Take a music lesson with a legend in People’s Light Theatre’s ‘Monsieur Chopin’
Actor, playwright, and scenic designer Hershey Felder shines in this very authentic one-man show
What is your live entertainment preference? Theater? Concerts? Stand-up comedy? Musicals?
Check every box by seeing Monsieur Chopin at People’s Light Theatre. The one-man show, created and performed by Hershey Felder, is based on the life and musical legacy of Polish icon Fryderyc Chopin.
It’s also a docudrama on 19th-century Romanticism, with a stunning cinematographic environment. Its Parisian parlor setting suggests an autumnal warmth and gravity, augmented by a riveting series of thematic projections, all designed by Felder.
Entering from the lobby of the Leonard Haas Stage, the actor welcomes us as students arriving for their next lesson. He establishes an immediate informal connection. His gentle audience engagement reflects Chopin’s persona and perfectly serves the purpose of what he’s about to share.
Felder’s striking resemblance to the composer/pianist and extraordinary acting range hold us throughout the evening — two hours, no intermission. His sincerity, comic skill, credible Central European accent, and flair for impressions are all quite remarkable. The narrative includes two discussion sessions, encouraging questions from “students.” Here Felder’s improvisational humor draws on an encyclopedic knowledge of Chopin’s social interactions and the eccentricities of his associates.
Felder relates stories of Chopin’s jovial relationship with German poet Heinrich Heine, contentious friendship with pianist Franz Liszt, and life-defining romance with the cigar-smoking French novelist George Sand. Felder also reveals Chopin’s hilarious disdain for Beethoven and love of Bach and Mozart.
The actor’s musicianship is equally impressive, rendering a dozen or so of Chopin’s piano compositions with nuance and a sensitivity that honor the composer’s renowned style. The sequencing of these performances effectively drives the plot. The music variously supports and shifts the dynamic of each biographic scenario, making use of mazurkas, waltzes, sonatas, polonaises, études, and instrumental ballades (Chopin’s unique contribution as a genre). Familiar melodies that have surrounded us all our lives leap out, evoking the predictable response, “He wrote that, too?!”
Joel Zwick directs the production, which incorporates topical parallels to nationalism, feminism, and resistance to Russian invasion. Along with comic moments, the evening is shaped by deeply human elements: Chopin’s love of country and status as a national figure; his self-imposed exile due to health and political alienation; his crippling melancholy visiting him with “pain, suffering, anger, and loss”; and the impactful death of his younger sister. The evening appropriately reaches its climax with Sand’s departure from Chopin’s life, a patriotic piano anthem, and a touching, “I hope you’ve enjoyed your lesson.”
Felder, who has created similar pieces on Leonard Bernstein and Irving Berlin, leaves no doubt that you are actually in the room with Chopin. Audience questions are addressed to “you” (the Chopin in front of them), not “he” (the historic figure). The actor even smartly fields references to Chopin’s death by citing the advantage of knowing everything that’s occurred since his passing.
The play illustrates Chopin’s life and art with affection and respect. French novelist Remy de Gourmont famously said, “Art is the accomplice of love.” Only a fervent love for Felder’s subject matter could produce such a profound and moving an experience as Monsieur Chopin.
Monsieur Chopin
(Community/Arts)
This retelling of legendary Polish composer Fryderyc Chopin’s life is a one-man show that is at once theater, a concert, stand-up comedy, and a musical.
⌚️ Through May 18,📍 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, 🌐 peopleslight.org
Theater reviews are produced independently by The Inquirer without editorial input by their sponsor, Visit Philadelphia.