The Rage Monthly: When did you first realize you had an aptitude for playing the piano?


Hershey Felder: It was less “discovering that I had an aptitude”


than it was a real desire to express myself in sound. There are two very specific things that I remember. When I was three years old, my paternal grandmother was in a convalescent home in Montreal. There was a piano in the solarium, right next to the gift shop. I went over and started pounding. The older lady in the gift shop came out hollering: “Someone give that child lessons, or kill him! He’s driving me crazy!” My parents opted for the former solution. Same thing happened at a neighbor’s house. Playing however quickly became a part of who I am - and one of my ways of expression.


Rage: Your father, Jacob was born in Poland, and mother Eva in Budapest, Hungary. How did their Eastern European traditions play a role in your development? HF: I grew up, as I have said, in a “shtetl” (an old Jewish village)


but we had washing machines. That’s probably the only difference. Food, language, tradition, the “old country” - it’s all a part of who I am, and I don’t pretend to be otherwise.


Rage: When and where was your first public performance? HF: Six years after that episode at the convalescent home, I


returned. I was just 10 years old. I played; this time no one came out hollering, and I left the joint with a check for a hundred bucks.


Rage: That had to be a thrill. What is your all-time favorite song from every- thing that you have played? HF: The work that I am playing at the moment is my favorite. It has to be that way and in fact it really is.


Rage: Why is it so special to you? HF: It can’t be otherwise, or there’s no point in playing it at all.


Rage: How long does it take to arrange and prepare one of your one-man- shows? HF: It’s the kind of thing that takes two years, and your whole life before that. All of it leads up to the finished product.


Rage: What inspired Maestro; The art of Leonard Bernstein for this show? HF: This one came at the request of theatre owners and patrons. I had no intention of creating this character, but was asked over and again to do something about Bernstein. So, a little over a year ago, I agreed, largely because it seems that folks wanted to see what I would do with it. I like that kind of challenge.


Rage: You have channeled Leonard Bernstein for this piece, how are you different? And how are you the same? HF: I don’t really ever channel anybody. It may look that way - but


that’s the result, not the process. In essence I create an illusion by being very specific about the things I present that all add up to an idea of the character. While I share a European birthright and serious Jewish upbringing with Bernstein, and I do have a deep understanding of where he comes from - there is very little else that I share. He really was a genius in many forms, and its fun to learn about him and how he handled his gifts.


Rage: Bernstein married a woman, had three children and in his middle age


eventually left her for a male lover. His wife developed lung cancer and he went back to her until her death. Do you address his conflicted sexuality in the performance? HF: Indeed I do, and Bernstein’s own questions become a central theme of the piece itself.


Rage: In your opinion what was Bernstein’s biggest accomplishment? HF: Bernstein’s accomplishments are so many, it’s difficult to de-


termine what his biggest may have been. But if one asked him, he was quite clear; his biggest and most important accomplishment consisted of his “Young People’s Concerts” where he got to do the thing he loved most: teach children about music.


Rage: You are juggling two shows at the Laguna Playhouse: Hershey Felder in MAESTRO: The Art of Leonard Bernstein and Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook. How do you memorize all of those songs? HF: Actually, I am playing three different shows at the Playhouse.


I complete my residency with Monsieur Chopin, playing the role of Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin. There is a great deal more to memorize than just songs—but its part of the job, something that just needs to be done.


Rage: I read that it was love at first sight - how did you meet your wife, former Prime Minister of Canada, A. Kim Campbell? HF: I was invited to give a concert at the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles where Kim was the Consul General at the time.


Rage: How long have you been married? HF: 14 years.


Rage: Being an artist married to a politician is quite a dichotomy; what is the biggest challenge? HF: We’re lucky. We don’t look at any of it as a challenge. It’s our life together, and we enjoy it.


Rage: I am sure that philosophy is why it lasted. What has been your most memorable moment on stage? HF: The day on Broadway when a woman in the first row, not five


feet from where I was standing, was staring at me through a pair of binoculars.


Rage: Where the most beautiful place that you have traveled? HF: Part of the magic of being able to perform all over the world


is to find beautiful things wherever I go. But I must admit, the most beautiful place I get to travel to is home - to Paris.


Rage: What does Hershey Felder have in mind for his next venture? HF: Thinking. Thinking...


Rage: Although we only scratched the surface, thank you so much for shar- ing some of your experiences with our readers. HF: My pleasure!


Both Hershey Felder in MAESTRO: The Art of Leonard Bernstein and Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook run simultaneously beginning January 2 through February 4 at the Laguna Beach Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Specific show times for each production at: 949.497.ARTS (2787) or lagunaplayhouse.com.


JANUARY 2011 | RAGE monthly


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