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Over the past 22 years, playwright Hershey Felder has drawn inspiration for his many solo plays from the composers he studied as a young pianist. But for his fascinating latest work “Before Fiddler,” which San Diego Repertory Theatre premiered Sunday, Felder went back even further into his past.
As a child actor in the 1970s, Felder made his stage debut as a boy singer at Montreal’s Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, now one of the last of its kind. “Before Fiddler,” the latest show in Felder’s “Live from Florence” theatrical streaming series, tells the story of Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem.
Three years ago, San Diego Repertory Theatre audiences were the first in the country to see Hershey Felder’s play with music about the famed Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
On Sunday, Rep audiences revisited the play in a livecast from Florence, Italy, where Felder has set up a streaming production company while he waits out the pandemic. Just as the play’s delivery format has changed, so has the play itself.
The Canadian playwright/pianist/actor/producer turned “Hershey Felder: Tchaikovsky” into a filmlike study of the emotionally tortured composer’s life, rather than the traditional direct address to the audience where he plays both composer and narrator.
Hershey Felder Presents – Live from Florence Announces Special Holiday Performance of HERSHEY FELDER TCHAIKOVKSY
Hershey Felder TCHAIKOVKSY will be livestreamed from Florence, Italy on Sunday, December 20.by BWW News Desk
Hershey Felder Presents - Live from Florence continues its 2020-2021 season with a special holiday performance of Hershey Felder TCHAIKOVSKY, which will be live streamed from Florence, Italy on Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET. Streaming On Demand for Hershey Felder TCHAIKOVSKY will also be available from December 21-27, 2020.
Proceeds from Hershey Felder TCHAIKOVSKY will benefit over 20 national and international theatres, arts organizations and publications. Felder is also pleased to announce that he will partner with The Actors Fund, the national human services organization that serves the entertainment community, for the creation of a fund to help provide emergency financial assistance to the entertainment and performing arts professio