RACHMANINOFF AND THE TSAR to Bring Hershey Felder Back to People's Light

Following the sold-out success of Monsieur Chopin in 2025, internationally renowned actor, playwright, pianist and producer Hershey Felder returns to People's Light with his newest acclaimed theatrical event, Rachmaninoff and the Tsar.

The production will run as a special presentation with a limited run of only 25 performances from August 28 - September 20, 2026. Tickets start at $59 and are available for purchase now by visiting PeoplesLight.org or by phone at 610.644.3500. Subscribers enjoy 15% off tickets. 

Rachmaninoff and the Tsar is a sweeping and deeply human new musical drama exploring the intertwined lives of legendary Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and Russia's final emperor, Tsar Nicholas II, during the waning days of Imperial Russia.

Written by and starring Felder as Sergei Rachmaninoff alongside British-Italian actor Jonathan Silvestri as Tsar Nicholas II, the play brings to life legendary pianist-composer Rachmaninoff who, having safely left Russia during the 1917 revolution, has made his home in the United States. In 1942, at the age of 68, he applied for American citizenship and bought a home in Beverly Hills, but his soul has never left Russia. Facing a terminal illness brings forth the memory of an encounter with Russia's last Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Tsar's daughter, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, a memory that haunts Rachmaninoff until the end.  

Featuring some of Rachmaninoff's most beloved compositions including the iconic Prelude in C-sharp Minor, selections from Piano Concerto No. 2, symphonies and the Paganini Variations, the production continues Felder's celebrated tradition of immersive theatrical experiences that fuse virtuosic live performance with storytelling.

Rachmaninoff and the Tsar is the latest installment in Felder's internationally acclaimed composer series, through which he has brought to life some of history's most influential musical figures including George Gershwin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Frédéric Chopin. Following the sold-out success of Monsieur Chopin at People's Light in 2025, audiences will once again have the opportunity to experience Felder's singular blend of performance, music and biography.

"I am very much looking forward to returning to Malvern where I had a very warm and welcoming experience from audiences last season with Monsieur Chopin," said Hershey Felder, the production's creator and performer. “Presenting Rachmaninoff and The Tsar, a moving story about a great musical artist set against the backdrop of very turbulent times somewhat mirroring our own current world, is a journey I am looking forward to sharing with People's Light in Malvern.”

Since the 1998 premiere of his internationally lauded George Gershwin Alone, Felder has performed more than 6,000 productions on renowned stages throughout the United States and abroad, earning international acclaim as one of the world's foremost creators of theatrical works centered on music and biography.

“Hershey is truly one of the great theatrical storytellers working today,” said Zak Berkman, People's Light's Producing Artistic Director. “Audiences were captivated by Monsieur Chopin, and we are thrilled to welcome him back with another ambitious, emotionally rich and musically stunning work. Rachmaninoff and the Tsar is both intimate and epic in scale, offering audiences a powerful theatrical experience that reflects on art, history, exile, and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.” 

The production's dreamlike scenic design, conceived by Felder, evokes Rachmaninoff's lush Beverly Hills garden retreat and incorporates historical projections and black-and-white video imagery designed by Stefano DeCarli. The result is a visually arresting theatrical experience that transports audiences through memory, history and music.

Rachmaninoff and the Tsar is presented as a special engagement by People's Light. For tickets and additional information, visit People's Light Official Website.

Accessibility and Inclusion at Every Performance

People's Light remains committed to making theatre accessible and welcoming for all. There will be an Increased Access Performance on Sunday, September 13 at 2 p.m. featuring Open Captioning (a screen next to the stage that displays the dialogue), American Sign Language interpretation (provided by Hands UP Productions), and Audio Description with a pre-show Sensory Tour at 1 p.m. where guests can interact with costume and prop elements and ask questions. Services are free with RSVP to diiorio@peopleslight.org, tickets must be purchased. Audio Description and Sensory Tour provided by Nicole Sardella. People's Light's Accessibility Sponsor for the 2025/26 Season is Novocure.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Title: Rachmaninoff and the Tsar
Dates: August 28 - September 20, 2026
Location: Leonard C. Haas Stage at People's Light, Malvern, PA
Tickets: Starting at $59

Groups 10+ Save
Groups receive 15 - 25% discounts plus custom benefits.
Call 610.647.1900 x111 or email groupsales@peopleslight.org.

For tickets and more information, visit PeoplesLight.org or by phone at 610.644.3500.

ABOUT Hershey Felder

Hershey Felder is currently the Artistic Director of FirenzeOnStage, directing Teatro Niccolini in Florence, Italy, (Florence's oldest theatre, 1648) at the left wing of Florence's historic Duomo. Felder opened the 2024-25 season with film and stage superstar Jeff Goldblum, and presented international superstars such as Helen Mirren, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Boris Giltburg, Taylor Hackford, Tony winners Santino Fontana, Jenn Colella, the cast of the film of Sound of Music and many more.

For the 2025-26 season, Felder presented the Italian premiere of Caligula the Final Cut, with the presence of its superstars, Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in a discussion with the audience. The season continues with stars of stage, screen, opera and classical music,

American Theatre Magazine has said, “Hershey Felder, actor, Steinway Concert Artist and theatrical creator is in a category all his own.” Following 28 years of continuous stage productions and over 6,000 live performances throughout the U.S. and abroad, Hershey Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, based in Florence, Italy, which has produced eighteen theatrical films to date. They include the recently-released Noble Genius-Chopin & Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi's Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; the world premiere musicals Nicholas, Anna & Sergei; the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini, the story of famed opera composer Giacomo 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 the popular Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto. Two seasons of programming are currently available at www.hersheyfelder.net with season 3 being launched in spring of 2026. Upcoming films include The 60th anniversary documentary story of The Sound of Music film; The Joe Alterman Project featuring the story of jazz pianist Joe Alterman, and Tender Art, the story of George Sand, Eugène Delacroix and Fryderyk Chopin.

Felder has given performances of his solo theatre productions at some of the world's most prestigious theatres and has consistently broken box office records. His shows include George Gershwin Alone (Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre, West End's Duchess Theatre); Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven; Maestro (Leonard Bernstein); Franz Liszt in Musik, Lincoln: An American Story, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, and A Paris Love Story (Debussy), Monsieur Chopin and Rachmaninoff and the Tsar. Season 2024 saw the world premiere of Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, as composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff opposite Jonathan Silvestri as Tsar Nicholas II. His 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 that premiered in Fiesole, Italy in the summer of 2023 with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Felder is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play-with-music The Pianist of Willesden Lane with Steinway artist Mona Golabek; producer and designer for the musical Louis and Keely: 'Live' at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Felder has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University's Department of Music and is married to Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell. Hershey currently resides in Florence where he is the director of a full-service film production studio, Monte Acuto Arti, in Bagno a Ripoli.

ABOUT PEOPLE'S LIGHT

Founded in 1974 in Malvern, Pa, People's Light is one of Pennsylvania's largest professional nonprofit theatres and a national leader in creating and producing new work. With a deep commitment to community, the organization seeks to inspire and connect people through stories that illuminate our shared humanity. Each season features a mix of world and regional premieres, bold new takes on classics and joyful musical revivals, as well as creative community-centered programming that welcomes audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

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