Composer-Centric Playwright Hershey Felder Completes His "Sonata" With Beethoven | Playbill

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News Composer-Centric Playwright Hershey Felder Completes His "Sonata" With Beethoven He's been alone with George Gershwin and Frederick Chopin, and now playwright-painist Hershey Felder turns his attention to Schroeder's favorite composer in Beethoven

The new show will have its world premiere at Chicago’s Royal George Theatre on Feb. 9, 2007. Joel Zwick directs.

Though it was completed last, the work is intended as the first “movement” of a Felder trilogy entitled The Composer Sonata. The second movement, Monsieur Chopin also premiered in Chicago, in August of 2005. The third movement, George Gershwin Alone, began in Los Angeles in 200 and had a short run on Broadway.

Beethoven "features some of the master’s most enduring and beloved works," according to production notes. "The action of the play centers on a little known story about the composer and his legacy."

Ludwig van Beethoven lived from 1770 to 1827 and, as such, hung around a bit longer than the unlucky and sickly Gershwin and Chopin, who died at 38 and 39, respectively. He was born in Bonn, Germany, and achieved worldwide fame through his many Piano Concerti and Symphonies. (His Fifth and Ninth symphonies are among the most well-recognized compositions in history.) He is seen as one of the greatest composers of all time and as a pivotal transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras. He never married, had tempestuous relations with members of his family, and was often in bad health. He went deaf late in his career, but continued to compose.

Tickets cost $45 and are on-sale now at the Royal George Theatre Box Office, 1641 North Halsted Street, (312) 988-9000. Tickets may also be obtained by calling Ticketmaster at (312) 902-1500, and at all Ticketmaster ticket centers or online at ticketmaster.com.

 
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