By Kelly Haigh
Daily Bruin Contributor
Los Angeles audiences now have the chance to get up close and
personal with two guys who made it big on Broadway.
“Back From Broadway … A Musical Experience”
showcases the large-scale talent of James Barbour (“Jane
Eyre,” “Beauty and the Beast”) and Hershey Felder
(“George Gershwin Alone”) in an unusually intimate
venue. The show opens Nov. 24 at the Tiffany Theatre in Los
Angeles.
Barbour and Felder, who have performed on the enormous and
comparatively impersonal stages of the Great White Way, are now
working a cozy black box theater. There are no elaborate set
pieces. There are no microphones. The show allows audiences to
experience both the raw power and the subtle intricacy of renowned
theatrical talent.
In “Back From Broadway,” Barbour and Felder perform
a variety of their favorite showtunes, as well as story-monologues
which explain why the chosen songs are personally significant to
them. They created the show under the guidance of director Joel
Zwick, who encourages them to disclose the truth of their past
experiences.
“I was interested in stories about these guys,”
Zwick said. “You know, what was your first turn-on to music?
And what was the first song you learned? And what was the first
thing that you did here, and what happened? All of a sudden stories
are starting to emerge that are just fascinating.”
After all, not everyone can claim to have been a Broadway star.
The broad themes of the show serve as familiar commentary on the
human condition, but the particulars of Barbour and Felder’s
career evolutions may give audiences a fresh glimpse of the road
less traveled.
For this pair, a decisive juncture occurred after a series of
chance meetings and exposure to each other’s work, when
Barbour and Felder decided that it was time to collaborate.
“When you’re on Broadway, you get to know people,
but you seek out the ones that you’d like to work
with,” Felder said. “And of course my main guidance in
artistic life is music, and any aspect thereof … So I sought out
Jim.”
Now Barbour and Felder enjoy a solo/ensemble performance
dynamic. While they wrote their respective parts independently and
distinctly, they say that the two concurrent narratives have
developed an inexplicable harmony. In fact, at times the two
characters appear to be one person.
“Instead of being one person’s story with the other
as a functionary, both individuals function as one
individual,” said Felder. “And it’s weird because
I don’t feel that I am on the stage with somebody
else.”
Zwick is quite confident in the level of expertise of his
performers, particularly in Barbour’s vocal ability.
“I’ve worked with Howard Keel, I’ve worked
with John Raitt, and I’ve worked with Robert Goulet, three of
arguably the great theoretical theater voices of the last fifty
years,” Zwick said. “Jim has a better voice than all
three of them, and can act all of them out of the theater … So
I’m sitting here with this craft level that’s just
astounding to me.”
The overall message of the show, its creators say, is one of
encouragement that everyone can embrace.
“We’re talking about the sense of hope,”
Barbour said. “It was something that I was always taught
““ to reach beyond your grasp for things you never thought
possible, (to not) stay with the status quo. We might have
troubles, we might have worries … but no matter what happens,
you’ve got to keep going, you’ve got to keep
dreaming.”
THEATER: “Back From Broadway … A
Musical Experience” opens Nov. 24 and runs through Dec. 31.
Tickets are $35-$45. For more information or to buy tickets, call
the Tiffany Theatre box office at (310) 289-2999.