Here’s my final piece in the Broadway-bound series on “The Little Mermaid,” which opens tonight.

A strike by stagehands pushed it back a month, but tonight, the Broadway adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
With music by Westchester native Alan Menken and a cast that includes Lower Hudson Valley actors John Treacy Egan of Larchmont, Merwin Foard of North Salem and Arbender J. Robinson of Mount Vernon, this Broadway show has suburban roots.
The cast is led by Sierra Boggess, making her Broadway debut, and includes Sean Palmer as Prince Eric and Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula the sea witch. (Scott splits time between Manhattan and Putnam County.)
What to expect on Opening Night?
ALAN MENKEN, who wrote the animated feature on which the musical is based, has been working on the show for years. Tonight’s opening will interrupt a long-planned vacation. He’ll be at the Lunt-Fontanne tonight for the opening and then resume his vacation.
“My traditions are opening night notes to the cast and crew and my music people and production people and individual congratulations and the opening-night party,” he says, adding with a laugh: “Then I try, if possible, to not open a newspaper the next morning unless told it’s safe.
“We’ll just have a good time and celebrate the coming of this show,” says the New Rochelle native who now makes his home in northern Westchester.
Other traditions, he says, have been “pretty much clobbered by the logistics of this year,” and the strike that pushed the “Mermaid” opening back a month.
Traditionally, the cast would get the day off after the opening. That won’t happen, as tickets had already been sold for tomorrow’s performance.
“And (producer) Tom Schumacher likes to have a dinner for everyone and it’s been difficult to coordinate things since people have other commitments, a month after we were supposed to have opened,” Menken says.
Another thing will be different, the composer says. Copies of the cast album—which was recorded Dec. 16-19—might just be available at tonight’s opening. Traditionally, the show is recorded after opening, but as the sessions were booked well in advance, Disney went ahead and recorded it in December. Menken is one of the album’s lead producers.

SIERRA BOGGESS, who plays Princess Ariel, tonight takes part in her first Opening Night.
She played Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” in Las Vegas but, as luck would have it, was double-cast in the role and didn’t go on that Opening Night. She did, however, take a bow, with the other double-cast Phantom.
She calls it her “sort of Opening Night.”
“I was there. I attended. I did all the hype and excitement and the press,” she says. “But I didn’t get to actually perform, which is one of the hardest things about being double-cast.”
Tonight is different.
“This is going to be simply amazing, because it’s just me,” she says with a giggle.
It’s big, she says, but she’s trying not to think of it too much.
“Otherwise, it becomes so overwhelming because it’s so exciting and there are so many interviews and so much hype,” she says.
“The safest place for me to be, and the most enjoyable place to be, is on stage. Nothing else matters and once I’m off stage, there’s a lot of stress and getting ready and finding just the right cast gifts.”
And it’s a big cast.
“You want to make sure you think about everyone as a person,” Boggess says. “There are so many fantastic people and there’s so much to say.”
If she feels like a princess on stage, she’ll feel more like one at the Roseland party after tonight’s performance.
She’ll wear a Calvin Klein gown that she’s had several fittings for and she’s borrowing jewelry from Verdura.
“They’ve made this even more special,” she gushes.
Will she be the last one to arrive at Roseland for the big shindig?
“However much time it takes for me to look my best after coming off stage is how much time it will take to get to the party,” she says, putting on her best mock-diva attitude.

MERWIN FOARD tonight marks his 13th Broadway show and his 10th opening night, having joined three shows mid-run. He plays the pilot of Prince Eric’s ship and is also in the ensemble.
Foard lives in Carmel and sends his daughters, Phoebe and Bailey, to North Salem schools.
Westchester audiences might recognize him from a gig at Mamaroneck’s Emelin Theater last winter and from Broadway work in such revivals as “Assassins,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “1776,” where he was a memorable Richard Henry Lee.
Foard jokes that he doesn’t really have Opening Night traditions “more than sweating bullets.”
“It’s really very easy,” he says. “Living with the commute on Metro-North, I just go easily through the day.”
Tonight, though, might be a memorable one for Foard as he’s in the running for the Gypsy Robe, a Broadway tradition that honors the cast member who has been in the most Broadway ensembles.
At 5 tonight, the cast will assemble and the Gypsy Robe—adorned with show logos from all of this season’s musicals—will be bestowed. It’s a big honor, one Foard has won twice—for “Assassins” and “La Cage Aux Folles.”
“It supports the lifestyle of the Broadway gypsy, (an ensemble member) who goes from show to show to show,” he says, adding: “It’s an unknown until Opening Night, so we’ll see.”
Superstitions?
“I make sure I know my first words, because I’m the first vocal that you hear at the top of the show as the pilot of that ship. You don’t need to mess that up,” he says with a laugh.
“I’ll kind of be going through my opening moves during the overture to be ready for when the spotlight hits me,” he says.
Memorable opening nights include “Beauty and the Beast” another Menken show, in 1994 at The Palace Theater.
“Coming into your dressing room, you couldn’t see the dressing table or even the chair, because it was so loaded up with amazing bouquets of flowers and huge packages from Disney and the producers,” he says. “That was the most jaw-dropping Opening Night.”
The most impressive gift, though, came from Foard’s wife, Rebecca, who—for Opening Night of “Sweeney Todd”—designed and stitched a huge cross-stitch of the dozen Broadway shows Foard had appeared in. As Foard loves crossword puzzles, the titles and composers of each show were fit together as a crossword-puzzle design.
It was framed and matted by a man in Carmel who said it was a one-time deal that couldn’t be modified after it was framed, Foard says.
Tonight, Foard starts what he hopes will be his next dozen shows—with “The Little Mermaid.”

JOHN TREACY EGAN, of Larchmont, made his Broadway debut in “Jekyll and Hyde” nearly 11 years ago and played three roles in “The Producers,” including Max Bialystock. He plays the cleaver-wielding Chef Louis in “The Little Mermaid.”
Tonight is his second Opening Night on Broadway, but he’s not big on traditions.
“I just try to show up on time,” he deadpans.
He’s looking forward to the Gypsy Robe presentation.
“It’s a great tradition. Everybody touches the robe,” he says. “And it looks like it’ll be either Merwin or Adrian Bailey.”
Egan says he’s working on an Opening Night gift idea with Foard: “Something that we’ll do as a cast down the road.”
“At my age, you go ‘I don’t really need another pen,’” he says with a laugh. “You want to give something memorable or useful.”

ARBENDER J. ROBINSON is a member of the ensemble, and plays one of the tap-dancing seagulls in the Act 2 opening number, “Positoovity.”
The Chicago native now calls Mount Vernon home.
“Mermaid” is his second Broadway show—he appeared in “Hairspray”—but tonight is his first big Opening Night.
“I’ve only done regional theater up until this point, so this is a little different for me. In regional theater, you rehearse a show for two weeks, you throw a show up very quickly, you have a quick party after the show and you’re doing the same thing again the next day.
“I have no idea what to expect,” he says in a break between two Sunday shows. “I’m like this big wide-eyed kid with his first original show going to a big Opening Night.”
Since Opening Night is all about presents, Robinson has been working on his. He’ll give co-workers grab-bags with all things “Mermaid” inside. Echoing a lyric, he calls them “whosits and whatsits galore.”

PHOTOS: Alan Menken by Rory Glaeseman of The Journal News; Sierra Boggess, John Treacy Egan, Merwin Foard and Arbender J. Robinson by Joan Marcus.

The Schoolhouse Theater’s excellent production of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucibleâ€? — which had a solid run in Croton Falls — will transfer to the Arclight Theater, 152 W. 71st Street at Broadway, for a four-week run beginning Feb. 7.

(Read my original review here).

It’s a huge coup for the Schoolhouse, an intimate venue, to transfer to an Off- Off-Broadway house in Manhattan. From a financial standpoint, with a cast of 19, it’s the unlikeliest of transfers. But the cast and creative team will all be reunited at the Arclight.

Pamela Moller-Kareman, the Schoolhouse’s artistic director and director of “The Crucible,” said two anonymous angels have contributed about half of the production costs to make the transfer to Manhattan. Those costs are significant, with a huge cast to pay.

“It goes without saying that we would welcome additional support,â€? Moller-Kareman said.

The production comes to Manhattan with the assistance of Mare Nostrum Elements. Kevin Albert, co-founder of Mare Nostrum, portrayed Rev. John Hale at the Schoolhouse and will continue in the role at Arclight.

The production will reprise direction by Pamela Moller-Kareman, scenic design by John Pollard; lighting by David Pentz; sound design and original music by Matt Stine, and costume design by Kim Matela. All of the actors will return to their roles.

“The Crucibleâ€? runs February 6 – March 2, Wednesdays at 2 p.m.; Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m., with added shows Feb. 6 and Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

The Arclight Theatre is located at 152 W. 71st St. (between Broadway and Columbus). Tickets are $40, $35 for students and seniors. Call 212-352-3101 or visit www.TheaterMania.com.

PHOTO: The cast of the Schoolhouse Theater production of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” includes Sarah Bennett as Elizabeth Procter and Simon MacLean as John Procter. Photo by Ron Marotta/The Schoolhouse Theater

Follow the adventures of a bored little boy named Milo through a wonderful land of Spelling Bees and Watchdogs and Dictionopolis at this weekend’s performances of “The Phantom Tollbooth,” a production of Little Village Playhouse.

Performances are Friday at 8 and Saturday at 7 at Irvington Town Hall Theater,
85 Main St., Irvington.

For details, go to www.littlevillageplayhouse.com.

For tickets — which are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, call 914-591-6602.

Got word this morning from Scarlett Antonia that Peekskill — which revived its musical program with “Grease!” last year — is taking on Rodgers & Hammerstein, with “The Sound of Music” in April. That means those Von Trapps are joining the list of most-produced shows this year, with productions at Westlake and in Suffern.

The other three-time shows are “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hello Dolly!”

Mahopac did their musical in the fall this year, but I’m still waiting to hear from Lakeland, Mount Vernon, Pearl River and Albertus Magnus. …. Stay tuned.

While you’re here, what show are you most likely to see this year? Any show you’d love to see that’s not being done? Leave a comment and let’s get a conversation started.

Here’s a breakdown, by show, of the upcoming high-school musicals. For dates, see the earlier post.

3

“Hello Dolly!”: Pelham, Irvington, Walter Panas
“Fiddler on the Roof”: Pleasantville, Blind Brook, Carmel
“The Sound of Music”: Westlake, Suffern, Peekskill

2

“Footloose”: Kennedy Catholic, Ramapo
“Crazy for You”: John Jay, Spring Valley
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”: Salesian, White Plains
“West Side Story”: Putnam Valley, Croton-Harmon
“Li’l Abner:” Rye, Yorktown
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”: Ardsley, Edgemont
“Peter Pan”: Fox Lane, Valhalla
“Damn Yankees”: Nanuet, Sacred Heart

1

“City of Angels”: Hastings
“42nd Street”: North Salem
“Children of Eden”: Holy Child
“The Wizard of Oz”: North Rockland
“Once Upon a Mattress”: Ursuline School
“Pajama Game”: Rye Country Day School
“Into the Woods”: Bronxville
“Jekyll & Hyde”: Ossining
“Les Miserables”: Byram Hills
“Carousel”: Woodlands
“Kiss Me, Kate”: Briarcliff
“Bye Bye Birdie”: Eastchester
“Me & My Girl”: Clarkstown North
“Oklahoma!”: Rockland Country Day School
“Miss Saigon”: Harrison
“Singing in the Rain”: Archbishop Stepinac
“Iolanthe”: Tappan Zee
“Seussical”: Mamaroneck
“Anything Goes”: The Masters School
“Pippin”: Horace Greeley
“The Phantom of the Opera”: Nyack
“Cats”: Rye Neck
“Barnum”: Tuckahoe
“The Boyfriend”: Dobbs Ferry
“South Pacific”: Sleepy Hollow
“Beauty and the Beast”: Brewster
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”: Clarkstown South
“The Music Man”: Haldane
“Ragtime”: New Rochelle
“Cabaret”: Port Chester

I got the assignment to head to Hastings High School.

Seems they’ve got a musical they’re getting ready for, a film-noir musical called “City of Angels” that runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

It won a bunch of Tonys back in 1990, including best musical.

See what you can find out, I was told.

It was dark by the time I pulled up to the school – a tall, brick job that sits on Farragut and Mount Hope.

It was cold.

Too cold.

Some kids were learning a dance routine in the lobby while stage manager Ben Andersen rattled off assignments in the theater.

I’ve been to plenty of musical rehearsals and this one was quiet.

Too quiet.

“City of Angels” hit Broadway in a big way. It was nominated for 11 Tonys and went home with 6.

It has a book by Larry Gelbart, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel.

In a nutshell, “City of Angels” is about a screenwriter named Stine writing a film-noir script about a detective named Stone. On stage, the film-noir movie scenes are in black-and-white; the Hollywood world of screenwriter Stine is in living color.

What this means to a stage manager like Andersen is that when action is going on in the black-and-white scenes stage left, his stage crew can be quickly and quietly setting the next color scene stage right.

At this too-quiet rehearsal, set designer Adam Hart and his crew stapled black scrim curtains onto a frame and screwed it into position.

Andersen – a senior who has worked on a slew of shows – was assigning jobs to his running crew, assisted by junior Emma Altman. Next year, it’ll be Altman’s job. Now, it’s Andersen’s.

The guy is good. Too good.

He knows who puts the chairs on stage and who makes sure the bed is put in the right spot. He knows who takes them off.

Before a gumshoe can step into his spotlight, there are plenty of questions to answer.

The guy with the answers is Andersen.

“I always loved theater, but I can’t act,” he says. “I’ve been doing stage-crew work since fifth grade.”

He’s one of those guys whose confidence is catchy. He says he had never heard of “City of Angels” when director Laurie Walton announced that it would be Hastings’ musical for 2008.

If he didn’t know it then, he knows it by heart now.

“I know this is a really slow process,” he tells his stage crew as they get their assignments, “but this is how we don’t have a panic on stage.”

Andersen oversees all the technical aspects of the production, even though, he confesses, he’s not technically savvy. He leaves that to his running crew of eight and a stage crew of 18.

This year’s Hastings musical is earlier than last year’s sold-out production of “West Side Story,” which was in May. They’ve added a Sunday matinee to the run this year to accommodate more theatergoers.

The timing helped Andersen, who had actors join his crew because it meant a two-week commitment, not the weeks they would have needed to put in to act in the show.

When Andersen learned he had 18 people to help him, he wondered how he’d keep them all busy.

Then he saw the three-page prop list with 64 individual prop pieces. Then he saw that there were about 40 scenes.

Plenty of work to go around.

Andersen also has the help of Andrew Tergis, a 2006 Hastings graduate who’s studying electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Tergis is involved in theater at RPI, which recently mounted a production of “City of Angels.”

Tergis is helping with the lights, making the black-and-white side of the stage cool and the color side warm.

Separating the two sides of the set is an oversized frame of a film strip whereon video artist Larry DiBello will project the show’s opening credits.

Andersen says his crew’s work isn’t about getting glory.

“If we’re doing everything right, we’re invisible, not seen and not heard,” he says.

That’s not to say that the actors won’t be heard. The school’s foundation last year donated new body mikes to the program – and one of Andersen’s team will be overseeing that aspect of the production.

During the show, Andersen will be in the balcony, calling lighting and sound cues and set-changes.

And hoping that those set- changes are quiet.

Too quiet.

‘City of Angels’
What: The Hastings High School production of the 1990 Tony-winning musical.
Where: Hastings High School, One Mount Hope Boulevard, Hastings-on-Hudson.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $10; $5 students; seniors free. General admission.
Call: 914-478-6206.
With: Charlie O’Rourke, Alex Walton, Allie DiMona, Alessandra Hirsch, Niko Gelfars, Suhayl Chettih, Zoey Hart, Leila Quinn, Avram Billig, Christophe Hollocou, Cameron McConnell, Carly Mitchell, Sam Adair, Chris Spinozzi, Jessica Bass, Hallie Hayden, Ned Heckman, Nora Howe, Adam Laing, Rebecca Levy, Rebecca Merton, Hannah Murphy, Lyz Perry, Brittany Piko, Juan Quispe, Lena Street, Shanyn Rubinstein, Leah Gonzalez, Morgan Smith, Melissa Lindner, Clara Bauman, Ben Lerner, Sarah Knispel, Becky Fradkin, Analena Alcabes, Anna Romaniv, Tracy Rubinstein, Talia Steiger, Diana Bouhassira, Ben Andersen, Emma Altman, Lucy Killian, Matt Weiner, Carter Smith, Katie Tiedrich, Chris Barbey, Jesse Deen, Sam Dresser, Emy Ettinger, Noah Koch, Chelsea Michaelis, Christine Tergis, Alima Lindsey, Arielle Edelman, Isaac Furman, Erin Smith, Larry DiBello.

PHOTO: Deborah Paradise, left, Ben Andersen and director Laurie Walton during rehearsal for the upcoming production of “City of Angels” at Hastings High School. (By Matthew Brown/The Journal News)

Well, hello, musical-theater season! With Friday’s opening of “City of Angelsâ€? at Hastings, the “spring” productions begin. Greeley did “Urinetown” and Hendrick Hudson did “South Pacificâ€? in the fall, but there are 61 other musicals on tap from now through May.

With six shows yet to report in — come on, Lakeland, Mount Vernon, Pearl River, Albertus Magnus, Croton-Harmon, Mahopac and Somers! — it looks like “Hello, Dolly!” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Sound of Music” are the top choice this year, with three productions of each planned. (“Dolly” in Irvington, Pelham and Walter Panas; “Fiddler” in Pleasantville, Blind Brook and Carmel; “The Sound of Music” at Peekskill, Westlake and Suffern.)

Other popular titles are: “Footloose” (Kennedy Catholic, Ramapo); “Crazy for You” (John Jay, Spring Valley); “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (Salesian, White Plains); “Li’l Abner” (Rye, Yorktown); “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (Ardsley and Edgemont, on the same weekend); “Peter Pan” (Fox Lane, Valhalla); “West Side Story” (Croton-Harmon, Putnam Valley); and “Damn Yankees” (Nanuet, Sacred Heart).

Nyack sets itself apart with a production of “The Phantom of the Opera” that was commissioned by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. Six schools across the country — two colleges and four high schools — have been given the rights to produce “Phantom.”

What they learn will help R&H, which handles licensing for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows, to tailor the script to amateur audiences. This is the first step in granting amateur rights, and puts Nyack — on the strength of past productions, including “Cats” — among the nation’s elite theater programs.
Other really interesting choices include “Miss Saigon” in Harrison, where Lynn Fusco and Co. will be working with a limited budget but plenty of creativity. I’m looking forward to seeing how they pull it all together.

Perennial powerhouse Archbishop Stepinac will tackle “Singing in the Rain,” and I don’t doubt but that Derek Ortiz and his band of technical gurus will make it rain on that stage.

And Catherine Gmoser and her team in Tuckahoe take on “Barnum,” a circus musical which will have her juggling more than usual. The kids are learning the circus skills they’ll need to make it shine.

A few schools are presenting shows that will get professional productions in our area this spring.

New Rochelle is doing “Ragtime,” which gets a staged concert production at the White Plains Performing Arts Center on Feb. 1 through 3. It’ll be like City Center’s “Encores!” series, but at White Plains’ City Center, not Manhattan’s. In New Rochelle, Scott Zimmerman and crew will give it a full-blown production.

White Plains PAC is also presenting a full production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” April 24-May 11. White Plains High School and Salesian will be giving that a shot this spring, too.

Brewster is mounting a production of “Beauty and the Beast,” which is also coming to Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford April 24-Aug. 2

Sleepy Hollow presents “South Pacific,” which is coming back to Broadway with a Lincoln Center production in May.

Here, in chronological order, is the schedule for high-school musicals across the Lower Hudson Valley from now through May:

Hastings: “City of Angels,� Jan. 11, 12, 13
North Salem: “42nd Street,� Feb. 8, 9, 10
School of the Holy Child: “Children of Eden,� Feb. 22, 23
Kennedy Catholic: “Footloose,� Feb. 29, March 1, 2, 7, 8
Rye Country Day School: “The Pajama Game,� Feb. 29, March 1
Bronxville: “Into the Woods,� March 6, 7, 8
Byram Hills: “Les Miserables,� March 6, 7, 8
Salesian: “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,� March 6, 7, 8, 9
Briarcliff: “Kiss Me, Kate,� March 7, 8, 9
Clarkstown North: “Me and My Girl,� March 7, 8, 14, 15
Harrison: “Miss Saigon,� March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15
Irvington: “Hello Dolly!� March 7, 8, 14, 15
Masters School: “Anything Goes,� March 7, 8
Nyack: “The Phantom of the Opera,� March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15,
Pleasantville: “Fiddler on the Roof,� March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15
Rye: “Li’l Abner,� March 7, 8
Westlake: “The Sound of Music,� March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15
North Rockland: “The Wizard of Oz,� March 8, 9, 14, 15, 16
Ardsley: “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,� March 13, 14, 15
Blind Brook: “Fiddler on the Roof,� March 13, 14, 15, 16
Edgemont: “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,� March 13, 14, 15, 16
Rye Neck: “Cats,� March 13, 14, 15
Tuckahoe: “Barnum,� March 13, 14, 15
Dobbs Ferry: “The Boyfriend,� March 14, 15
Fox Lane: “Peter Pan,� March 14, 15, 16
Nanuet: “Damn Yankees,� March 14, 15
White Plains: “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,� March 14, 15, 16
Yorktown: “Li’l Abner,� March 14, 15, 16
Pelham: “Hello Dolly,� March 27, 28, 29
Sleepy Hollow: “South Pacific,� March 27, 28, 29
Suffern: “The Sound of Music,� March 27, 28, 29
Brewster: “Beauty and the Beast,� April 3, 4, 5, 6
Carmel: “Fiddler on the Roof,� April 4, 5, 6
Clarkstown South: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,� April 4, 5, 6
Haldane: “The Music Man,� April 4, 5, 6
Ramapo: “Footloose,� April 4, 5, 6
Tappan Zee: “Iolanthe,� April 4, 5, 6
Valhalla: “Peter Pan,� April 4, 5
Horace Greeley: “Pippin,� April 10, 11, 12
John Jay: “Crazy for You,� April 10, 11, 12
Mamaroneck: “Seussical,� April 10, 11, 12
Croton-Harmon: “West Side Story,” April 11, 12, 13
Ossining: “Godspell,� April 10, 11, 12, 13
Spring Valley: “Crazy for You,� April 10, 11, 12
The Ursuline School: “Once Upon a Mattress,� April 10, 11, 12
Woodlands: “Carousel,� April 10, 11, 12
Eastchester: “Bye Bye Birdie,� April 11, 12, 13
Peekskill: “The Sound of Music,� April 11, 12
Putnam Valley: “West Side Story,� April 11, 12, 13
Rockland Country Day School: “Oklahoma!� April 11, 12, 13
Sacred Heart: “Damn Yankees,� April 11, 12, 13
Archbishop Stepinac: “Singing in the Rain,� April 25, 26, May 2, 3, 4
New Rochelle: “Ragtime,� May 1, 2, 3, 4
Port Chester: “Cabaret,� May 2, 3
Walter Panas: “Hello Dolly!� May 2, 3
NOT AVAILABLE/DID NOT RESPOND:
Lakeland, Mount Vernon, Pearl River, Albertus Magnus, Mahopac, Somers, Peekskill.

I’ve been charting the season’s upcoming musicals and will post the list of shows today. Responses are still trickling in, but there are still some schools that haven’t responded, so those will be listed as N/A. I see a couple of “Li’l Abners,” one “Cats” and a few “Fiddlers” in your future…..

M&M Productions presents Emily Mann’s “Having Our Say, The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years,â€? throughout February in libraries across the region, beginning Saturday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Yonkers Riverfront Library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers.

This free performance is sponsored by the library with open seating, no reservations taken. For information go to M&M’s Web site — www.MMPACI.com.

According to a press release: “Adapted from the book “Having Our Sayâ€? and based on the lives of Sadie and Bessie Delany, it charts African-American history and women’s history through the eyes of two women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the twenty-first century. The play opens as 103-year-old Sadie and 101-year-old Bessie welcome us into their Mt. Vernon home. They take us on a remarkable journey through the last hundred years of our nation’s history, recounting a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering African-American professionals.â€?

The Delany sisters will be portrayed by Donna D. James and Leslie Smithey, under the direction of Melinda O’Brien.

Full Performance Schedule
· Saturday, Feb. 9 — 2 p.m. — Yonkers Riverfront Library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers.
· Sunday, Feb. 10 — 2 p.m. — Mt. Pleasant Public Library, 350 Bedford Road Pleasantville.
· Saturday, Feb. 16 — 2 p.m. — Irvington Public Library, 12 S. Astor St. Irvington.
· Sunday, Feb. 17 — 2 p.m. — Ferguson Library, One Public Library Plaza, Stamford, Conn.
· Saturday, Feb. 23 — 2 p.m. — Greenwich Public Library, 101 W. Putnam Ave. Greenwich, Conn.
· Sunday, Feb. 24 — 2 p.m. — John C. Hart Memorial Library, 1130 Main St., Shrub Oak.
· Sunday, March 2 — 2 p.m. — Finkelstein Memorial Library, 24 Chestnut St., Spring Valley.
· Sunday, April 13 — 3 p.m. — Harrison Public Library, Bruce Avenue Harrison.

PHOTO (Courtesy of M&M Productions): Donna J. James, left, and Leslie Smithey star in “Having Our Say.”

Got the following announcement from my friends at Bedford Community Theatre:

Auditions for Bedford Community Theatre’s spring production, “The Diary of Anne Frank, �will be held Jan. 9 and 10 at the Bedford Hills Community House. All roles are open.

Adults and teens are invited to audition on Wednesday, Jan. 9, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Call backs and overflow will be accommodated on Thursday, Jan. 10. Participants may request an audition time slot via e-mail to catetesta@hotmail.com).

“The Diary of Anne Frankâ€? will be directed by David Fritsch. June O’Neill and John Thompson are producing the show.

Performances will be March 7, 8, 14, 15. Tickets go on sale in February.

Bedford Community Theatre operates in cooperation with the Town of Bedford Recreation and Parks Department.

For more information about auditions, including a character breakdown, and this production, visit BCT’s Web site at www.bedfordcommunitytheatre.org.

The Brewster Theater Company holds auditions Jan. 9 and 10 for its upcoming production of Eric Coble’s “Bright Ideas.â€? Producers are looking for four men, in their 20s to 40s, and five women, in their 20s to 60s, at auditions at the Brewster Public Library on Main Street in Brewster. Tryouts will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. both nights.

Here’s how producers describe the show:

“How far would you go for your child?  For Genevra and Joshua Bradley, the question is no longer hypothetical.  Their three-year-old son, Mac, is next on the waiting list to get into the Bright Ideas Early Childhood Development Academy – and everyone knows once you’re in there, your life will unfold with glorious ease.  Josh and Gen have had to scramble all their lives to get this far … and now they are on fatal dinner party away from the ultimate success as parents:  The Right Pre-School.  You may never look at pre-school — or pesto — the same way again…â€?

Readings will be done from material provided, so there’s no need to prepare a monologue.

“Bright Ideas� is scheduled to be performed on March 8, 14, 15, and 22 at 8 p.m. at The Melrose School, Federal Road, Brewster.

For further information, including cast descriptions and directions, go to www.brewstertheatercompany.org or send e-mail to rdietzen@gmail.com
or leave a message at: 845-598-1621.

Yorktown Stage will hold auditions Jan. 6 and 7 for its upcoming production of Disney’s “High School Musicalâ€? — by appointment only — at the theater at 1974 Commerce St. in Yorktown Heights.  Call 914-962-0606 or e-mail yorktownstage@aol.com for an appointment.

Auditions will be Sunday, Jan. 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday, Jan. 7 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Callbacks will be Tuesday, Jan. 15 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Performances are scheduled for April 5 and 12 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and April 6 and 13 at 1 p.m.

Rehearsals will begin March 2 and run weekdays 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from noon to 6. All actors are not required every day.

Requirements:
• Bring sheet music in the appropriate key.
• Be prepared to sing 16 bars (possibly more). An accompanist is provided.
• Bring  headshot (or small non-returnable photograph).
• Bring resume or a list of experience.
• Non-professionals must be able to speak loudly and clearly.