Mona Golabek; The Pianist of Willesden Lane

[Jim3k]

Normally, I wouldn't attempt to review a local play or concert, but this deserves an exception. On Wednesday evening my wife an I went to the Berkeley Rep to see Mona Golabek's one-woman presentation of The Pianist of Willesden Lane. I believe this is its second run; the first was in Los Angeles in April 2012.

Golabek, now in her 60s, I think, is a well-known world-class American concert pianist. And boy, live, is she incredible.

But that's not the main point. From a Jewish family, Golabek is the product of both The Holocaust and the Blitz--not directly, mind you--but through her grandparents and her parents. Both her mother, Lisa Jura and her grandmother, Malka Jura, were pianists in Vienna before the Nazi takeover.

This play/concert derives from Mona's biographical account of her mother's departure, as a 14 year-old, from Nazi-occupied Austria via the kindertransport in 1938.

This presentation, adapted by Hershey Felder, from Golabek's book, The Children of Willesden Lane, allows Golabek to act her mother's part and to show off her own marvelous talent as a concert pianist. It's 90 minutes of Lisa's fear--for herself and her parents, fear of the London Blitz--and joy as she survives the Blitz with her fellow kindertransported teens, joy as she is selected as a student for the London School of Music and amazed at the darnedest love story, being pursued by her husband-to-be, a DeGaulle-decorated Pole fighting for the French Underground. All supported by 90 minutes of the absolute best classical piano I have had the pleasure to hear.

This concert is electric and well-worth seeing. It's being held over in Berkeley until early January. If you live here or are visiting the Bay Area, make an effort to see it.

[BD80]

I saw a similar thread over on IC


I crack myself up