San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
THEATER NOTEBOOK
Felder to live-cast show from Florentine theater
Hershey Felder, the playwright, pianist and actor who has presented multiple composer-themed solo plays in San Diego over the past 20 years, will stage his most ambitious show to date this weekend.
Now a full-time resident of Florence, Italy, Felder recently launched Live From Florence, an international broadcasting company to present his solo shows virtually with a live video crew. The shows, which began in May with his Irving Berlin-inspired play, benefit the 18 theaters where he regularly performs, including San Diego Repertory Theatre.
For “George Gershwin Alone,” which has always been popular with Felder’s audiences, he has collaborated with the director of one of the world’s oldest theaters, Teatro della Pergola in Florence. At 5 p.m. today, , he will perform live in the empty theater, which until the pandemic had been in continuous operation since its construction in 1657.
“George Gershwin Alone” was the first show Felder performed in
San Diego, at the Old Globe in 2006. Since he wrote it in 1999, he has performed it more than 3,000 times. In the musical biography, Gershwin grapples with questions about his talent, his life choices, and whether he appropriated elements of the jazz and gospel music of Black Americans. Accompanying the script, Felder performs several Gershwin classics on the piano, including excerpts of “Porgy and Bess,” “An American in Paris” and “Rhapsody in Blue.” Gershwin was 38 when he died from an undiagnosed brain tumor in 1937.
Tickets are $55 per household and can be ordered through the Rep at sdrep.org.
Diversionary planning musical on Zoom
Diversionary Theatre has announced plans to present “Cancelled,” a new one-act musical by Kit Yan and Melissa Li, that will be presented via Zoom at 2 p.m. Oct. 4.
The musical will feature performers in Diversionary’s Teen-versionary Ensemble of young LGBTQ performers. It’s about how the gay-straight alliance