Hershey Felder has made a career out of portraying musical icons. He’s been Irving Berlin, Franz Liszt and George Gershwin. In Maestro, he traces the life and career of Leonard Bernstein, the American composer /conductor in a one -man show.
Felder performs several piano pieces that include some of Bernstein’s Broadway works, songs from On the Town, Wonderful Town and Candide. Despite “Bernstein’s” lament about being mostly remembered for West Side Story (which he labels “juvenilia”) rather than for any of his serious classic works, Felder manages to include the show music on three separate occasions. The show also features music by Wagner, Copland and other classical composers.
While the music is worth the price of the show itself, the book is sorely lacking. All the characters have accents that sound vaguely Eastern European and sometimes even comical, even though they are famous musical figures. The accents sound alike (did I hear Dracula?). Felder plays Bernstein’s father, a cold and aloof man, who doesn’t support his son’s aspirations fearing that he won’t be able to support himself.