Andrew Feldman set to host charity show at Lawrence Woodmere Academy

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Lawrence Woodmere Academy senior and Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman will host a charity show at the school that will honor his late mother.

“Celebration! For the Barbra Barth Feldman Performing Arts Center!” will take place on May 31 at Hessel Hall. It is being organized by Feldman and his theater company Zneefrock Productions, founded in 2014.

All the show’s proceeds will benefit the Barbra Feldman Scholarship Fund that LWA established last September. There will be roughly 60 performers, including Feldman’s co-stars from Broadway and fellow LWA students.

Feldman, 17, was the star of the Broadway show “Dear Evan Hansen” for roughly a year, and is set to enroll at Harvard University in the fall. (His mother received a law degree from Harvard in 1989.) He noted that the school wanted him to perform the first show in the renamed theater. “My mom was loved fiercely by everyone who knew her and she loved everyone just as fiercely,” Feldman said. “It only felt right for me to put on this show to celebrate my mom in the theater that I performed in so many times over the years.”

Barbra, a lifelong Five Towner, graduated from LWA in 1982. She had been the summer camp director since 2010, and was named head of school last January, a position that she held until her death in August.

Roughly $100,000 had been raised for her fund, which according to LWA Trustee Tom Cesare is a testament to the impact Barbra had on the school and community. “Even when she wasn’t headmaster, Barbra was always at the school,” Cesare said. “She was so well-liked and that’s why I’m not surprised by the amount of people who have donated to the fund.”

There was no coincidence for Feldman naming the show “Celebration,” since he wants it to commemorate his mother’s life. “Throughout my mom’s life, she taught us to see the good in the face of the bad and celebrate it all every day,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing this her way: celebrating her life as big as we possibly can.” Feldman added that ticket sales for the show have already raised roughly $30,000.

LWA Trustee Ella Schwartz, who has known the Feldman family for a dozen years, developed the idea for the scholarship after Barbra’s death. Schwartz noted that her son, Harrison, also a senior at LWA has known Feldman since they were in kindergarten. Harrison will also perform in the show.

“There has to be mixed emotions for a 17-year-old to put on a show like this in a school that he’s attended since he was in kindergarten,” she said. “I loved that Andrew called the show a celebration and I’m so glad that it’s taking place at LWA.”

Ticket prices for the show range from $15 to $150. They can be purchased at: https://bit.ly/2ShMadk.