BWW Interviews: Hershey Felder Talks GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE
By: Katricia Lang Jun. 07, 2015
GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE
Alley Theatre
In 1914, Brooklyn-born, baby-faced pianist Jacob Gershvin began his career in the dreaded and humbling musical occupation called song plugging. With sophisticated musical ideas, an unending energy and enthusiasm for music, Gershvin made the remarkable rise to virtuosic pianist and genius composer. You know him, of course, as George Gershwin.
We interrupted the expert pianist, performer, playwright, and director Hershey Felder during piano practice to talk about GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE. The brazen disruption was justified. The Renaissance Man not only wrote the book for GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE, but he also portrays George Gershwin in the production.
Hershey, can you elucidate the timeframe of GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE for me?
The piece is set essentially "one step beyond the grave," before his final farewell. It uses the chronology of his life to tell a particular story, and specifically to get a sense of the man and what it may have been like to be in his company.
Though George Gershwin had a short life, he had a very full life. How do you tell his story in one act?
Telling a life in one act, or even five, or ten, is difficult. Lives have so many facets. The thinking here was to take an idea about his life and elucidate with action and music, as told in one streamlined sequence resulting in one act.
It is a solo piece as well. How do you keep the play interesting without a supporting cast?
By telling a good story, with Gershwin's brilliant music.
GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE is a celebration of the tradition of Broadway. What is it about the Great American Songbook that inspires you and contributes to your work? Clearly, the style of music not only interests you, but it also gives you joy as a performer.
American composers have contributed great feats of craftsmanship, creativity, style, storytelling, unabashed emotion, and beautiful color to the international musical lexicon. In a hundred years, the Great American Songbook as we know it today, will be treated the way Europeans and much of the world today treats songs of Schubert and Brahms, and Schumann - eternal classics.
Could you tell me a little bit more about the composition of the play?
It's a very simple, straightforward story. It's what happened to him, with representational music on the way. It was based on the fact that the end of the evening the only person who doesn't know what happens to [George Gershwin's] music is Gershwin himself. That gave it emotional drive, but it took time to understand how to act [the part] so that a simple statement suddenly takes on a greater meaning.
How did you get those shades of meaning?
Really, it's understanding who the man was. It's about the subtext and understanding what he means when he says something - not just the information he's giving you. To be able to give that kind of color is very integral to this kind of work. Especially, if you're talking directly to your audience.
What do you think drove him?
Well according to Kitty Carlisle, he just wanted to be famous. [I Laugh] That's a fun way of saying it, but the truth of the matter is creating good music is what drove him. He was a musician, and he loved music and being creative. Creative people have this need. You can't explain it. It's just there. You have to get it out. You have to continue. It's like a drug. You need to create.
In that way, as an artist yourself, do you see yourself in him?
No, I have a need to create. Like all artists I have a need to tell stories. I have a need to work. And I love the art and the artform. But he was a bit on the conceited side. If you don't know me, you could say that's the case with me. [I Laugh] If you do know me, you know that getting myself to do these things is very hard, but there are a lot of people who rely on you to do them and do them well.
It seems like an artist has to be conceited or at least pretend to be conceited to make it.
It's a very, very complicated balance. The notion of, are you doing this because you really love it? Or are you doing this because you know you're good, and you're driven to it? I do really love it, and I believe I have to work to be good. That's the probably the best balance. Never take it for granted that you are good or great and stop working. Also, we all contribute things to the world, and we all have to build a better place. Yes, some choose to be destructive. My view is the idea to make the world a better place. You have to do something. Whatever it is that you do, do something. And there can't be any vanity in giving something to the world, even if it's in a show you're in. It's not vanity. It's because you really believe that maybe there's something that, at the end of it, will come out good.
How are you able to do so much artistically?
I trained as a pianist, musician, writer, and everything else. But they all came separately until I developed a way to do these pieces. I think the idea was to figure out a way to actually combine all these techniques. The result is that I don't sleep very much, but I'm happy. [Laughs]
In GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE, Hershey Felder appears as as George Gershwin. Music by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Book by Hershey Felder. Joel Zwick directs. The play is suitable for general audiences. Performances of GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE are now through June 21 at the Alley Theatre @ UH. For a map and directions to the UH theatre, visit www.alleytheatre.org/gettouh. Free parking for Alley Theatre patrons is available in the parking lot at the corner of Cullen Blvd. and Elgin St. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.alleytheatre.org.
George Gershwin has left an indelible mark on music. His name is etched in the Great American Songbook and performers continue to bring his songs and concert pieces to the stage. Before his untimely death at 38, Gershwin composed in several branches of music (theatre, opera, and film) and several musical genres (the Broadway musical, jazz, orchestra, and pop). Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and the controversial, but canonistic, Porgy and Bess are among Gershwin's most popular works.
Hershey Felder is an Internationally acclaimed actor, director, and playwright. Among his popular pieces are AN AMERICAN STORY, ABE LINCOLN'S PIANO, Hershey Felder as Franz Liszt in MUSIK and HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN. For more information about Hershey Felder and GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE, please visit www.gershwinalone.com/.
Together, director Joel Zwick and Hershey Felder have created MONSIEUR CHOPIN, BEETHOVEN AS I KNEW HIM, and MAESTRO BERNSTEIN. Zwick also directed, choreographed and performed in Dance with Me (Broadway), and directed Esther (Off-Broadway). In addition to theatre directing, Zwick directs film and television. His television credits include Perfect Strangers, Full House, and Family Matters, and his film projects include the commercial and critical success MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING.
Photo credit: Mark Garvin
Photos courtesy of the Alley Theatre
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