For a writer, actor, and singer, Hershey Felder is a heck of a pianist. That much was obvious in his first one-man show, the biographical George Gershwin Alone, where Felder found unexpected colors and textures in everything from well-worn pop standards to hoary old Rhapsody in Blue—but when it came to talking and singing, he was disabled by his own stuffy acting, an indecisive voice, and a script that ranged from dutiful to melodramatic to inexplicable. After the popularity of Gershwin Alone, its star capitalized on the good thing he had going. He created three more one-man shows about famous musicians—Chopin, Beethoven, and Bernstein—catering to an older, well-heeled demographic and showing off his exemplary piano playing.
Felder begins in 1932. His Leale—now 90 years old, alone, and semi-impoverished—is weighed down as much by the deprivations of the Great Depression as by the mass of ridiculously overpainted gray hair on his head. Like his father, Leale’s got a pedagogical ax to grind. The doomsayers think the Depression presages the collapse of civilization, but he’s here to tell us about a historical mess that was really serious. And he’ll show us that if we Americans got through that, we can get through anything.
Through 4/14: Wed-Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted, 312-988-9000, theroyalgeorgetheatre.com, $60-$65.