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Review, 4 pages (950 words)

The pianist of willesden lane

The Pianist of Willesden Lane The Pianist of Willesden Lane is a play manifesting the true story of Lisa Jura, London Blitz survivor and a young Jewish musician (pianist ” Pianist”) whose dreams relate to her concert debut at the storied Musikverein concert hall. Set in Vienna in 1938, the play is an adaptation and publication by Hershey Felder (Felder Film) The solo performance of Mona Golabek depicts her haunted past where at 14 years old she becomes Lisa Jura. In the play virtuoso, Mona Golabek performs the world’s popular piano music as she narrates the catching story of her mother’s survival. The performance depicts hope, survival, portray the power of music, and help us to survive in the darkest challenges of our lives. Notably, the play Pianist of Willesden Lane deals with various themes, which include hope, power of music, survival, and love (Felder Film). Ideally, the director was saying that with love, faith, music, and hope, there is a chance for human beings to survive in difficult times. The director chose this time because it presented the challenges and adverse effects resulting from the Nazi regime. This play has relevance in our daily lives in that it restores our hope to survive the modern challenges. As such, I think the play was saying that the Nazi regime jeopardized many human but there was survival courtesy of faith, music, and hope. These factors are also relevant in addressing our daily challenges. The production time manifests the challenges at the Nazi regime and the subsequent factors that enabled the victims to survive. The setting of the play was in Vienna inn 1938 and London during the Blitzkrieg when people were running from strict laws under the Nazi regime. He also chose this time to show how humans survived during the Nazi regime. The play depicts the life of Lisa who was a survivor of the Nazi regime courtesy of the famous “ kinder transport” which took Jewish children by train, from Vienna to England where distant family members or strangers were waiting for them (Felder Film). The fact that Lisa kept her music dream alive despite the challenges of the Nazi war shows how hope, faith, and music can enable us to survive hardships in our lives. The production setting and performance of the play is unique in that depicts the power of music. Notably, Golabek presents her story using passionate music by Grieg, Beethoven, and Chopin. Moreover, the play entails a solo performance where the actor acts as herself and as her mother. During the Nazi regime, music played a noble role of stimulating and calming listeners depicts the power of music. More so, Lisa’s desire and dream to perform in a piano concert motivated her to survive and defined her career success. Additionally, the solo performer assumes various roles as she co-writes the book ” The Children of Willesden Lane,” plays the piano, and acts in Hershey Felder’s muscular stage adaptation. Furthermore, it is unique that solo performer, Golabek is Lisa Jura’s daughter which is a unique production element. The production theater presents an obstructed feeling. Indeed, the stage hosts a grand piano dominating center stage and four huge ornate silver and gold frames on the back wall from ceiling to floor (Felder Film). The photos inside the ornate picture frames range from family photos to footage of London bombings and preoccupy the audience eyes besides the magnificent performance by Golabek. Indeed, the photos depict the family and Vienna’s Jews worsening fortunes as well as Lisa’s escape, which contradict the passionate music performance by Golabek. In fact, the director heightens the impact of the performance by using the large photos on stage. The play depicts overly melodramatic production where the solo performer depicts a perfect posture and projection up to when she is above 14 years old. Indeed, she is seemingly uncomfortable on the big stage as her hands hang restlessly at her sides, uses a poor German and British accent, and lacks the capacity to assume the roles of other characters during the performance. Moreover, her straightforward and honest lines and magnificent performance in playing the huge piano at the center stage supports the theme, Grieg’s passionate Piano Concerto as she plays some of the beautiful and passionate piano songs that include Grieg’s songs. Indeed, this relate to Lisa’s dream of playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto at the storied Musikverein concert hall. The production choice of music creates emotions and identifies with the challenges in the Nazi regime. Indeed, Golabek used music to tell her story in 90 minutes and her honesty and truthfulness in her performance allowed the audience to identify with her story (Felder Film). The solo performer choses and plays beautiful music on stage that elicits passionate emotions as Golabek uses straightforward lines. Moreover, as Golabek continues to play the beautiful music on the piano, we can identify the sacrifices of her grandparents during the Nazi regime and celebrated the fact that Lisa survived and her dream lived on despite the challenges of the time. Indeed, the piano continues to play despite the running emotions in the performance. Indeed, in the last solo, Golabek suffers from the emotions and starts to play the piano in a manner of paying tribute to the Jewish pianists who never survived the Nazi regime (Felder Film). In conclusion, I confirm that the production moved me and made me to identify with the challenges of the Nazi regime. Moreover, I celebrate the fact that some people like Lisa survived and their dreams lived on. The themes of survival, hope, faith, power of music, and Grieg’s passionate Piano Concerto are dominant in the play, The Pianist of Willesden Lane. Notably, the director’s intention was to show us that with hope, faith, and music we can overcome our daily challenges just like Lisa overcame the hardships of the Nazi regime. Works Cited Felder, Hershey, dir. The Pianist of Willesden Lane. GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE, 1938. Film.

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