Hershey Felder’s “George Gershwin Alone”

Opens June 16 at ART

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

CAMBRIDGE – Playwright, actor and musician Hershey Felder’s George Gershwin Alone, a one-man play on the life of the legendary composer and pianist, opens June 16 at the American Repertory Theatre, where it will run through July 7.

The production, which Felder wrote and stars in, is the culmination of his five years of research on the life and work of Gershwin, who, born in 1898 to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents in New York, has been arguably called "America’s Composer”.

Felder brings personal experience into the work as well. “George Gershwin Alone,” says ART Press and Public Relations Director Katalin Mitchell, “was the outcome of Hershey Felder’s meeting with a Holocaust survivor who whistled Gershwin’s ‘A Rhapsody in Blue’ to save his life.”

Further, she relates that Felder was an envoy to the January 1995 50^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz gathering, for Steven Spielberg’s SHOAH project. “Felder interviewed the Mengele Twin survivors,” she says, “as well as Mengele’s German-Jewish runner boy known as ‘The magical whistler from Berlin,’ often called upon to entertain Nazis visiting the camps.”

The Gershwin family took note of Felder’s study, and for the first time since his death, they allowed a Gershwin portrayal to be commercially staged.

“’George Gershwin Alone’ is the first to strike the balance between George’s innate Jewishness and his urbane sophistication,” says Lawrence Stewart, Gershwin archivist and personal associate of Ira Gershwin, “by drawing upon Gershwin’s Jewish immigrant experiences.”

Gershwin, who tragically died in L.A. at the age of 38 of a brain tumor, is synonymously linked with his classic works, such as “Porgy and Bess” and “Ragtime”, indelibly etched in American stage history. “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Embraceable You,” “But Not For Me,” “I Got Rhythm”: all are tributized in “George Gershwin Alone.” As for the presence of the man himself, opinion is emotionally intense and mixed as well; Felder had a difficult time working within this paradigm, but found a way out.

“There were people who absolutely adored him,” he says, “and there were others who thought he was an egotist. He’d be the dominant force at a party. The other composers who were trying to scratch out a living would stand in a corner, wondering, ‘When is he going to shut up?’ And the minute he left, the whole party fell apart. I think he was self-centered – on his music. That’s not a bad thing. The question with the play was how to present that without being offensive. The way you portray it is to be completely in love with your work – so much so that it’s forgiveable, even charming.” This would seem to be the ultimate take on this most beloved of stage icons.

The show, though chronologically depicted, is portrayed as a flashback, and is centered upon Gershwin’s last apartment at 132 E. 72^nd St. The production has played to packed houses on Broadway as well as national stages. Its original brief L.A. run was extended four times, to a total of six months.

Its run has been fanatically received. “Following a feature with Charles Osgood on CBS Sunday Morning,” says Mitchell, “and a feature on NPR that called the play a phenomenon, the show moved to Palm Beach Florida where it was extended four times and ran for four equally sold out months. Last season the play opened on Broadway to nightly standing ovations, critical and popular acclaim.”

In addition to its 14 month three-city run, including a limited engagement on Broadway, the show has made appearances on NBC, CBS, CBC, BRAVO, and PBS.

For tickets and information on “George Gershwin Alone,” please call 617-496-2000 or visit www.amrep.org.