Due to popular demand, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will extend its upcoming run of internationally-acclaimed The Pianist of Willesden Lane through Feb. 16, adding five performances. Starring celebrated pianist Mona Golabek, this triumphant tour de force recounts the inspiring true story of Golabek’s mother, Lisa Jura, a young Jewish musician. Created and directed by TheatreWorks favorite Hershey Felder, this musical journey follows Jura’s escape from Nazi-occupied Austria via the Kindertransport, and her life at a children’s home on Willesden Lane in London, where she later survived the London Blitz.
Combining vivid storytelling and masterful performances of classics by Bach, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff, The Pianist of Willesden Lane is a one-woman show that illustrates how music can bring light and hope to even the darkest of times. The Pianist of Willesden Lane, which was originally scheduled to close Feb. 9, will now play Jan. 15 – Feb. 16, at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. Mountain View, CA 94041. For tickets ($30 – $100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.
About Mona Golabek
Mona Golabek is an internationally-renowned concert pianist, actor, author, and radio host. She is the subject of several documentaries including More Than Music and A Concert for Mona. A Grammy nominee, Golabek has performed concerts across the globe, including performances at the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, and the Royal Festival Hall. Golabek’s recordings include the best-selling Carnival of the Animals, featuring the voices of Audrey Hepburn, Ted Danson, Lily Tomlin and others; Ravel’s Mother Goose, featuring Meryl Streep; and the Piano
Trios of Arensky and Tchaikovsky, recorded in collaboration with her sister, Renee GolabekKaye. Golabek is the founder and president of the nonprofit Hold On To Your Music, and the host of classical music radio show “The Romantic Hours,” which blends classical music with readings of love letters and poetry.
About Hershey Felder
Hershey Felder (Director and Adapter) is an actor, pianist, writer, director, composer, conductor, and producer who has conjured the spirits of George Gershwin, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Claude
Debussy, and Irving Berlin. Felder’s solo shows have been seen across America — at the Geffen
Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, San Diego
Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Cleveland Playhouse, as well as long runs at Chicago’s Royal George Theatre and engagements at New York’s Town Hall, 59E59, and the Streicker Center.
Throughout the past 20 years, he has given more than 5,000 performances. Described by American Theatre Magazine as “a seductive portraitist, compelling storyteller, and superb concert pianist,” Felder’s work was named one of TIME Magazine’s 2016 Top Plays and Musicals. While making his TheatreWorks directorial debut with The Pianist of Willesden Lane, Felder has become an enormous Bay Area favorite onstage—audiences packed last season’s World Premiere of Hershey Felder: A Paris Love Story at TheatreWorks, as well as the 2019 Tony Award-winning company’s regional premieres of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin; Hershey Felder, Beethoven; and Our Great Tchaikovsky.