Theater Review: A classical music lesson at the Playhouse

George Gershwin and Frédéric Chopin had much in common, separated as they were by a century and an ocean. Both were among the premier musicians of their time and neither composer lived to celebrate his 40th birthday.

They share another common bond in their interpretations by a third musical genius — Hershey Felder, whose “Monsieur Chopin” has joined “George Gershwin Alone” on the stage of the Laguna Playhouse.

Felder’s classical piano artistry highlights the Chopin program.

Thinly disguised as a piano lesson to a full house of students in 1848, a year before his death, the exercise fills in the details of the great composer’s life while offering some of his best-loved compositions.

Felder’s enormous talent as a pianist and an actor served him beautifully in the Gershwin program at the playhouse in January.

Here, in a briefer engagement that concludes this weekend, he delves into the life and career of the Polish composer who spent his later years in France and enjoyed a tumultuous affair with the French novelist Aurore Dupin, better known by her pseudonym, George Sand.

Snippets of Chopin’s life intersect with his classical compositions as Felder immerses himself into his role, so completely that, following the formal program, the actor — still in character — takes impromptu questions from the audience.

During his relatively brief time in the spotlight, Chopin was responsible for major innovations in the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne, polonaise, etude, impromptu and prelude. Felder demonstrates each as though he’s addressing a class of students well-versed in such movements, and his observations may be over more than a few heads.

Occasionally, he takes a few swipes at Beethoven, “that piano pounder,” which is something of an inside joke, because Felder will return to the playhouse May 11 to 23 with “Beethoven as I Knew Him.”

What comes off as most intriguing is Chopin’s tortured relationship with “Madame Sand” and her two children. Felder weaves this element of his life, details shared only with his students, beautifully into the staged biography.

The Chopin production is a history lesson set to some of the most beautiful music of the age and makes audiences more thirsty for the Beethoven element to follow.

If You Go

What: “Monsieur Chopin”

Where: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road

When: Closing performances 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: $40 to $70

Call: (494) 497-2787

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.