Tattle Tales

HERSHEY FELDER AS "GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE": This new play written and performed by Canadian pianist-writer Hershey Felder, has been playing to near capacity audience since it’s April 30 Broadway premiere at the Helen Hayes Theatre. It marks the first time in theatrical history that the great composer’s heirs have granted anyone the privilege of re-creating on a Main Stem stage the work of America’s musical icon. With Felder playing and singing at the onstage piano, the press acclaim has been vociferous and a lengthy run is in prospect.

Narrating the brief story of George Gershwin, who died prematurely at age 38 of a brain tumor, the play deals musically with the life of a man who didn’t know the heights of success he would achieve. This tuneful journey is launched with the song, "Swanee," followed by the inclusing of such works at "Embraceable You," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" (from Porgy and Bess)") and the timeless piano work "Rhapsody In Blue." The child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Gershwin’s story is told through the aforesaid works, plus others that he wrote in the late 1920s and 30s. It’s a Gershwin tribute that inspired such raves from the first night critics as the following": "For 90 intermissionless moments, Hershey Felder persuades us he is the reincarnation of George Gershwin" (Clive Barnes, New York Post). "To remind us of the sheer volume of Gershwin’s work, Canadian concert pianist and actor Felder makes an auspicious Broadway debut." (New York Times). If there is any criticism, it has to do with Felder’s singing, which does not equal the warbling of thrush K.T. Sullivan in the previous offering at the Triad Theatre, "Rhapsody In Blue." Felder’s tenor voice is thin and reedy, according to the Daily News. But, as News critic Howard Kissell points out, neither George or his lyricist brother, Ira, were any great shakes at singing their own songs.

Would that Felder’s play dealt more thoroughly with the lack of romance in the life of Gershwin, who never married. Felder does narrate how Gershwin wooed and lost the pianist-composer, Kay Swift, with whom Felder deals seriously. The play extensively savors the composer’s womanizing. His life, though, is treated as one to be celebrated.

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