When people told Vickilyn Reynolds that she looked like Hattie McDaniel – the actress who was the first black to win an Academy Award, for “Gone With the Wind” — she didn’t take it kindly.
“It was not a compliment to me, because I had a lot of self-hatred,” she says.
When her brother, Ronald Richardson, a Tony winner for “Big River,” told her she should tell McDaniel’s story, she didn’t want to hear it.
Reynolds didn’t know much about McDaniel, and what she did know she didn’t particularly like.
McDaniel won the Oscar for playing Mammy, Scarlett O’Hara’s straight-talking maid in the epic 1939 film.

Brewster Theater Company holds a one-night-only staged reading of Christopher Durang’s “Beyond Therapy” on Aug. 23.

Admission to the 8 p.m. show—at Tilly Foster Farm, 100 Route 312 in Brewster— is free (donations accepted) and reservations are strongly recommended. Directed by Ryan Dietzen and produced by Wendy Egan, the irreverent and adult comedy features Rachel Halko (Bedford Hills), Matt Bogen (Carmel), Nina Wilson (Brewster), Gary Fischmann (Patterson), Eric Luther (Carmel) and Brian Dallas Field (Brewster).

Go to www.brewstertheatercompany.org or call 845-598-1621 for more information.

Photo by Ryan Dietzen: Rachel Halko of Bedford Hills and Matt Bogen of Carmel rehearse.

You’ve heard me rave about Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison for weeks now. Well, if you haven’t made your way to Boscobel and your summer has gotten away from you—you are in luck!

Channel Thirteen/WNET has shot a behind-the-scenes documentary, “Shakespeare on the Hudson,” that shows the behind-the-scenes goings-on—from auditions to callbacks to rehearsals to opening night of “Twelfth Night”—and it will air Sept. 18. The hourlong documentary, narrated by Kristin Chenoweth (“Wicked”), will be followed by an airing of “Twelfth Night” at 9 p.m.

Got an email this morning that should make local Bob Cuccioli fans happy.

Jack W. Batman announced that Cuccioli, a memorable Don Quixote in last season’s “Man of La Mancha” at White Plains Performing Arts Center, will play King Arthur in this season’s opening production, “Camelot.”

This new production of the Tony Award-winning musical will be directed by Sidney J. Burgoyne — who directed “Ragtime” at the theater last year and appeared as the priest in “La Mancha” — and will play a limited engagement from Sept. 26 – Oct. 5.

Westchester’s community-theater audiences have seen Ray Arrucci in Zero Mostel roles for years. He has played Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” and Pseudolus in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” all over, it seems.

Now Arrucci is taking on another Zero hero: the conniving but lovable Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” a role Mostel created in the 1968 Mel Brooks movie. But seeing Arrucci in the role will require a drive up Route 17 to Auburn in the Finger Lakes, where Arrucci plays Bialystock in the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse production of the Mel Brooks musical through Aug. 15.

This “Producers” came together in 10 days of rehearsal, Arrucci says, “choreography and everything. The ‘Springtime for Hitler’ number is not to be believed.”

“The Producers” opens tonight at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford for a run that extends into November.

Playing Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom – producers with a scheme to swindle little old ladies with a surefire Broadway flop – are Bob Amaral and Joel Newsome.

“The Producers” is new to Westchester, but Amaral and Newsome aren’t new to “The Producers.” Both are veterans of the second national tour of the Mel Brooks musical. Newsome was in the Broadway company.

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.’”

Five years ago this month, Michele Pawk clutched her new Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a play as an alcoholic mother in “Hollywood Arms.”
Starting tonight, she plays another mother in “The Fall to Earth” at Stony Point’s Penguin Rep in a production that runs through July 20.
Pawk plays Fay Schorsch, a role created by Rondi Reed, who was this year’s Best Featured Actress in a play for her work in “August: Osage County.” Both plays began life at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.
In Joel Drake Johnson’s “The Fall to Earth,” Fay checks into “a typical chain motel in a small American town” with her daughter, Rachel.It’s not clear why they’re here. It is clear that Fay is a nervous wreck. She speaks constantly in rapid-fire fashion, her daughter offering monosyllabic answers.