Devotee’s Rhapsody to Gershwin a Mixed Blessing

Hershey Felder is a man with a mission. A talented concert pianist, he has performed George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” about 400 times. That long indoctrination in Gershwin’s masterwork inspired Felder to try to bring the life of Gershwin to the stage.

For the last five years, Felder has immersed himself in the works of Gershwin, gaining unprecedented access to previously private Gershwin papers from Gershwin’s heirs.

The result, now onstage at the Tiffany Theater, is “George Gershwin Alone,” Felder’s solo show about one of America’s preeminent composers.

An affable fellow with a remarkable likeness to his subject, Felder sticks to a few-frills chronology of Gershwin’s life, beginning with the words “I was born” and continuing until the inevitable denouement--Gershwin’s untimely death in 1937 at age 38. That by-the-numbers recapitulation, interspersed with the kind of musical minutiae more appropriate to a college lecture hall than a theater, makes this loving but limited tribute a mixed blessing. Tinkling proficiently at a grand piano for much of the action, Felder takes a stab at singing Gershwin despite his admittedly limited vocal powers. His voice serves well for such undemanding standards as “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” But Felder doesn’t stop there. In a grandly heroic--and slightly foolhardy--attempt, he essays the famous love duet from “Porgy and Bess,” plunging precipitously from Bess’ tremulous falsetto to Porgy’s lower register.

Audacious? Yes, but under the assured direction of stage and small-screen vet Joel Zwick, Felder somehow pulls it off, rewarding us, at play’s end, with a rousing rendition of “Rhapsody in Blue” that leaves us gasping.

It’s in the writing--the synthesis of all his years of research--that Felder falls short. Arguably, a key problem is that, apart from his musical achievements and one romantic disappointment, Gershwin lived a relatively uneventful life, devoted mostly to the fervid and continual composition of music.

Although Felder offers some amusing anecdotes about Gershwin’s indomitable mother, Rose, along with some chilling accounts of the fierce anti-Semitism that dogged Gershwin throughout his career, too much detail--as in an overlong account of the “Rhapsody in Blue” premiere--bogs down the narrative. And when Gershwin/Felder rhapsodizes about his musical methods in exhaustively technical terms, he seems just a trifle dismissive of the musical laymen in his audience, who might not speak the same language.

* “George Gershwin Alone,” Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Today and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sunday. $35 to $39.50. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.