The Wallis Presents 'Hershey Felder Live from Florence'

Named Time Magazine’s 2016 Top 10 Plays and Musicals, Hershey Felder has played over 6,000 performances of his self-created solo productions at some of the world’s most prestigious theatres, including the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Recently he announced that he will perform three World Premiere Live Streamed Musical Events live from Florence, Italy.

According to The Wallis’ Artistic Director Paul Crewes, “With these three world premiere productions, tied together by fascinating stories and compelling music, we at The Wallis are pleased to carry on our long-running and highly successful collaboration with Hershey Felder.“

Felder’s first show for 2021 is as Sholem Aleichem in BEFORE FIDDLER – Live from Florence. The show features actor, playwright and virtuoso pianist Hershey Felder as the great Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, whose works inspired the classic musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. On Sunday, February 7, 2021 at 5 p.m. PST, learn about Sholem Aleichem’s published first story, Tsvey Shteyner (“Two Stones”).  

At just 24 years old, he had become a central figure in Yiddish literature in 1890, known as the “Jewish Mark Twain” for his similar writing style and pen name usage. Decades before the classic musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ first delighted worldwide audiences, Sholem Aleichem created Tevye the Milkman, his beloved character. And long before songs like “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man” and “Sunrise, Sunset” first beguiled audiences, there was Klezmer, the music of the Old World that imitated talking, laughing, weeping, and singing, and where musicians spoke in song. Performances are by the Florence-based Klezmer music ensemble, Klezmerata Fiorentina. The quartet is comprised of violinist and violist Igor Polesitsky; clarinetist Riccardo Crocilla; accordionist and bassoonist Francesco Furlanich; and double bass player Riccardo Donati.

BEFORE FIDDLER – Live from Florence is directed by Felder & Stefano Decarli, with associate direction by Trevor Hay. Production design is by Hershey Felder. Film production and live editing is by the DeCarli Live film company. Live broadcast and sound design production are by Erik Carstensen. Line producer is Annette Nixon. Production and broadcast development is by Meghan Maiya. Costumes and Hair are by Isabelle Gerbe. Scenic construction is directed by Pierre Gerbe.

This was filmed on location and is available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, February 14.

His next show is PUCCINI – Live from Florence on Sunday, March 14, 2021, at 5 p.m, PST and available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, March 21, 2021. It’s about the scandalous life of Giacomo Puccini, the great Italian composer. With music from La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot and more. Puccini lived a deliciously scandalous life, and the female characters onstage were inspired by the women in his life. This production will be filmed live on location in the places where these events and these compositions and premieres actually took place.

On Sunday, May 16, 2021, at 5 p.m., Hershey Felder as Sergei Rachmaninoff in ANNA & SERGEI – Live from Florence is available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, May 23, 2021. It is the story of a very strange meeting between Rachmaninoff and Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the sole surviving member of the Romanov Dynasty, the Princess Anastasia. The show takes place as a memory play in the house in which the Russian Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills. 

For those who choose to purchase tickets to each of Hershey Felder’s shows, The Wallis is offering a World Premiere Pass featuring a 10% discount for all three events. Plus a BEFORE FIDDLER VIP Package with exclusive benefits.

Tickets are $55.00 per program per household for viewing on Smart TV, computer, smartphone or tablet, and a WORLD PREMIERE PASS for $148.50, featuring a 10% discount for the purchase of all three programs. Also available is a BEFORE FIDDLER VIP PACKAGE for $180, which includes the livestream of the BEFORE FIDDLER production on Sunday, February 7, 5 p.m. Pacific (plus a week of on demand viewing access through Sunday, February 14),

An exclusive live lunch-time Zoom Q&A with Hershey Felder is on Thursday, February 11, at 12 p.m. PST, and exclusive on-demand viewing access to Hershey Felder Presents: Backstory, the story behind the making of Felder's three plays about Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein. Viewing access for Backstory begins Friday, February 5, 12 pm PST, and ends Sunday, February 21, 11:59 pm PST.

Patrons will receive their viewing links on Friday, February 5. Tickets cannot be transferred or shared. Each show runs for approximately 90 minutes.

To purchase tickets, go to TheWallis.org/HFP or call 310.746.4000 (Tue.-Fri. 9:30 am – 2:30 pm).