“Hershey Felder’s Great American Songs”

Highly Recommended ***** Recently, someone asked me what was upsetting to me about the closing of The Royal George Theatre on Halsted. I rushed to tell him that the greatest loss, for me would be that we would not have the perfect venue for Hershey Felder to do his wonderful musical biographical shows at. Each year I looked forward to the next amazing story he brought to the intimate stage . Each one was special. During this pandemic, a period where lack of theater and entertainment was the only constant, we were lucky that the creative mind of Mr. Felder found a way to bring us amazing works via our computers and ZOOM. During this period, Felder has been doing his shows “Live From Florence” and I have not missed one word or note of each masterpiece.

For the most part, they have been story-telling experiences, with music, but the latest is an amazing almost two hours of Felder bringing the Great American Songs to the stage and telling the history and fascinating stories about them. This was set up in a unique way. People who purchased a viewing ( instead of a ticket) could send in requests of specific works, or they could do a video and we would  be able to watch and hear them. Over 1,000 suggestions were sent in and only those that had at least 3 requests were even considered to make the final cut.

The show begins with Hershey explaining how this came t be and what will take place. We also get to meet his “people” that are about to make this take place. During this almost two hours of wonderful music and great stories, we ar ealso treated to some powerful videos and photos that bring all of the pieces together. We learn about his piano ( a very interesting story) and how the sound of the piano is not “just” the piano.

The music begins with “Can’t Help Falling In Love With Him” and then we learn that a song we all know “What A Wonderful World” was indeed a so-so tune until it was used in “Good Morning Viet Nam”, changing the song forever in our minds.

Musicals such as “Showboat” are highlighted. Yes the works of many of our greats, Jerome Kerns, The Hammersteins, Lerner and Lowe, Sondheim ( my favorite) as well as Leonard Bernstein ( interesting stories here), Porter, Mercer, Simon, Billy Joel and so many more are brought to our ears ( the sounds) but also into our thoughts ( Felder is an educator as well). We hear “God Bless America” and a whole new understanding of the classic from “Carousel” “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. This relates a great deal to our Front Line people and this crazy period in our lives that will always be remembered as “Covid-19”. We need to “get along”, “love one another” and find a way to bring hope back to our world.

We learned a great deal about Sondheim and in particular his “Send in The Clowns”, a story that indeed makes sense.

Each song sung is amazing and his anecdotes and back stories powerful. A young lady’s video was selected for his final piece. The song, “Somewhere Over The rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz”, a movie , as it turns out, was one that Felder sat and watched with his mother during her days before passing away from cancer. One could see the tear in his eye as he told the story and played with the video.

While you can no longer watch it “live” and sing along. You can still view this amazing work by visiting www.porchlightMusicTheatre.org. The cost is $55 and is available ONLY thru August 29th ( unless they extend), so get your family together, visist www.PorchlightMusicTheatre.org and have a special evening of wonderful music.

To see what others said, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at” Hershey Felder’s Great American Songs”