"When I'm worried and I can't sleep,
I count my blessings instead of sheep,
And I fall asleep counting my blessings."
As I lie down in my bed this evening waiting for sleep to overtake
me, two of the blessings I will be enumerating are Hershey Felder and ArtsEmerson.
I just returned from spending two magical hours at the Cutler Majestic
Theatre as Hershey Felder recreated a century's worth of life as seen through
the eyes and played through the fingers of Irving Berlin
One of the ways in which ArtsEmerson has delighted Boston audiences
over the past few years has been to offer a steady diet of the magical genius
of Hershey Felder. This year, as Mr. Felder performs as
Irving Berlin, ArtsEmerson is giving us a White Christmas in July. It is
a special treat that has proven to be so popular that the run of this show has
been extended through August 2.
We have seen Mr. Felder in the past channel such musical greats as
George Gershwin, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frederick Chopin and
Leonard Bernstein. Irving Berlin, born Israel "Izzy" Baline, now takes his places among this pantheon
of musical gods that Mr. Felder has embodied.
Mr. Felder gives the prolific song writer an appropriate sitz im leben as he
takes the audience all the way back to the Berlin family's origins in Belarus,
from which they fled to America after a pogrom by the tsar's troops burnt their
Jewish village to the ground. The play begins with Christmas carolers singing
under the window of reclusive Mr. Berlin at age 100. A younger version of
the songwriter is addressing an empty wheelchair, and cajoling the older
version of himself to invite the carolers into their home to tell the real
story of how and why many of his famous songs were written. And the stage
is set for the audience to become the bevy of carolers - sometimes listening to
the songs and the stories behind the songs, and sometimes singing along with
many of the old favorites we grew up hearing and humming and singing.
So many of the famous Berlin songs were written in moments of
grief - the death of a wife, a child, a mother - or of celebration – marrying
a second beloved wife, welcoming the birth of another miracle child. As
Mr. Felder took us through the chronology of Berlin's life and career, his
physical demeanor and vocal qualities aged in commensurate ways. His
considerable powers as an entertainer and story teller have never been at a
higher pitch. He was greatly aided in this theatrical magic with
wonderful Sound by Trevor Hay, impeccable
lighting by Richard Norwood and Christopher Rynne and stunning
projections by Andrew Wilder, who
brought us Al Jolson, Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire, the shtetl in Belarus, Pearl
Harbor and other settings that inspired specific songs.
I have never been so moved by a rendition of “God Bless America”
as I was this evening as Mr. Felder shared the context in which Irving Berlin
was inspired to pull this rejected song out of a trunk and give it to Kate
Smith to sing.
The audience was composed mostly of those of us old enough to
remember many of the tunes, but my guest was a member of the Millennial
generation, and he was thoroughly engaged and mesmerized with the evening’s presentation.
At this evening's performance, after a rousing ovation, Mr. Felder
invited to the stage a young man who proceeded to propose marriage to his beloved,
while Mr. Felder serenaded them with "I'll Be Loving You Always." It
was icing on an already delicious cake.
Tickets are going fast, so if you want to count as one of your
blessings the chance to have seen this show, click below and order your tickets
now.
Enjoy!
Al
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