Can Australian concert pianist David Helfgott, the subject of the hit movie Shine, actually play? The critics say no -- but if album sales are any indication, his fans don't care. And, to judge by Helfgott's North American debut performance in Boston on March 4 (his entire 18-date U.S. tour is sold out), he may be downright critic-proof.
In Shine, Helfgott, now 49, is presented as a sensitive young keyboard genius hounded into insanity by his tyrannical father. Critics, though, have found anything but genius in his Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 -- the pivotal recital piece in the film and now a Helfgott CD selling 22,000 copies a week -- calling his playing incoherent. There's also the furor over whether this tour represents a triumph of the spirit or exploitation of the mentally ill by Helfgott's wife, Gillian, in cross-promotional cahoots with music and film industry barracudas.
But most of the fans lining up outside Symphony Hall were more interested in the movie and the man than the music and the misgivings. ''I can't even pronounce Rach...Rach,'' said one woman on line. ''Just say rock three and you'll be all right,'' advised her friend. Deron Pease, a 26-year-old data scientist, conceded that he's only listened to the record once: ''I'm here to see him because he's him.''
On stage, Helfgott was definitely him -- an effusive, chattering sprite, bounding to the piano in his flowing white ruffled blouse, facing the crowd to bow slightly from the waist with his trademark grimacing grin and squeezed-shut eyes. At the piano, Helfgott grunted, puffed his cheeks, buzzed through his lips, and talked constantly to himself, often looking up at the audience as if to share his special secret of the music. (When he gave a few tugs at his shirt in the middle of the Chopin F-Minor Ballade, it was enough to give those who've seen the film anxious pause -- would the pianist leap up and take it all off?) Playing at low volume, giving very little dynamic definition to a dramatic warhorse like Beethoven's ''Waldstein'' sonata, Helfgott delivered emotion as much through his facial expressions, waving arms, and continuous vocalizing as through the music.
No matter. When he was done with his program (which included Mendelssohn and Liszt, but not the ''Rach 3''), he drew standing ovations through three encores, as well as a stream of people rushing down the aisle to shake his hands.
Sami Ewalt, 53, drove three hours from Essex Junction, Vt., for the privilege of watching Helfgott from Symphony Halls' last row. She wasn't disappointed. ''I'm not a religious person, but it was a spiritual experience,'' Ewalt said. Having studied piano for 12 years, she had no problem with Helfgott's technical inconsistencies. ''He felt free to play it the way he felt it.''
-- Jon Garelick
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PERFORMANCE
WHO: David Helfgott WHERE: Symphony Hall, Boston WHEN: March 4, 1997
