In response to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s fundraising needs, internationally acclaimed actor, pianist and filmmaker Hershey Felder is set to perform “Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along,” a one-night-only benefit for TheatreWorks, 7:30 Oct. 11 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St.
Felder offered his services to the Tony Award-winning TheatreWorks at no charge after the Palo Alto-based theater company announced a financial crisis earlier this summer that puts its existence at risk. Felder has performed his one-man shows at TheatreWorks multiple times over the years, portraying composers including Frederic Chopin, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.
In the benefit show, Felder will share stories and lead the audience through 100 years of American music, featuring a selection of songs by composers including Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and more. All proceeds will support TheatreWorks’ future.
“When I heard about TheatreWorks’ financial situation, I had to help,” Felder said. “TheatreWorks is vital to the Bay Area community as well as being a theater where works are developed for a national audience. Theater might be going through a difficult period, but it is not for nothing that it has survived and thrived for several thousand years. We are simply obligated to usher it through this difficult period to the other side so that great work and communal storytelling continues, as it is necessary for our well-being and our humanity.”
All ticket holders (tickets start at $45) will have the opportunity to join Felder in singing along to music from the Great American Songbook, but the event also offers exclusive opportunities to meet the artist. At the $500 level, guests will receive top seats for the show and be invited to join Felder for a private post-show reception with champagne and dessert, toasting the future of the regional theater. At the $1,000 level, guests will be invited to an exclusive pre-concert event with Felder, featuring hors d’oeuvres paired with wines from J. Lohr Vineyards, plus premium seats offering a left-side (keyboard) view of Felder’s playing, as well as the post-show reception.
For tickets and more information, call (877) 662-8978
or visit TheatreWorks.org/Hershey.
