Opposites may or may not attract but they can certainly produce lively theater. After years of creating solo portraits of famous composers—Gershwin, Chopin, Debussy among them—Hershey Felder pairs Sergei Rachmaninoff with Tsar Nicholas II. In Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, Felder applies his signature mix of music, biography, wit and pedagogy to the Russian composer while Jonathan Silvestri plays the unfortunate last Romanov to rule the empire.
Now onstage at Writers Theatre in a production directed by Trevor Hay, the play rests on a fictional conceit: Nicholas II, executed along with his wife and children in 1918, pays a visit to Rachmaninoff’s morphine-charged imagination in 1943 as the composer approaches death from melanoma. The single extended encounter pits these opposites against each other in ways that bring out their respective temperaments as well as provide an abundance of historical detail.
When it comes to their fathers, Rachmaninoff describes his as “a skirt chaser and a gambler” and Nicholas insists his own, Tsar Alexander III, was “a god.” Views of each other? The musician is “insufferable,” the ruler of Russia is “oblivious.” World events divide them further still, Rachmaninoff holding Nicholas responsible for the revolution that drove him out of his beloved country.
Deeper than parentage, character or politics, however, the two men spar about the soul. For Rachmaninoff, it is the engine of art and the foundation of life. Nicholas, meanwhile, finds it hard to get away from divine ordination as the force behind just about everything.
Beyond the dualities between the men is the one within Rachmaninoff. From the moment Felder enters the stage, where a Steinway piano is nestled between the greenery of a Beverly Hills house, he conveys the composer’s persistent ache for home. Chatting humorously and playing bits of “It” (Prelude in C Sharp Minor), Felder-as-Rachmaninoff’s voice, body and words make it clear that homesickness grabbed him when he fled Russia in 1917 and never let go.
Since Nicholas was the first family member murdered 25 years earlier, Rachmaninoff fills him in on everyone else’s fate, an emotionally devastating revelation. Nicholas then learns that a decade after settling in New York, the composer arranged for the transport and care of the woman alleged to be his daughter Anastasia. She arrived in 1928 to much public hysteria and Rachmaninoff’s support for the mentally ill woman softens the Tsar’s opinion of the man.
Conflict is inherent in this scene, energizing its dialogue and enriching our sense of the characters. At other times, however, the interchange between them seems designed to deliver information rather than portray specific personalities. It comes off as expository and contrived. While Felder inhabits Rachmaninoff to the last molecule, Silvestri, an accomplished actor, doesn’t have nearly as much to work with and must simply react for long stretches.
Despite these generalized passages, Rachmaninoff and the Tsar strikes a highly personal tone. A series of brief, silent black and white videos, created by Stefano DeCarli, appear on a rear screen throughout the show, depicting family moments that inhabit the memories of Rachmaninoff and Nicholas. The close-up videos are at first a jarring production element and then become an eerie commentary on vanished times.
Costumes by Marysol M. Gabriel, lighting by Erik S. Barry, sound by Erik Carstensen and wig and makeup by Judi Lewin further develop the environment that spans countries and eras. The performance concludes with Felder’s traditional question and answer period with the audience, this time including Silvestri, whose contributions add a warm, down-to-earth note.
Rachmaninoff and the Tsar continues through September 21 at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. For tickets and information, go to Writers Theatre.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know how much we appreciate your support!
