Karen Ziemba won a Tony for best featured actress in a musical for her work in “Contact.” She was also nominated for “Curtains,” “Never Gonna Dance” and “Steel Pier.” Gregg Edelman was a Tony nominee for “Into the Woods,” “1776,” “Anna Karenina” and “City of Angels.” Broadway musicals in big… Read More →
Cool to learn that Jimmy Fink — a longtime fixture on the New York radio dial who is now one of the voices on 107.1 The Peak in Westchester — will join Terry O’Brien of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival for a CrossTalk conversation at the Katonah Museum of Art on… Read More →
I took in “Freed,” Charles Smith’s fact-based telling of the story of John Newton Templeton, the first black man to attend Ohio University, at 59E59 Theaters last week. Penguin Rep audiences know the show as “Free Man of Color,” part of last year’s unforgettable season. It’s a triangle of interests:... Read More →
In an age when youth theaters can charge big money for a double-cast production of “Annie,” it’s refreshing to learn of a program that won’t cost theater-loving high-school kids a penny to participate. Director Betsy Hooper is launching Free Theatre Westchester with auditions tomorrow night at the Mamaroneck Avenue School… Read More →
I saw a show at the National Theatre in London today and was home in time for dinner. The show was Irishman Dion Boucicault’s “London Assurance,” a sold-out London smash directed by Nicholas Hytner that closes tomorrow. I saw it today — with a full house — live at the… Read More →
She sticks out her tongue as she paces the ground. Her fist packs a wallop. She bites. Not exactly something you’re likely to read on Katherina Minola’s eHarmony profile, but harmony really isn’t her thing, anyway. In a fun and funny ’60s-style romp of “The Taming of the Shrew” —... Read More →
Armela Singh came prepared. The fourth-grader at PEARLS Hawthorne Elementary School wore a bright blue dress and sunglasses to ward off the flashes along the red carpet. Paparazzi can be brutal. Thus protected, Armela and her classmates strode into Pleasantville’s Jacob Burns Film Center earlier this month for the premiere… Read More →
I caught a staged reading of “Watching Andy’s Movie” at Blueberry Pond in Ossining on Friday night. In the full house were the playwright, Ossining’s Marshall Fine (a former Journal News colleague). Also on hand was comedian Robert Klein, who lives not far away, in Briarcliff Manor. The play is… Read More →
Historians believe that Shakespeare wrote “The Comedy of Errors” between 1592 and 1594. Watching “The Bomb-itty of Errors,” the smart, funny, hip-hop adaptation of the play at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison, one might easily believe it is being written before their very eyes. Christopher V. Edwards directs with… Read More →
Pamela Geraghty and her friends used to have a secret. “We didn’t want anyone to know,” she says. “If anyone was like, ‘Do you play Irish music?’ I was like, ‘No.’ If they’d ask what we played, I always said that I sang because I didn’t want to say that… Read More →
Photographer Mark Vergari and I have been at the Jacob Burns Film Center in the Pleasantville the past three nights, watching the animated one-minute movies of more than 250 fourth-graders from across Westchester County. For three months, “Minds in Motion” volunteers from the Burns have been at their schools —... Read More →
Westchester Broadway Theatre is holding a chorus call for “JEKYLL & HYDE,” directed by Robert Cuccioli, with choreography by Jean-Paul Richard. Rehearsals begin Sept. 20 and it opens Sept. 30 at the Elmsford dinner theater. (There is an unpaid hiatus from November 29 through Dec. 27 and the show resumes Dec…. Read More →
Fort Hill Players’ continues its free summer theater in White Plains parks with master storyteller and musician Lou Del Bianco. The last time I saw Lou, he was dressed as Abraham Lincoln. But if you check out his website—www.findlou.com— you’ll see he’s a master of faces, voices and captivating audiences. He’ll… Read More →
Ossining’s Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble — the tiny 48-seat laboratory for new works — presents a staged reading of “Watching Andy’s Movie,” by my former colleague Marshall Fine, directed by Anthony Valbiro. Performances are at 8 p.m., June 18 and 19 at Laylon Theater, 235 Cedar Lane, Ossining. 914-364-9010. Marshall,... Read More →
Last year, Little Radical Theatrics sprang to life as a summer home for actors too old for youth theater but not ready or willing to try their hand in New York City. Its inaugural production was “Urinetown,” a satirical musical comedy. The comedy in Little Radicals’ sophomore effort is of… Read More →
In life, one rarely gets do-overs. Perhaps that’s the charm of “Sure Thing,” one of six short comedies in David Ives’ clever collection “All in the Timing,” presented this week by Scarsdale’s Greenville Community Theater at Edgemont High School. Betty sits at a cafe table. Bill enters. Bill: “Excuse me,... Read More →
It really never fails. Every summer, I hear from my friends at Hudson Stage about the incredible lineup of singers who are coming to their “Divas” event, the Briarcliff-based theater company’s annual fundraiser. And every summer the event falls when I’m away on vacation. We’re talking A-list, jaw-dropping talent here…. Read More →
St. Joseph’s Regional High School in Montvale took home the big hardware on Monday night at the Metropolitan Awards honor the best in high-school musicals from across the Lower Hudson Valley — and it did so with some help from Rockland County. The school’s musical supervisor is Nyack’s Neil Berg,... Read More →
The Metropolitan Awards mark the end of the high-school-musical season in the Lower Hudson Valley? What’s your takeaway from this year’s production at your school? Is there a moment that you think you’ll remember 10 years from now? Leave a comment below….
Ryan Norris of Tappan Zee High School saw his moment and he took it. Watch what he did when he went up to collect the award for the outstanding production number. (Video by Albert Conte) (She said yes.)
Here is the video of the performances by the actors in a leading role from last night’s Metropolitan Awards at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill. The awards were not based on these performances, but on the actors’ work in the context of the whole show. Hastings’ Niko… Read More →
Here is the video of the performances by the actresses in a leading role from last night’s Metropolitan Awards at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill. Would YOU have wanted to be the judge? Actually, the awards were not based on these performances, of course, but on the… Read More →
Here’s the video from backstage at last night’s Metropolitan Awards.
The changing of the guard at “Next to Normal” — the Tony- and Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical by Armonk’s Tom Kitt (composer, orchestrator) and Brian Yorkey (book, lyrics) — is under way. Tony Award nominee and White Plains native Jennifer Damiano will play her final performance as Natalie on July 18 at… Read More →
Hope you enjoyed our coverage of the Metros last night. My ears are still ringing a bit—the place was loud and proud—and our technical guru Rory Glaeseman is working to crunch some of the video down into manageable bits that you can view right here on “In the Wings.” In… Read More →
When people learn that “Troilus and Cressida” — one of the three plays in the 2010 Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival — is a love story set in the Trojan War, expectations might build. But don’t expect to see huge battle scenes on the lawn beyond the festival’s tent. This is… Read More →
The Metro goes to… Winners of the 2010 Metropolitan High School Theater Awards, handed out last night at Peekskill’s Paramount Center for the Arts: Overall Production: St. Joseph’s Regional, “Curtains.” Actress in a leading role: Pleasantville, “Once Upon a Mattress,” Kathryn Faughnan (Princess Winnifred) Actor in a leading role: Northern… Read More →
St. Joseph’s Regional High School in Montvale, N.J., took home the top honor at tonight’s Metropolitan Awards honoring high-school musicals across the Lower Hudson Valley: Its production of “Curtains” was named outstanding overall production. When the award was announced, director John T. Asselta was joined on stage by the company…. Read More →
The Metro goes to… Overall Production: St. Joseph’s Regional, “Curtains.” Director John Asselta accepted, with the cast giddily gathered around him. After Asselta’s remarks, the cast bowed to him, some on their knees… And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the 2010 Metro Awards from the Paramount. If you would like… Read More →
The Metro goes to… Direction by teacher: Bergen County Academies, “Children of Eden,” Stephen Kaplan Kaplan thanked “an incredible school full of incredible students and an incredible cast.”
