Watch In the Wings Live from 3:30 to 4 today here.

Catch up on our high-school-musical bloggers here.

Check out our cool high-school musicals page here.

Singer Ann Hampton Callaway has lived in town and country.

“I lived in Croton years ago and moved back to the city in 1999 and thought: ‘The city is where I belong and I’m never leaving it.’”

But here she is back in Croton, living three minutes from her sister, fellow Tony nominee Liz Callaway.

“It’s pretty much Lucy and Ethel,” she says of their drop-in-anytime relationship.

Green Meadow Waldorf High School’s Drama Club students will perform “The Bear” and “The Proposal,” two comic sketches by Anton Chekhov on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arts Building music room. The school is located at 307 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge. 845-356-2514 or www.gmws.org
Admission is free.

This is one of those weeks I love: I’ll be visiting NINE schools this week getting ready for the first BIG week of high-school-musical coverage March 5, 6, 7, 8.

I think it’s cool that it’s 5, 6, 7, 8—the way choreographers start their dance routines. Read more of this entry »

I’ll be chatting with Pelham director John Orefice, Nyack director Joe Egan and Nyack assistant director and choreographer Greg Baccarini tomorrow from 3:30 to 4 at www.lohud.com/inthewingslive. You can watch it live and post comments or questions for the panel or on demand. But we’d prefer to have you there live! And tell your friends to tune in, too.

Rye’s new director, Michael Limone, has brought changes to the school’s musical — and he’s changing the running schedule for the school’s upcoming production of “Les Miserables.”

Limone took over from Helen Cannistraci and ended the Rye tradition of including faculty and staff members in the annual musical. He had planned to spread the musical over two weekends, March 6-8 and 13, 14. Now, the run will be consolidated into one expanded weekend: Thursday, March 5 at 7 p.m.; Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 7 at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets remain $10, $5 for students and seniors free. 914-967-6100.

In Hastings, “Rent: School Edition” has changed its performance times. The show will now be performed at 7:30 p.m. March 6 and 13; 7 p.m. March 7 and 14; and 2 p.m., March 8. 914-478-6206

Nyack’s Elmwood Playhouse will be holding auditions Sunday, Feb. 22 and Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. for Shakespeare’s “Othello,” directed by Kate Farren. Callbacks will be Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.

Religion and theater have so much in common, says director John Christian Plummer, that it’s surprising how rarely they find common ground.

During the run of “Twelfth Night” at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival last summer, the director spoke at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Garrison about how life and death figure in the play’s action.

Plummer is back in rehearsal — and in the pulpit — these days, talking about his latest project: directing the world premiere of his new play, “Rendition in Damascus,” at Garrison’s Depot Theater. The show opens next Friday and runs weekends through March 1.

Here’s the release on “Biography” at the Schoolhouse in Croton Falls, coming up next month.

“Broadway actress Tracy Shayne will star in Biography, a 1932 screwball comedy by S. N. Berhman, which runs from March 5 to 29 at The Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls, now in its 10th anniversary season.

“Marian Froude is a gorgeous, renowned and promiscuous portrait painter whose subjects include the powerbrokers of the time. When she is approached to write her biography, her subjects come running and the comedy explodes into a maddening clash of ethics and ideas. The show is remarkably undated, thanks to the public’s never-ending passion for personal memoirs, and also surprisingly modern, with proto-feminist Froude as the Bohemian artist who refuses to follow the conventions of the day.

City Island Theater Group opens its 10th Anniversary season with “The Rainmaker,” by N. Richard Nash. It’s one of my favorite shows, about a plain girl who lives among men and doesn’t see she’s a woman. When a conman arrives promising rain to the drought-starved townspeople, her wise father sees a glimmer of hope for his daughter. Add a deputy with a secret, a stubborn brother and a loveable brother and you’ve got a really great story.

Nick Sala directs Elizabeth Paldino as Lizzie Curry, John Garcia as Starbuck, Matthieu Regney as Noah, Scott Griffith as HC, Christopher Meindl as File, Torrey Rodriguez as Jim and John Schwam as the Sheriff.

“The Rainmaker” will be performed on Feb. 27, 28, March 5, 6 and 7 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 28 and March 1 at 3 p.m.

Call 718-885-3066 or email tickets@cityislandtheatergroup.com to reserve.

We’re getting ready for next week’s installment of “In the Wings Live” and my editors and I are wondering when would be best for you to watch it live? The first two—viewable here—were from 3:30 to 4 in the afternoon. We’re thinking that airing it from, say, 7 to 7:30 might be better, since many schools are rehearsing during the earlier time.
What do you think? Earlier or later?
Incidentally, next week’s show is going to be about rehearsing: How long to rehearse, how to rehearse, how to change things through rehearsal, etc. If you have any questions, post them here as comments and I’ll ask them during the live Webcast.

Every June when the High School Theater Awards roll around, St. Joseph’s Regional High School in Montvale gets a slew of nominations, leading to the perennial question across Westchester, Rockland and Putnam: “Where is St. Joseph’s?”

Well, it’s in Montvale, a stone’s throw from Rockland and this is the final weekend for St. Joe’s production of “The Who’s Tommy,” with shows tonight at 7, tomorrow at 7, and Saturday at 2 and 7. There are a few seats left for tonight’s performance. Call 201-391-3300.

I’ll be seeing it tomorrow night and will report on it here, so stay tuned.

Pound Ridge Theatre Company will hold a staged reading of “Engagement Rules,” an original two-act play by Rich Orloff, on Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. at Conant Hall in Pound Ridge. Sherry Asch’s cast features Phil Cook, Louise Kaminer, Phil Gardiner, and Kim Lowden. There will be a talk-back session and a wine-and-cheese reception with the playwright, after the reading. For more information or directions, go to www.prtc01.org or e-mail prtc01@yahoo.com. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

The Darien Arts Center is holding auditions Feb. 23 and 24 for “Steel Magnolias,” written by Robert Harling and directed by Scott R. Brill. The performances are May 8 through 24, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2.

The 27 kids in Jen Vara’s musical-theater class at Mahopac High School aren’t just talking the talk about musicals: They’re dancing the dance and singing the songs.

Friday night at 7, the class presents a “Night of Broadway Vara-riety Show” (Get it? Jen Vara? Vara-riety?) at the high school.

Some kids choreographed the big group numbers. Some kids will sing solos. Others will be in small group numbers. Others will dance or work backstage. Others directed scenes.