What do you know about Chopin? It’s probably more than I do. Let’s see… He was a pianist who composed tons of music for the piano. He was Polish and lived in the 19th century. That’s about it. So that when I heard that People’s Light was presenting a play with music, a one-man-show written and performed by Hershey Felder about Chopin, I was most curious. Would I be bored as he talked of his life and played the composer’s works? No I was not. It was a mesmerizing experience watching and listening to Felder.
Fryderyk Chopin was a most complicated man. He was a dreamer. And he channeled his emotions into his music. A prodigy as a boy, he grew up in Warsaw, though he moved to Paris when he was 19. His younger sister had died two years before and it was a most traumatic experience for him. . We learn of his early romance and later about his 9-year affair with the writer, George Sand, whom he loved. We also see how he survived the turmoil and revolutions in his homeland by creating and performing.
Chopin loved to perform, but not at concerts. He preferred the intimacy of the French salons (where he met Sand). And he loved teaching, which is how he supported himself. In fact, he treats the whole performance as if we are students in his salon and he is giving lessons about music and about his life.
I’m not a connoisseur of classical music, but when he played the nocturnes, the waltzes, the etudes and the polonaises, I simply loved it. And watching him play was as exciting as listening to him. Felder, an accomplished pianist, is also a superb actor.
He gives us a look into the soul of Chopin and how he turns his emotions into music. It is clear that Chopin’s works are challenging to the most accomplished pianists. As I watch Felder, I can see why. And surprising to me, I even recognized some of the pieces.
Along the way, we learn of Chopin’s feelings about Bach, Liszt, Beethoven and others. We also see how his dreams are at times seem hallucinatory. What is real and what is not? There are question and answer session with his students (we, the audience) wherein he tells us that today he’d probably be labeled bipolar. Felder’s answers to the many questions asked of him, shed even more light on Chopin. He is so talented, having written and performed plays about Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Irving Berlin, and Leonard Bernstein.
I only wish that the 2-hour show had an intermission so I could digest all that I learned. But Hershey Felder is such a remarkable talent, I would love to see every show of his!
“Monsieur Chopin- A Play With Music” ” by Hershey Felder at People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, PA 19355, 610-644-3500, peopleslight.org Thru May 18, 2025
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 