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Now he\u2019s back at San Diego Repertory Theatre through March 24, where Joel Zwick directs \u201cHershey Felder, Beethoven,\u201d a delightful, reworked Beethoven show.<\/p>\n
In most of his shows, Felder \u201cplays\u201d the musician. Not so here; instead, the influential man is seen through the eyes of a budding young musician in Vienna named Gerhard von Breuning, whose father Stephan was Beethoven\u2019s close friend.<\/p>\n
We meet the adult Breuning at the top of the show. He is at Beethoven\u2019s grave, where \u201cthe powers that be\u201d have decreed that Beethoven\u2019s bones be disinterred and buried again in a box that will prevent further decay. Breuning is incensed, insisting that is not what Beethoven wanted.<\/p>\n
He then launches into a thoroughly engaging 90-minute story with music about his relationship with the composer. The adult Breuning wrote the 1870 memoir on which Felder\u2019s script is based.<\/p>\n
Beethoven\u2019s story is a brilliant but sad one, beginning long before his famous deafness. His father was a mean drunk and a \u201cnot very good choral conductor and organist\u201d who would lock his son in the basement when he didn\u2019t play something right.<\/p>\n
But the boy was an obvious talent (\u201cgenius\u201d is probably a better word) with a penchant for minor keys, most especially C minor. He had an assortment of music teachers.<\/p>\n
When he was 16, Beethoven went to meet Mozart, who asked him to play \u201csomething fun,\u201d and was greatly disappointed when he played something in C minor. Ever inventive, Ludwig did an improvisation in a major key.<\/p>\n Felder is more than an excellent storyteller. He\u2019s also a fine concert pianist. It seems evident in this show that Beethoven holds a special place in his heart, because his interpretations of the music are masterful and seem played from the heart. From snippets of the Fifth and Ninth symphonies, the \u201cMoonlight Sonata\u201d and the \u201cEmperor Concerto\u201d to every piano student\u2019s introduction to Beethoven, \u201cF\u00fcr Elise,\u201d Felder plays with commitment, tenderness, and even occasional ferocity, as required.<\/p>\n Christopher Ash is the mind behind the lighting and projection design, and Eric Carstensen responsible for the sound design.<\/p>\n Felder is an enchanting storyteller, whether explaining the heartache of Beethoven\u2019s oncoming deafness or elucidating Beethoven\u2019s snarky opinion of Haydn. Felder is always worth watching, but never more than in this wonderful interpretation of the towering genius of Beethoven.<\/p>\n![\"Reworking](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-2-Hershey-Felder-Photo-by-Christopher-Ash.jpg\")
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The set (designed by Felder) is simple and dominated, as always, by a grand piano. Since this show starts in a cemetery, Beethoven\u2019s imaginary grave is center stage at the footlights. The dominant color of the show is black.<\/p>\n