Those schools that have withdrawn from the Metropolitan Awards might feel compelled to rethink, given this remarkable development. Read more of this entry »

Nice to hear folks in Harrison are working on a show with kids: “Godspell Jr.” at St. Gregory the Great next weekend.

The performances will be June 27 at 8 p.m., and June 28 at 2 p.m., at St Gregory the Great auditorium located at 94 Broadway in Harrison. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by contacting Maria Gaudelli at 914-835-1278. $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and children under 10 years of age. General admission.

The cast includes 28 performers, from 8 to 18, co-directed by Harrison junior Devon James and Annamarie Mastroberardino, executive director of New York Performing Arts Center in White Plains.

The folks at Arts on the Lake are remembering Broadway actor Leo Burmester (pictured) with a retrospective that looks at his work in theater and visual arts. Here’s the release.

The son of the late actor/artist Leo Burmester will re-create the role his father played on Broadway during the six day Leo Burmester Retrospective which opens at Arts on the Lake, 640 Route 52 in Kent Lakes on Fri., June 26 at 7 p.m.

Daniel Burmester will perform “Rattlesnake in a Cooler” on Sat., June 27 at 8 p.m.

Leo Burmester, who died in June 2007, was an accomplished actor who appeared in 37 films, made 32 television appearances and had roles in 9 Broadway plays.  He was nominated for a Tony as Best Actor in Robert Altman’s production of playwright Frank South’s “Rattlesnake in a Cooler,” which opened at the St. Clement’s Theatre in 1981. Burmester won the New York Fanny award for Best Supporting Actor for his Lincoln Center performance in “Ah, Wilderness!”

Weeks of rehearsal, learning to speak the speech and the weather gods fail to cooperate. Ugh! Such is the fickle nature of outdoor summer Shakespeare.

Watch this funny video of Nance Williamson and Jason O’Connell—when they were dry—rehearsing in Manhattan.

In response to an editor’s dream, you can now follow me on Twitter. I can hear it now: “If you can say it in 140 characters on Twitter, why does this story need to be 20 inches in the paper?“

Brian MacDevitt wasn’t sure he’d make it to the Tonys.

The show coincided with load-in of his wife’s dance piece, “The Pod Project” at Dance New Amsterdam downtown. As the Tony ceremony approached, MacDevitt was stuck in a truck in the Bronx, miles from where he had to be to drop off the set pieces — and miles from Radio City.

“I had to call the prop guy and, in traffic on Fifth Avenue, we jumped out of the truck in tuxedo and gown. We didn’t even get to the curb, the traffic was so bad. We stopped at a stoplight, we jumped out and he jumped in. We got to our seats and as soon as I sat down there was a camera person kneeling in the aisle saying, ‘Are you Brian?’ We just swept into it.

“I was polishing the speech on the Deegan near Yankee Stadium, repeating it to Nancy and cursing traffic all the way down. It was an intense thing, but it was better than sitting around for a half hour sweating.”

Hearing “Tony-winner Tom Kitt” still doesn’t sound anywhere next to normal for the 1992 graduate of Armonk’s Byram Hills High School, but he has earned the introduction.

Kitt took home two statuettes for his work on “Next to Normal,” the Broadway musical he co-wrote with Brian Yorkey: one for best score (which he shared with lyricist Yorkey), the other for best orchestrations (which he shared with Michael Starobin). The orchestrations award was a tie, with Martin Koch of “Billy Elliott.”

Actually, Kitt’s Tony statuettes didn’t make it home after the June 7 awards. They were sent off to the engravers. But they did spend Tony night being juggled between Kitt and his wife, Rita Pietropinto.

Fort Hill Players presents “The Sword in the Stone,” the classic tale of young King Arthur and Merlin in parks across White Plains July 6, 7, 8, 9, 14 and 16. Performances begin at 7 p.m. and are free of charge. Bring the family and a picnic. (Sorry… no rain dates)

Jason Summers, a talented director of all things musical, dropped me a line today, about auditions he’s holding for “Grease,” a production of the cancer-fighting HOPE Players at Kennedy Catholic High School.

The Lower Hudson Valley loves its summer Shakespeare out of doors and companies from Suffern to New Canaan are more than happy to oblige with inventive takes on the bard from now through Labor Day. Accompanied by a loaf of bread and a jug of wine, it’s a midsummer night’s dream come true.

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival opens its 23rd season Saturday where it left off its 22nd, with the madcap “Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).”

As with last year’s “Abridged” — a 97-minute comic dash through the entire canon — this season’s incarnation is directed by festival artistic director Terrence O’Brien and features Christopher V. Edwards and Jason O’Connell, ably assisted by Katharine Abbruzzese.

Mark Jacobs, a local playwright, doesn’t have to travel far to see his new romantic comedy: It will be touring a few local venues.

You’ve seen the Christmas in July ads on TV? Bedford Community Theatre is thinking about Christmas Carol in June!

Joe Larese of LoHud.com took some great photos at Monday night’s Metropolitan Awards. The leading actors and actresses, some of the performances and some of the acceptance speeches.
You can see the whole gallery here.

The weekend is full of theatrical possibilities on local stages, from two works about miracles and the Virgin Mary to top-flight community theater to an homage to long-ago high-school years. There’s even a student-acted “Little Shop of Horrors,” a “Sweeney Todd” and a “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Before last night’s show started, I chatted backstage with some of the contenders for outstanding leading actor and leading actress. And the LoHud team, Amy on camera and Rory in support, followed as we wove our way through the excited kids backstage. Click here to watch it all on-demand.