Here’s a video review of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).”

I learned this afternoon that Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will extend their season beyond Labor Day with four extra performances of “Abridged.” There will be 7 p.m. curtains on Sept. 3, 4, 5 and a 6 p.m show on Sept. 7.

Good move. I hope to get up there again….

YCP TheaterWorks will hold auditions for Lucille Fletcher’s “Night Watch” on Sept. 2 and 4 at 7 p.m. Auditions and performances will be at Van Cortlandville School on Route 6 in Mohegan Lake, across from the Cortlandt Town Shopping Center.

The play, a mystery will be presented Nov. 7 – 22.

You might remember the 1973 film version of “Night Watch,” starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. The leading character has witnessed a murder but has difficulty convincing everyone because she is recovering from a breakdown and the police can’t find any evidence.

Modern-day interpreters of Shakespeare have taken to plopping the bard down in all sorts of contemporary locales: “The Tempest” in Siberia, “Romeo + Juliet” in Havana.The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has taken the entire canon, all 37 plays, and placed it in another Marxist state — a Groucho Marxist state.“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” is a madcap whirlwind of wigs, crowns, kneepads and running shoes. It’s part marathon, part sprint, part Groucho, Chico and Harpo. Read more of this entry »

Riverdale YM-YWHA’s youth group — Riverdale Rising Stars — presents Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” Aug. 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 17 at 3 p.m. and Aug. 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12, available online or at the door.

Two members of the cast — Alex Walton and Niko Gelfars — go to Hastings High School and were nominated for High School Theater Awards this year. (Gelfars won a supporting-actor award for “City of Angels.”)

West Nyack’s venerable Clarkstown Summer Theatre Festival — veterans simply call it “summer theater” — is gearing up for its 36th season with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s dark classic “Carousel.”What’s new this year is Clarkstown’s production team.

Joe Egan, who has made magic at Nyack High School for years — including “The Phantom of the Opera” this year — is directing “Carousel” and has brought along nearly all of his creative crew: Musical director Kurt Kelley, costumers Tom Beck and Neil Schleifer, and tech gurus Andrew Gmoser and Bryan McPartlan. Choreography is by Luke Rawlings. Greg Baccarini, Egan’s longtime choreographer, directed Yorktown Stage’s “Godspell” and couldn’t commit to stage the dances for “Carousel,” but he still handled wig and hair design.“Carousel,” a dark tale of love and loss in a small New England town, is not traditional summer fare, but Egan says the teens are taking to the material.“It’s dark,” Egan says. “It’s not happy. There’s one happy song in Act 1 — ‘June is Bustin’ Out All Over’ — and then we’re done. Tragedy strikes.”“The kids are understanding the weight of the material,” he says. “They’re fine.”Brittany Meshberg, 17, plays Julie Jordan, the girl at the center of the action. The Clarkstown South senior is used to the stage, but not to playing such a meaty role.“It’s tragic and Joe is telling me I really have to cry on stage to portray it and make it real,” Meshberg says.“Joe likes everything full out in rehearsal, the way I’m going to perform it. And that’s the way I like to work.”Meshberg, a CSTF veteran, says working with Egan has been eye-opening.“It’s been an amazing experience,” she says. “Joe is an incredible director. I’m learning a lot.”She doesn’t even mind the fact that Egan has brought along a Nyack tradition: When the cast fails to take things seriously, they run laps around the auditorium.“Whatever it takes,” Meshberg says.Jake Allyne plays Billy Bigelow, a rough-and-tumble carnival worker who is Julie’s love interest.The role comes with a marathon song, the 8-minute “Soliloquy” — in which Billy softens when he learns he’s going to be a father.“He’s a very intricate character, full of changes,” he says. “He’s abusive, short-tempered and not very sympathetic to other people. Later, he wakes up dead and he’s full of regret.”The recent Clarkstown South graduate — who spent his senior year at Rockland Community College — is looking to a theater career and appreciates Egan’s professional approach.“He’s a great director, but he’s also a scenic designer, so he really has the whole picture. He knows where everything is,” Allyne says, adding that having an entire production team come in means everyone is on the same page from day one.“Carousel” runs Friday, Saturday, Aug. 6, 7, 8 and 9 at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12, $9 for students, $8 for seniors and children 12 and under and $6 for groups of 20 or more, purchased in advance. Call 845-638-3077. At Clarkstown High School South, 31 Demarest Mill Road, West Nyack.

Note: The August 6 show (at 8 p.m.) is a fund-raiser with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. All tickets will be $10 at the door, with no advance sale and no reserved seats.PHOTO by Angela Gaul: Joe Egan and choreographer Luke Rawlings like what they see at rehearsals for Clarkstown Summer Theater Festival’s “Carousel.”Below, the cast after a performance at the Palisades Center mall on July 19 on, of course, a carousel. (Photo courtesy Lou Allyne)

Received the following audition announcement:

The Brewster Theater Company announces auditions for aproduction of
“Murder in Green Meadows” by Douglas Post.

Thomas Devereaux, a successful architect and local contractor, and his beautiful wife, Joan, have just moved into their dream house in the quiet suburban town of Green Meadows, Illinois when they are visited by their new neighbors, Carolyn and Jeff Symons. A friendship develops quickly between the two couples, but underneath the cool, middle-America exterior, something is truly rotten. What follows is a thriller with twists and turns…..and murder.

The 2008 Summercliff Players  present “Les Miserables: School Edition.”

The production is directed by Kathleen Donovan-Warren with musical direction by Nadia Rizzo and technical direction by James Britt. Performances are Aug. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Briarcliff High School Auditorium. General-admission tickets are $15, $12 for seniors.

Donovan-Warren, a longtime Briarcliff director, now directs at Pleasantville High School, where her production of “Fiddler on the Roof” was acclaimed this spring.

A French-style dinner buffet for $15 will be served before the show at 6 p.m. For ticket information and dinner reservations contact Jeannealecci@aol.com or go to www.summercliffplayers.com.

“Les Miserables: School Edition” is performed by students age 8 to 19 from all across Westchester County.

The Hope Players presents its 11th summer revue and breast cancer benefit — “Hope Goes Back to the Eighties” — at Kennedy Catholic High School, 54 Route 138 in Somers, July 25-26 and Aug. 1-2 at 8 p.m., with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, July 27.

Billed as “a hilarious trip back in time to this unforgettably forgettable decade,” the show features a first act that is 10 original, student-written skits spoofing the 1980s. Act 2 is a musical medley of songs from the decade.

Advance tickets are a suggested donation of $8 for students and children, $10 for seniors and $12 for patrons, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to breast cancer research efforts. Call 914-206-9617, e-mail tickets@thehopeplayers.com or visit www.thehopeplayers.com.

Brewster Theater Company presents “Time Warp: A Musical Revue” of favorite songs from musicals past and present, Aug. 14-16, at Brewster High School, Foggintown Road, Brewster.

Directed by Regina Sweeney the all-teen musical is billed as “a high-energy, toe tapping, humorous journey the entire family will enjoy.” Performances are Aug. 14-16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18, $13 for seniors and students. For details, go to brewstertheatercompany.org or call 845-598-1621.

PHOTO courtesy of Carolyn Adams: The cast of “Time Warp” in rehearsal.

The Port Chester Council for the Arts — an amazing group founded by some amazing ladies — presents “Grease!” Aug. 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. at Port Chester Middle School, 113 Bowman Ave., Port Chester.  Julie Colangelo directs this popular salute to “Greased Lightning” and ’50s teens. The following week, Aug. 8 and 9, the council presents “Honk!” at the same venue. Tickets for each show are $12 and $10 for senior citizens and students, cash or check only, at the door. Call 914-939-3183.

Tarrytown YMCA Shakespeare in the Park presents “Macbeth” July 31, Aug. 1, 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m. with two additional shows at 10 a.m. on Aug. 2 and 3 in Tarrytown’s Patriot’s Park.
Director Peter Royston leads a cast of young actors from age 11 to 18 in one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest and most chilling tales of blind ambition. It’s the bard with a body count, the third summer of Shakespeare in Patriot’s Park. Tickets are free, but donations are accepted. Details at ymcatarrytown.org or 914-631-4807 ext. 19.
PHOTO courtesy of Barbara Turk: Macbeth and Macduff square off.

One of the neatest theatrical traditions around is Archbishop Stepinac High School’s Alumni Theater.

The White Plains Catholic boys’ school puts on top-notch theater throughout the year, finding female cast members at sister schools like Good Counsel. And for 45 years, cast members who’ve graduated have returned to the school every summer to put on a show.

This year, they present “Working” — a look at the lives, dreams and struggles of working men and women — July 30, 31, Aug. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m., and Aug. 3 at 5 p.m. All performances will take place, rain or shine, on the front terrace of Archbishop Stepinac High School, 950 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains.

Photographer and theater lover Barry Sabino once again gathers Rockland’s theater kids for a summer weekend of showtunes.
This year’s “Broadway Kids 2008” features songs from “Grease,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” “Annie,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Little Women,” “Tarzan,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” “Seussical: The Musical,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Lion King,” “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast,” and “Wicked.”

Croton Teen Theatre marks its 21st season with Cole Porter’s shipboard tapper, “Anything Goes” at Croton-Harmon High School with performances July 25 at 8 and July 26 at 2 and 8.
The cast includes kids from 13 to 19 and is led by Andy Sold, a new Croton-Harmon High School graduate, as Billy Crocker, and Caitlin McLean, a 2007 Croton-Harmon grad, as Reno Sweeney.
Sold says director Tom Berger told the cast that Porter’s songs are a tall order.
“The music is designed to kill actors,” Sold says with a laugh. “There are so many eighth notes that you have no place to breathe, really. You have to go from one phrase right into another, so the only advice they could give us is to use the periods at the end of sentences to reflect and breathe. But there aren’t many periods, so everyone’s kind of saying ‘Darn that Cole Porter.’”

There’s so much to see on local stages in coming weeks. Here’s this week’s installment of “In the Wings” which will air on Friday on RNN TV. (When I say “today,” I mean Friday.)