Audience Takes a Shine to Helfgott

The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion may have lost out to the Shrine Auditorium as the chosen site of Monday night’s Academy Awards ceremony, but it still managed to snare a little Hollywood glamour by hosting the night-after Los Angeles debut of David Helfgott--the real-life pianist whose traumatic childhood, subsequent mental breakdown and triumphant return to life and music was chronicled in the movie “Shine.”

The heart-tugging story of this Australian patient lost out to “The English Patient” for best picture, but actor Geoffrey Rush netted a best actor win for his portrayal of Helfgott, who remains on medication for schizoaffective disorder.

The aura of Oscar glamour continued outside the Chandler before the concert, as Armin Mueller-Stahl, a best supporting actor nominee for his role as Helfgott’s rigid father, chatted in front of TV lights, and Lynn Redgrave, who played Helfgott’s wife, Gillian, in the film, signed autographs. “Shine” director Scott Hicks made an appearance at the end of the performance to present Helfgott with flowers, put a kind arm around his shoulders and lead him off the stage.

As Helfgott’s international “Shine tour” has made its way around the country (the North American segment began March 4 in Boston), music critics have been skeptical of his musical abilities, while reporters have questioned Gillian Helfgott about whether or not she is exploiting her husband, speculating that the stress of touring may cause further damage to his already fragile psyche. Gillian Helfgott has blasted back, saying that her husband is making his own decisions and that the concert is not just about technical prowess but the “soul of the music”--and the soul of the man.

The Los Angeles audience--with actor Rush’s defense of Helfgott during the Academy Awards still ringing in their ears (“to those people who say it’s a circus . . . you’ve shown me a circus is a place of daring and risk-taking and working without a safety net”)--seemed to be sharing Gillian’s view.

Outside the Chandler before the first of Helfgott’s two sold-out Music Center concerts (the second is tonight), ticket holders--many of whom, surprisingly, had not yet seen the movie--were adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Only a few seemed to be trying to unload their tickets, and not because of Helfgott’s unpopularity with the critics. Steve Lillibridge of Orange, for example, said he was trying to get rid of his only because he also had tickets to a Celine Dion concert Tuesday. “I don’t think the people here are voyeuristic--I think they want to hear for themselves,” he said.

And you would have thought Helfgott himself had taken home one of Monday’s Oscars as the crowd greeted the elfin pianist with shouts, applause and cheers as he ran out onto the stage like a kid onto the field for a Little League game. The audience was clearly in love before he sat down to play.

Certainly his ebullient running entrances and exits, bobbing bows, merry squint-eyed smiles and warm handshakes with the front row more than made up for the continual humming, talking and moaning that accompanied his playing.

For the record, Helfgott performed a different program than appears in the glossy $10 souvenir booklet. The evening, titled “The Celebration of Life,” included Mendelssohn’s Andante & Rondo Capriccioso in E minor; Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G-sharp minor, Opus 32, No. 12; and four Liszt works: “Un Sospiro,” “La Campanella,” Ballade No. 2 in B minor and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. After the intermission, Helfgott played Beethoven’s “Appasionata” Sonata.

The audience never seemed to tire of leaping to its feet for a standing ovation after each of his multiple encores. It seemed especially pleased with Helfgott’s repeat of the “Flight of the Bumblebee,” which he had played at the Academy Awards the night before. There was even a shouted request for the “Rach 3”-- Rachmaninoff’s lengthy Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra, the difficult piece that triggers Helfgott’s breakdown in the movie. (Helfgott is scheduled to play the piece this summer at the Hollywood Bowl.)

At intermission, audience members said they liked him, they really liked him, and for reasons that had nothing to do with music.

Sherman Oaks physician Richard Horowitz and his wife, Nona, reveled in Helfgott’s apparent joy in performing. “When I listen to a pianist, one of the most important things to me is whether they are enjoying themselves, and he is so obviously enjoying himself that it’s a delight to see,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting Emanuel Ax or Vladimir Horowitz. He’s the ultimate entertainer.”

As soon as Helfgott tickets went on sale, Pat Weiner snapped up 16 for herself and friends, and all went out to dinner for a “Shine” party before the performance. The self-admitted Helfgott groupie got to meet Gillian Helfgott, who has penned a book about her life with Helfgott, at a book signing, and she has arranged to meet the pianist backstage when he appears in Pasadena April 28 and 30.

After the concert, these audience members seemed to remain in the same blissed-out state--well, almost. “The Beethoven was terrible,” whispered Nona Horowitz, almost apologetically, on her way out.

* Helfgott’s second recital, tonight at 8, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., is sold out, as are his Pasadena performances, April 28 and 30, at Pasadena Civic Center. Tickets are available for his performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Aug. 25, 8:30 p.m. $13.50-$95. (213) 480-3232.