Theatrius
  • Now Playing
  • All Reviews
  • Writers
  • Reflections
  • Millennial Notes
  • Join Us
  • About Us
  • Search Icon

Theatrius

Theater Reviews—San Francisco and Beyond

“Beethoven”: Immortal & Beloved, at TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley

“Beethoven”: Immortal & Beloved, at TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley

June 22, 2017 bdhorwitz

Hershey Felder Plays the Master—and his Magical Music

by Barry David Horwitz

I would go anywhere anytime to see Hershey Felder’s artistry as writer, actor, pianist, and music idea man extraordinaire. Felder’s “Beethoven” delivers more history, biography, and brilliant performance than a gaggle of musicals.

The time has come to acknowledge that Hershey Felder has created an art form with his one-man shows where he becomes Chopin or Bernstein or Beethoven, while he plays and tells their life stories at the grand piano, center stage. Currently, at TheatreWorks, Felder, dressed as the composer in a long black period coat, makes you feel like you are speaking with The Master, himself.

Hershey Felder as Beethoven. Photos: Christopher Ash

Felder plays the Master’s immortal music magnificently on the piano, and also tells the story of B’s life at the same time. He takes on several other characters as well, giving us a stirring play written by Felder, himself.  He even does the set designs!

In fact, Hershey Felder—gifted writer, concert pianist, and superb storyteller—creates a portrait of Beethoven, you can find only on the stage. We see the young Beethoven, abused by his cruel father, rejected by friends, but going on to amaze audiences with ideas that revolutionize music. We see him taking a few simple notes and making them into unique pieces, even as a child. We feel like we are there at the dawn of Beethoven’s genius.

Hershey Felder, “Beethoven” at TheatreWorks.  Photos: Christopher Ash

When you are doing Beethoven, his few loyal friends, and his unruly family, you better have done your homework—and Felder has honed his art of portraiture and piano genius for many years. He conducts us slowly through the painful years of Beethoven’s childhood and his apprenticeship with Mozart—with refrains from the “Pathetique” and Mozart’s “Requiem.” We leave TheatreWorks with a greater understanding of Beethoven’s music—and how he parlayed three or four notes into themes for his prodigious symphonies.

I have thrilled to Felder’s other works: his “Monsieur Chopin,” his “Maestro Bernstein,” and his “Children of Willesden Lane.” Now, he plays Ludwig von Beethoven, with great restraint and power, with excerpts from “Moonlight Sonata,” the Symphonies, Sonatas, and a bit of his master Mozart’s “Requiem” mass.

Hershey Felder, “Beethoven”

The enraptured audience at TheatreWorks in Mountain View’s Performing Arts Center is breathless and quiet, our attentions are riveted  on Felder who also plays Beethoven’s friend,Dr. Gerhard von Breuning, who was only six when he met the composer. Breuning’s father took pity on their neighbor, the isolated and tempestuous Beethoven, and invited him over for dinner. The composer was alone, and constantly at war with his own difficult family—an abusive father, a hostile brother, and an ungrateful nephew. Few people got as close to the composer as did this boy, who tries to help the infirm and increasingly deaf Beethoven.

But here, amidst shadowy tombstones and elegant 18th Century furnishings, bookshelves, and a sprinkling of stars—Hershey Felder brings us the love that Dr. Breuning feels for his older friend.  The good doctor looks at the surviving bones from the inner ear of the composer, after his death, and wonders if we will ever understand the mystery of B’s deafness, and the misery that afflicted him.

Hershey Felder, “Beethoven” –  Photos by Christopher Ash

We are swept up in the composer’s attempts to do the right thing—always rebuffed and misunderstood by his mean-spirited family. Felder’s script brings to life the axiom: “No good deed goes unpunished.” B was hard to get along with because he is pursued by demons and cannot express himself to others, including his family and his adoring fans.

We feel sympathy for the composer as folks desert or attack him—and we wonder whom we may be shunning because we refuse to understand them. Felder’s docu-drama with Beethoven’s exquisitely performed works mingle heights of empathy and musicianship that mere mortals rarely achieve. Felder makes us feel at home with genius.

Hershey Felder as Ludwig von Beethoven, and his friends makes believers and admirers of anyone lucky enough to hear him act and play at TheatreWorks.  All I can say: Be There for Beethoven and Felder: The Greatest!

“Hershey Felder, Beethoven” written and performed by Hershey Felder, directed by Joel Zwick, at TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, California, through July 9, 2017. Info: theatreworks.org or 650-463-1960.

Cast: Hershey Felder as Beethoven and others.

 

 

 


Musical, Plays

Post navigation

NEXT
“The Legend of Georgia McBride” Ties a Bow on Drag, at Marin Theatre, Mill Valley
PREVIOUS
“warplay”: A Play on Words, War, & Love, at NCTC, S.F.
Comments are closed.

Menu

  • Now Playing
  • All Reviews
  • Writers
  • Reflections
  • Millennial Notes
  • Join Us
  • About Us

BLM

Black Lives Matter

Subscribe for upcoming reviews!
Loading

Current Shows

  • “Let the Right One In”: Shocking Story of Vampires in Our Lives—at Berkeley Rep
  • “I’ll Eat You Last” Serves Up Power, Fame, Obsession—at Spindrift 
  • “Chinglish” Mingles Language & Politics in Brilliant Comedy—at SF Playhouse
  • “Exhaustion Arroyo”: A Trip from Pizza Slavery to Redwood Heaven—at Cutting Ball
  • “The N— Lovers” Calls Out White Myths with Great Comedy—at The Magic
  • “shadow/land” Celebrates Joy in the Face of Disaster—at The Public, N.Y.
  • “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” Rolls to a Stop—at MTC
  • “The Producers” Soars with Spectacular Satire & Song–at Hillbarn
  • “Boeing Boeing” Flies Us into Deception & Folly—at Benicia
  • “Cyrano”: A Beautiful Romance for the Ages—at Aurora
  • “Poor Yella Rednecks” Sprinkles Slang & Spice in Viet Struggle –at ACT
  • “To Master the Art” Blends French Food, U.S. Politics, & Love—at CCCT
  • “Giraffes Can’t Dance” Highlights Power of Perseverance—at BACT
  • “Cyrano”: Streamlined Comedy on the Nose–at Aurora
  • “Poor Yella Rednecks”: Refugee Tale Rocks & Rambles—at ACT

About us:

If you want to see the best plays & performances around the San Francisco Bay or beyond, read our reviews. We promise to give you a true report on the best shows.
Bay Area Critics Circle

Barry David Horwitz, Editor of Theatrius, is a Voting Member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle, SFBATCC. Follow us on: facebook.com

© 2023   All Rights Reserved.