George Gershwin Alone

George Gershwin Alone, Hershey Felder’s international production, and the first installment of the composer trilogy, which played to sold out houses for an entire year at Chicago’s Royal George Theatre, will return to the stage for a limited holiday engagement.  Performances will run December 23 - January 8 at Chicago's Royal George Theatre. There will be special New Year’s Eve performances at 5:00 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.

George Gershwin Alone tells the story of America’s great composer, who with the groundbreaking “A Rhapsody in Blue,” made a “Lady out of Jazz.”  George Gershwin Alone presents an “imagination” of what an evening in the presence of the great composer’s company may have been like.

To create this work, the Gershwin family gave Hershey Felder unfettered access to the artist’s manuscripts, personal and professional papers and recordings. He conducted further research with Gershwin family members, biographers, friends and associates and at the Library of Congress, which houses the entire George and Ira Gershwin family archives as well as the composer’s Steinway piano.  Felder also studied Gershwin’s radio show recordings to capture his vocal approach to speech and song in the “jazz age.” 

An actor and Steinway Concert Artist as well as playwright and composer, Mr. Felder comes from a traditionally classical musical and theatrical background.  He is currently appearing in his show Monsieur Chopin, also playing at the Royal George Theatre. His studies on Chopin have taken him around the world and include studying the composer’s history, period history, manuscripts and living in Chopin’s still existing residences.  Included in the creative process is a scholarly relationship with the United States’ foremost author and professor of Chopin Studies, Jeffrey Kallberg.  Dr. Kallberg is both a Professor of Music History and Chairman of the Music Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Monsieur Chopin and George Gershwin Alone are written by Hershey Felder and directed by Joel Zwick.  Mr. Zwick, whose film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, has become a worldwide record-breaking phenomenon, will be releasing the upcoming Elvis Has Left the Building starring Kim Basinger and John Corbett this year.  He is currently in pre-production on several new film projects.  Zwick has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and for Broadway touring companies, and is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors with more than 500 television episodes to his credit.