In Monsieur Chopin, Hershey Felder transforms the Writers Theatre into Frederic Chopin’s 1848 Paris salon, where the famed composer gave piano lessons. A grand piano fills the stage. In this case, we, the audience, are his students.
Felder brings us into the world of Chopin, but most rewarding is listening to him play iconic Chopin compositions.
One of the first things we learn is that Chopin is not a “technical pianist.“ He pours his life and his soul into his pieces. Early in the performance, Felder, as Chopin, tells us, “The piano could be nothing more than a casket unless it sings.” When Felder plays, the piano definitely sings.
Felder explains that events in Chopin’s life influenced his music. Whether these events actually did influence his compositions is something we have to take on faith, but the interpretations do add another dimension to Felder’s concert performance.
Felder re-enacts the story of Chopin’s beloved sister Emilia, who died when she was a teenager. Felder sees the famous funeral march in Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 as inspired by this experience. Listening to Felder play the piece is pleasure enough but these added interpretations provide another dimension.
Chopin tell us, his students, in this concert how important Poland was to him and how much he missed it and Warsaw most of his life. He wants us to hear the homesickness and the wonderful remembrances of Poland in his polonaises and mazurkas.
This production is titled Hershey Felder as Monsieur Chopin, A Play with Music. While the character, Chopin, reveals the most intimate experiences of his life as well as comments on society, I would not characterize the production as a play. But it doesn’t need to be.
Felder’s Chopin concert on its own would be enough without any drama. But the storytelling and Felder’s insights into Chopin are the extra touch. It is a reenacted biography that enhances a wonderful concert.
Does it help to know about his sister’s death? His lifetime of ill health? His feeling about other composers, especially Hungarian composer Franz Liszt? I think yes, it does.
And Felder tells the stories with a persona that almost lets you forget he’s not actually Chopin, the piano teacher and composer who struggled with hallucinations and melancholia, yet somehow had a wit and engaging humor at the same time. Felder plays the composer as someone who might be self-deprecating but all the time feels the strength and power of his music.
If the scene on stage is a musical classroom, Felder (as Chopin) is the charismatic teacher. If the scene is an intimate setting for a piano concert, Felder is the maestro pianist.
As a performer, Felder is well-known to audiences. He has created and played in more than 6,000 live performances in 28 years of continuous stage work. He fills theaters with his original productions about classical American and European composers such as Gershwin, Beethoven, Bernstein and Liszt.
If you’ve seen Felder in these other performances, you know how engaging and talented he is. Monsieur Chopin will now be added to the list.
If this musical experience with him is your first, you will be mesmerized.
Monsieur Chopin runs through May 12 at the Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe. For more information, visit the box office online or call (847) 242-6000.