Hershey Felder to Present THE PIANO & ME at Palm Beach Dramaworks

Twenty-five years after his first performances in West Palm Beach of his original performances of the play with music George Gershwin Alone, Hershey Felder is returning with his newest and most personal show, The Piano & Me, a play with music. This special limited engagement runs from October 30-November 22, and features Felder playing himself as well as the many characters he’s met along the way who made his art possible. And though he’s never appeared at PBD before, the Don & Ann Brown Theatre will look somewhat familiar to him – in its former life, prior to renovation, it was the Cuillo Center for the Arts.

In 2001, following an acclaimed, extended engagement in Los Angeles, George Gershwin Alone had a four-month run in West Palm Beach at the Cuillo Center. This unique, one-man play with music, created, written, and performed by Felder, marked the beginning of what would soon become an international career, and The Piano & Me recounts how all of, it including the Gershwin show, came to life. He is known around the world for his extraordinary depictions of great composers, both on stage and in film – including Bernstein, Chopin, Beethoven, Berlin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff – that use musical storytelling to reveal the inner lives of these artists.

Following the world premiere of The Piano & Me in January at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the critic for The Mercury News wrote, “Hershey Felder, best known for his engaging profiles of legendary composers, unspools an equally compelling story of his own life. Magnificent, enthralling, brilliant and engaging.”

Felder had not been actively pursuing the idea of doing a show about his life and career. “I had been asked to tell this story over the past 30 years,” he said. “It seems that people are interested in origin stories. In terms of ‘wanting’ to do it – it wasn’t a matter of that so much as theatres were looking for new material and asking, ‘What about your own story? People want to hear that.’ I caved. I didn’t know at the time what exactly would emerge, but audiences have been interested in this story as presented.'

Since his Gershwin show, Felder has given more than 6,000 performances of his solo theatre productions in the US and abroad, and has consistently broken box office records. Remarkably, these shows represent just a fraction of his career. In addition to the work he’s best known for, Felder is also a composer, producer, filmmaker, and artistic director.

He is currently the artistic director of FirenzeOnStage, which presents globally recognized artists in music, opera, theatre, dance, and film at the historic Teatro Niccolini, Florence’s oldest theatre, built in 1648. Artists presented include Helen Mirren, Jeff Goldblum, Malcolm McDowell, and Mikhail Baryshnikov and more.

In 2020, Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, which has produced more than 18 theatrical films to date. They include Noble Genius, Chopin and Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi’s La Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; Nicholas, Anna & Sergei, the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini; Before Fiddler, a musical story about writer Sholem Aleichem; Great American Songs and the Stories Behind Them; Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, a documentary; and Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto. Two seasons of programming are currently available at www.hersheyfelder.net.

Felder’s compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; An American Story for Actor and Orchestra; and the opera Il Quarto Uomo. Additionally, he is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play with music, The Pianist of Willesden Lane. American Theatre magazine has said, “Hershey Felder, actor, Steinway Concert Artist and theatrical creator is in a category all his own.”

Felder has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music. He was born in Montreal and now lives in Florence with his wife, Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre and in schools. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through the Perlberg Festival of New Plays. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. In 2024, PBD was honored as Non-Profit of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches.

For The Piano & Me, PBD has divided the theatre into three sections at different prices: Value ($105), Standard ($125), and Premium ($135). There are no previews for this show. For more information, please call the box office.

Group rates are also available. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, in person or by phone (561.514.4042 ext 2), and online 24 hours a day at palmbeachdramaworks.org.

Evening performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm. Matinee performances are Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. All performances, prices, and dates are subject to change.

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street. For ticket information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.

Get Miami Metro Emails & Offers

Get the latest news, discounts & more