HERSHEY FELDER AS LEONARD BERNSTEIN IN MAESTRO: Music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and others. Book by Hershey Felder. With Hershey Felder as Leonard Bernstein. Directed by Joel Zwick. Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Thrust, 2025 Addison Street @ Shattuck, Berkeley, CA 94704 June 6 – June 22, 2014 (EXTENDED! June 5–July 3, 2014) [rating:3]
The multitalented (pianist, actor, playwright, composer, producer, and director) Hershey Felder triumphantly returns to Berkeley Rep’s trust stage becoming the multitalented Leonard Bernstein. In the past Felder has limited his portrayals to composers including his smash hit last year as George Gershwin in George Gershwin Alone. In that performance he tacked on a 30 minute sing-a-long curtain call when the uproarious applause kept him on the stage. This time there was no curtain call but it was not from lack of appreciation from a rapt audience.
In the past he has taken on the personae of Fryderyk Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt. All were great composers while Bernstein was an unsuccessful classical composer and is known for his orchestral directing skills. He considered himself a failure. If one might conjecture about Felder’s motivations to create this show it may be he wished to display his own directorial skills. He certainly does that when he, through Bernstein, gives us a thorough lesson in the art of directing an orchestra that he learned studying under such great conductors including Dimitri Mitropoulos, Fritz Reiner, Serge Koussevitzky, Artur Rodzinski and composer Aaron Copland. Bernstein became the youngest conductor to have led and become the first American-born music director of the New York Philharmonic.
Much of the evening is devoted to Bernstein’s relationship with his Jewish immigrant father who was materialistic and adamant that one cannot make a living as a musician. This allows Felder to adopt a Yiddish accent that adds humor. The accent is used throughout the evening as Felder chronologically grows from young Bernstein to a disappointed adulthood. There is only brief mention of his faithful wife and children with a “throw-away-line” late the show about his fling with a young boy that lasted only 1 ½ years saying as he departed the stage his greatest regret was the hurt he caused those near and dear to him. With a curtain line such as that there could be no encore.
The evening starts and ends with Felder using the words from West Side Story in the song “Somewhere” with a time and place for everything. Felder frames the evening with the lyrics from that song. As with his other productions there is a single set with props that are pertinent to the character he is creating. For this show there is an ancient TV camera reflecting the fact that Bernstein’s fame was made even more grand through the “Omibus” TV series. Many of the projected clips are taken from that program.
The black and white projections become an integral part of the 90 minute show as he effortlessly moves from his piano playing to dialog. The music selections include the “Somewhere” mentioned above, “Carried Away” from On the Town; his “Piano Sonata”; Aaron Copeland’s “Piano Sonata” Variation 1 and 9; “A Little Bit of Love” from Wonderful Town; “I Hate Music”; “Lamentations” from Jeremiah; “Greetings” from Arias and Barcafolles; Glitter and be Gay from Candide and“Maria” from West Side Story.
Felder’s first-person narrative as Bernstein and his smooth transitions to those individuals that have shaped his life creates a provocative but not compelling theatre piece. As mentioned in the PR data it certainly is “an illuminating look at the amazing life of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.”
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
