Actor-pianist Hershey Felder opened a 25-performance run of "Rachmaninoff and the Tsar" at People's Light in Malvern on Friday, Aug. 28.

The limited engagement runs through Sunday, Sept. 20, and marks Felder's return to the Chester County theater after his sold-out "Monsieur Chopin" run last summer, according to BroadwayWorld. The venue, a longtime draw for Main Line theatergoers from Radnor, Haverford and surrounding townships, seats audiences on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Tickets start at $59, and groups of 10 or more save 15–25%.

Felder wrote the play. He also stars as composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. British-Italian actor Jonathan Silvestri plays Tsar Nicholas II, and Trevor Hay directs.

The story is set in Beverly Hills, where Rachmaninoff settled after fleeing Russia during the 1917 revolution. In it, the composer recalls a long-ago encounter with the tsar. Felder performs Rachmaninoff's music live throughout, including Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Variation 18) and Vocalise, according to the People's Light production page.

Every performance ends with a Q&A led by Felder. That format helped forge his connection with local audiences during the Chopin run.

"No audience anywhere asked questions as astute and intelligent as the ones I heard in Malvern. … Proportionately, this was the most erudite audience anywhere," Felder told columnist Neal Zoren in a Daily Times phone interview published Aug. 30.

Felder, who was born in Montreal and now lives in Florence and Venice, said he spends about 10 months of the year in the United States. He also operates Teatro Niccolini in Florence, a 17th-century theater where he schedules 190 to 200 evenings of entertainment per year.

The play was originally set to premiere in April 2020, a month after COVID-19 shut down live performance across the country. Felder kept working through the pandemic, turning to film projects.

He has written roughly a dozen one-man plays about composers, including shows on Chopin, Beethoven, Bernstein, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Irving Berlin. His most recent production, "The Piano and Me," closed off-Broadway before this People's Light engagement.

Performances of "Rachmaninoff and the Tsar" continue through Sept. 20 at People's Light, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. Tickets are available at PeoplesLight.org or by calling 610-644-3500.