking exhibits you’ve got executed. How did they arrive about?

Effectively, my audiences and buddies know that I at all times like cooking for them, so it was like “Why do not you do a present that pertains to the meals that the artists would have ready of their time?”

Waiting for the assorted new packages you may offer on-line within the fall, I am particularly excited in regards to the Sondheim present in December. Have you ever labored out how you intend to method to his music, how you are going to make it right into a present?

That is a chunk we are going to create with Nationwide Younger Artists, and it will be enjoyable. It’s going to be an evaluation of the songs themselves, utilizing varied artists to debate the songs. A considerate factor, slightly than a – how do you name it? – a “present” present.

Being a Sondheim fanatic myself, I am simply actually curious to see what you may give you.

I do not know – we’ll discover out! [laughs]

Since COVID gave you a chance to lastly spend a whole lot of time at residence in Italy, have you ever found something new in regards to the wonders of Florence or Venice?

You understand, every thing is a miracle in these locations. It is so thrilling to be right here. It is so creative, it is simply actually lovely and I uncover one thing new day-after-day. It is by no means boring!

(all images courtesy of Hershey Felder Presents)

Hershey Felder: Chopin in Paris runs from August 19 to September 11, 2022 stay on the Mountain View Heart for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, CA. For tickets and extra info, go to TheatreWorks.org or name (877)-662-8978.