Beethoven, As I Knew Him
In print, Ludwig van Beethoven has proved to be larger than any single biography. He's also much larger than Hershey Felder's sketchy 90-minute piece, in its world premiere at the Old Globe. Felder gives the symphonies short shrift and highlights the oddities of the life (including an unemptied chamber pot). Felder scored a hit last year with George Gershwin, Alone at the Globe, in part because Gershwin wrote short, easily recognized, unforgettable music. Felder could encapsulate Gershwin. His trying to encapsulate Beethoven's like playing only the first four notes of the Fifth Symphony and saying, "Well, there ya go." The opening-night audience gave Felder a standing ovation. And he earned one, not so much for his acting - he makes Gerhard von Breuning (through whose eyes we see the maestro) and Beethoven more one-note attitudes than developed characters - but for his tour de force combination of doing characters with precise German accents, narrating a 90-minute show, and playing swaths of difficult Beethoven (including the miraculous "Sonata in C Sharp Minor" and the Hegelian "Sonata Pathetique") with few mistakes. The design values (shiny black surfaces and ghostly figured projected on an open score) and Joel Zwick's unfussy direction serve the show, which needs major rethinking. Right now, it showcases Felder's many skills far more than Beethoven's.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, June 8, 2008
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Tuesdays, 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |