LA Premiere of OUR GREAT TCHAIKOVSKY Debuts at The Wallis

Actor and pianist Hershey Felder returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) for the Los Angeles premiere of Our Great Tchaikovsky, beginning Wednesday, July 19 through Sunday, August 6. Directed by Felder collaborator Trevor Hay, Hershey Felder's Our Great Tchaikovsky is a time-bending tale of music, politics and one of the world's most beloved composers.

Known for his beautiful ballets Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and the ferocious and melodic brilliance of his symphonic works, piano concerti, overtures, operas and chamber music, a healthy 53-year-old Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his enigmatic Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique" and, nine days later, he was dead. To this day, how and why he died is still a mystery.

The World Premiere of Our Great Tchaikovsky at San Diego Repertory Theatre and a subsequent engagement at Laguna Playhouse broke box office records and received universal acclaim from critics. The Orange County Register declared: "Our Great Tchaikovsky unquestionably rates as one of Felder's most dazzling shows." "A powerful emotional experience" (San Diego Union-Tribune), the Times of San Diego called it "sheer stage magic. Felder is an accomplished actor, writer and pianist. You'll have to see this marvelous production."

"It is great to welcome back our friend Hershey to The Wallis," said Paul Crewes, the organization's Artistic Director. "Hershey's productions have captivated audiences time and time again, and we are thrilled to continue our partnership by presenting the LA premiere of his latest show."

"It's always wonderful to return to Los Angeles, the city where these stage stories began more than 20 years ago with George Gershwin Alone," said Felder. "In particular, it is wonderful to return to the magnificent Wallis, where music resonates so beautifully. Being able to perform for the Los Angeles audiences who-over the years and nine productions have numbered in the hundreds of thousands-is always an honor and a homecoming."

On Monday, July 31 at 7:30pm, The Wallis invites you to join Hershey Felder for a special one-night-only performance of Hershey Felder's The Great American Songbook Sing-Along, taking audiences through 100 years of American music from the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and many more. Audiences are encouraged to sing along with Felder as he leads them through the familiar notes of their favorite songs.

Single tickets for Our Great Tchaikovsky are now available for $35 - $100 at TheWallis.org/Felder, and single tickets for The Great American Songbook Sing-Along are now available for $25 - $55 at TheWallis.org. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Ticket prices subject to change.

About the Artists:

Hershey Felder (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky/The Artist/Playwright) was recently named to Time Magazine's 2016 Top 10 Plays and Musicals, and has played over 4,500 performances of his self-created solo productions at some of the world's most prestigious theatres, breaking box office records consistently. American Theatre Magazine has written that "Hershey Felder is in a category all his own." His shows include: George Gershwin Alone (Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre, West End's Duchess Theatre); Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven; Maestro (Leonard Bernstein); Franz Liszt in Musik, Lincoln: An American Story and Our Great Tchaikovsky. In addition, he performs concerts of "The Great American Songbook Sing-Along" at every theatre where his shows are presented as well as private venues. His compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; and An American Story for Actor and Orchestra. Hershey is the adaptor, director and designer for the very successful play with music, The Pianist of Willesden Lane; producer and designer for the new musical Louis and Keely: 'Live' at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for the upcoming Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Hershey has operated a full-service Production Company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University's Department of Music and is married to Kim Campbell, the first female Prime Minister of Canada.

Trevor Hay (Director) directed the world premieres of An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, Abe Lincoln's Piano, Hershey Felder as Franz Liszt in Musik, and Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. He is Associate Director for Mona Golabek's The Pianist of Willesden Lane, and a former member of the historic Old Globe Theatre in San Diego where, at the age of nine, his first position was selling Old Globe memorabilia. Over the next 32 years, Mr. Hay went on to various aspects of production on more than 80 presentations, including the Broadway productions of Jack O'Brien's Damn Yankees, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Twyla Tharpe's The Times They Are A-Changin'. Included in his 23 seasons at The Old Globe were eleven seasons of the Summer Shakespeare Festival Repertory, as well as work on Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, directed by Sam Gold, and Hershey Felder's George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin and Maestro Bernstein.

The creative team for Our Great Tchaikovsky includes Christopher Ash (lighting and projection design), Erik Carstensen (sound designer, production manager), Abigail Caywood (costume designer), Brian McMullen (lighting and projection associate), and Meghan Maiya (dramaturge and research). Produced by Karen Racanelli, Samantha F. Voxakis and Erik Carstensen.

For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.

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