For the past few years, the prolific, multi-talented Hershey Felder — who forged his career in the U.S., and then moved to homes in Paris and Florence — has taken a new direction in the form of an ever-expanding series of what he has dubbed “musical films” that are available for screening on the web.
Stories by hedy weiss
Hershey Felder Embarks on Fascinating Musical Voyage to Venice’s Jewish Ghetto
Jul 24, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
‘Dear Jack, Dear Louise’ Traces a Beguiling Wartime Courtship Conducted Entirely Through Letters
Jul 19, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Among the many charms of “Dear Jack, Dear Louise,” Ken Ludwig’s beguiling play about his parents’ courtship during World War II, is the way it suggests the power of handwritten letters.
American Blues Theatre Production of ‘Fences,’ an August Wilson Classic, Sets Stage on Fire
Jul 13, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
A painfully honest look at the relationship between a husband and wife, and a father and his two sons, the play captures a sense of the generational turmoil in one Pittsburgh family. And, along the way, Wilson subtly presages the more overtly revolutionary era that will unfold in the 1960s.
Musical ‘Life After’ Taps Into Disillusionment About a Beloved Parent
Jul 8, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
A combination of admiration, disillusionment, guilt and pain drives “Life After,” the musical with a book, music and lyrics by the young Canadian-bred Britta Johnson. The 90-minute show is now running at the Goodman Theatre.
Felicia Fields Captures Every Shade of the Blues in Virtuosic Performance at Writers Theatre
Jul 6, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Felicia Fields, the Chicago-based actress who won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway production of “The Color Purple,” radiates joy and a good bit of mischief in this stellar production at Writers Theatre in Glencoe.
‘It Came From Outer Space’ a Wonderfully Zany New Musical With an Ideal Message for Our Time
Jul 5, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Based on the iconic 1953 Universal Pictures film that was inspired by the writings of sci-fi master Ray Bradbury (who grew up in Waukegan, Illinois), “It Came From Outer Space,” the zany new musical now in its world premiere at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, is so crazily “in and out” of this world that it is irresistible.
A Night of Mirth and Rebirth as Muti and the CSO Bring a Thrilling ‘Concert for Chicago’ to Millennium Park
Jun 29, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
An audience of 12,000 people poured into Millennium Park Monday evening to hear maestro Riccardo Muti lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a thrilling performance of works by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky on the Pritzker Pavilion stage.
Muti and CSO Pay Homage to Verdi With a Monumental Concert Performance of ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’
Jun 25, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Thursday evening’s bravura production was a major event in Muti’s penultimate season as the CSO’s music director. And it was a grand homage to both the composer whose work he has long cherished, and the orchestra he has embraced and nurtured since becoming its music director in 2010.
‘cullud wattah’ Shows the Toxic Effects of Polluted Water and Corrupt Politics on Michigan Family
Jun 23, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The Flint water environmental catastrophe, with its strong racial overtones, is at the core of “cullud watta,” the expertly written play by Erika Dickerson-Despenza. Her powerful story of three generations of Black women, now receiving a fiercely emotional regional premiere at Victory Gardens Theater, is a model for how to fully humanize a social crisis.
Saved by the Understudy: Lina Gonzalez-Granados Steps in for Maestro Muti
Jun 18, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
With the pandemic still bedeviling live performance these days understudies have become heroic figures. Now, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has its very own “last minute hero” story, too.
Three Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerts to Remember
Jun 17, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Performed earlier this month, a trio of Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts led by guest conductors and featuring guest violinists deserve to be chronicled.
Broadway Star Kelli O’Hara Spins a Marvelous Web of Broadway Classics and Hidden Gems
Jun 14, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kelli O’Hara performed a bravura solo concert Thursday accompanied by that ever dazzling “band,” the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Joffrey’s Production of ‘Don Quixote’ Taps Into Grandeur and Comedy of Cervantes’ Novel
Jun 8, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The production not only ideally captures the mix of the comical, satirical, fantastical and romantic aspects of Miguel de Cervantes’ story, but with its beautiful sets, costumes, projections, puppets and aerial tricks it also is an ideal showcase for the Joffrey.
A Boffo Debut for the Black Ensemble Theater’s Multi-Talented New Associate Director
Jun 2, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Michelle Renee Bester’s 90-minute show is a quasi-autobiographical story that pays homage to her late grandmother. It spins an intriguing psychological family drama that homes in on the particular fears, frustrations and needs of each of that woman’s four rather different and troubled grandchildren.
Celebrating the Enduring Magic of The Temptations With ‘Ain’t Too Proud’
Jun 2, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
“Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations” is an exhilarating, at times heartbreaking, and superbly executed musical now in an all too brief run at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago.
With ‘Two Trains Running,’ Court Theatre Stages Its Latest Rousing Revival of an August Wilson Classic
May 24, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
“Two Trains Running” is one of the finest plays in August Wilson’s renowned 10-play “Century Cycle” that captures elements of Black life in each decade of the 20th century. And Court Theatre’s latest revival of this seminal work is not to be missed.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Dives Fearlessly Into an Emotionally Feverish Program
May 21, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Guest conductor Karina Canellakis led the CSO in “Brio” (by Augusta Read Thomas); Robert Schumann’s lushly beautiful “Piano Concerto in A Minor” (featuring pianist Kirill Gerstein); and finally “Ein Heldenlaben (A Heroic Life),” Richard Strauss’ sweeping, fiercely emotional tone poem.
The Uncanny Resonance of ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ Now Playing Limited Run at Cadillac Palace Theatre
May 19, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The current touring production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” playing Chicago for only one week, is an ideal example of how “a classic” can have a whole new resonance at this very moment.
Pianist Evgeny Kissin Sends Audience at Orchestra Hall Flying High on Chopin
May 18, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The first half of Evgeny Kissin’s program was devoted to the triumvirate of the masters — Bach, Mozart and Beethoven — and he mastered them all. But it was the second half of the program, devoted entirely to Chopin that clearly held the audience in thrall.
Hubbard Street’s Dancers Soar in ‘Decadance,’ a Stunning Patchwork of Ohad Naharin’s Work
May 14, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The company’s 15 sensational dancers performed “Decadance/Chicago,” a superbly mixed-and-matched compilation of segments from nine of Naharin’s works. They were created between the years 1993 to 2011, during his long tenure as Artistic Director of Israel’s fabled Batsheva Dance Company.
Lookingglass Theatre Company Stages Bravura, Out-of-This-World Revival of Its Classic ‘Lookingglass Alice’
May 12, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The absolutely brilliant (and at moments terrifying) production of “Lookingglass Alice,” the namesake show of Lookingglass Theatre, first arrived on a Chicago stage in 1988. It has now been thrillingly revised and remounted on the company’s uniquely rigged stage.
Love Eludes the Most Loving in Lynn Nottage’s ‘Intimate Apparel’
May 11, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Throughout this play, Lynn Nottage explores the notion of intimacy in a multitude of ways, suggesting how different social classes, different ethnicities, and different sexes can connect, confide in, and also betray each other. Overall, “Intimate Apparel” is as meticulously crafted as its main character’s creations.
Yefim Bronfman Sets the Keyboard on Fire in Orchestra Hall Performance
May 10, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Pianist Yefim Bronfman performed galvanic renderings of Beethoven and an immensely challenging modernist work at his Sunday afternoon Orchestra Hall performance.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra in All Its Glory in Two Concerts
May 9, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
The world may be in a terrible state of upheaval at the moment, but two different concerts performed during the past week — played brilliantly by the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra — were a potent reminder that music is an astonishingly powerful emotional balm.
Porchlight Stages Searing Production of ‘Spring Awakening,’ With Chilling Connection to This Moment
May 4, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
Arriving at the very moment the Supreme Court appear to be poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision of a half-century ago, this haunting musical is infused with an intensity and a cry for help in the very midst of a retroactive movement.
Joffrey Ballet Pairs Balanchine Masterwork with a World Premiere Based on a Literary Classic
May 1, 2022 | Hedy Weiss
For its spring season at the Lyric Opera House, the Joffrey Ballet has devised a program composed of two dramatically and stylistically different works.