HERSHEY FELDER: A PARIS LOVE STORY Breaks Box Office Records at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has announced that the World Premiere of Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story, with more than a week to go before its first performance, has already established a new all-time box office record for the 49 year-old Bay Area theatre company. This newest work by acclaimed performer and playwright Hershey Felder has shattered the theatre's previous record for highest grossing show prior to opening, a record set by TheatreWorks' presentation of Our Great Tchaikovsky. Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story is on track to top the company's record for final sales, also held by Felder for his stunning musical tribute Hershey Felder Beethoven. Tickets are disappearing fast as theatregoers flock to purchase seats for Felder's latest piece, which runs April 3 - May 5, 2019 (press opening: April 6, 2019) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. TheatreWorks will also present a special one-night-only musical event: Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-Along 7:30pm April 22, 2019 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, inviting audiences to belt out their favorites accompanied by Felder's signature piano stylings. For tickets to Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story ($40-$120) and Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-Along ($50-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

The newest work by piano virtuoso Hershey Felder, who has dazzled TheatreWorks audiences with his acclaimed portrayals of Irving Berlin, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story captures the life and music of Impressionist composer Claude Debussy, a visionary who proclaimed nature his religion, creating music of ravishing beauty, color, and compassion, from the sweeping "La mer" to the evocative "L'apres-midi d'un faune" and the mystical "Clair de lune." Intertwined with Debussy's story, Felder for the first time shares his own deeply personal connection to the City of Light.

From his very first performance of Gershwin Alone, it became clear to Felder that once the audience heard familiar notes from beloved classics, they wanted to join in, and thus his sing-alongs were born. The last sing-along at TheatreWorks by the adored solo performer, which accompanied his acclaimed run of Our Great Tchaikovsky, quickly sold out. In Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook, Sing-Along, Hershey Felder will take audiences through 100 years of American music from the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, through Bernstein, Sondheim and many more.

Hershey Felder is an actor, pianist, writer, director, composer, conductor, and producer who has conjured the spirits of George Gershwin, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Irving Berlin. Felder's solo shows have been seen across America - at The Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, San Diego Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Cleveland Playhouse, as well as long runs at Chicago's Royal George Theatre and engagements at New York's Town Hall, 59E59, and the Streicker Center. Throughout the past 20 years, he has given more than 5,000 performances. Described by American Theatre Magazine as "a seductive portraitist, compelling storyteller, and superb concert pianist," Felder's work was named one of TIME Magazine's 2016 Top Plays and Musicals. Felder has become an enormous Bay Area favorite; audiences packed TheatreWorks' regional premieres of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin; Hershey Felder, Beethoven; and Our Great Tchaikovsky. The newest work marks Felder's fourth appearance with the Silicon Valley-based regional theatre.

With some 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting Bay Area theatregoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and guest directors, and performed by professional actors cast locally and from across the country.

Photo credit: Christopher Ash

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