In the Wings

Dorina DiLullo in PMT’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in 2002. Photo courtesy Larry Garcia. Got word today of yesterday’s passing of Dorina DiLullo, 44, a fixture in Westchester community and youth theater who also taught kids to tap dance at studios in Scarsdale and Hastings. DiLullo was by all… Read More →

A nice surprise at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford last night when, before the curtain for the press night of “In the Heights,” director John Fanelli came out to the stage with local dignitaries and introduced Luis Miranda, the father of Tony-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. Luis spun three stories about his… Read More →

Broadway’s Blankenbuehler recalls challenges of staging in Elmsford Andy Blankenbuehler, above, who won a Tony Award for his choreography for “In the Heights,” began his professional career on the stage of Westchester Broadway Theatre, where “In the Heights” opens Feb. 7. WBT is where Blankenbuehler earned the Equity card that… Read More →

Hip-hop musical to take WBT stage, with a Broadway assist Director John Fanelli and actress Arielle Jacobs pose above the Westchester Broadway Theatre lobby last week, as they prepare to begin rehearsals for “In the Heights.” Jacobs played Nina on the national tour and on Broadway. Photo by Joe Larese/The… Read More →

From Axial to Yorktown, a full slate awaits (Photo by John Vecchiolla: Tony Lawson and Glory Crampton in the WBT production of “Can Can.”)

Palminteri will do benefit Q&A for Lighthouse Youth Theatre (Journal News file photo: Chazz Palminteri in his Bedford home office.) Bedford resident Chazz Palminteri, whose autobiographical “Bronx Tale” story led to roles in “The Usual Suspects” and an Oscar nomination for “Bullets over Broadway,” believes in giving back. He created… Read More →

Reviewed by John P. McCarthy/For the Journal News “Hairspray,” the Tony-winning musical based on John Waters’ 1988 movie — which was then remade for the multiplex in 2007 — gets an enjoyable staging at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford. Only a curmudgeon could fail to be won over by this… Read More →

There are so many theater options in the Lower Hudson Valley this weekend. Here’s just a sampling: “The Way of the World” in Garrison: See below

May it please the court: There’s something missing in Westchester Broadway Theatre’s “Legally Blonde: The Musical” — the show about a Malibu girl who turns Harvard Law on its ear. On stage only through month’s end — in a season that has many shows, but shorter runs — “Legally Blonde”... Read More →

We are in a Gershwin moment. There’s the revival of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” on Broadway — starring Westchester’s Audra McDonald. At the end of the month, another Westchester resident, Kelli O’Hara, comes to Broadway’s Imperial Theatre in “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” opposite Matthew Broderick, a… Read More →

When the Family Theater Production of “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” pushes off the shore next week on a monthlong run at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, it’ll be led by two 24-year-olds who took entirely different journeys to the dinner-theater stage. The musical — based on Mark… Read More →

Long before “American Idol,” Eliza Doolittle might have been one of the first reality stars. In George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” — and its musical adaptation, the magical “My Fair Lady,” now on stage at Westchester Broadway Theatre — Eliza signs up to better herself, knowing full well that it will… Read More →

Here’s a look at the fall season — and beyond, for those contemplating season subscriptions — at professional theaters across the Lower Hudson Valley. Axial Theatre Company: The Pleasantville-based company of playwrights, actors and directors starts its 13th season with “Taking Off,” an evening of two one-act plays (Ward Riley’s… Read More →

“Altar Boyz” — the laugh-out-loud satire of Christian boy bands now on stage at Elmsford’s Westchester Broadway Theatre — has its tongue blissfully planted in its cheek. The book by Kevin Del Aguila and music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker introduce us a boy band —... Read More →

With the summer in full swing, local stages are heating up with community-theater options, from those music-filled Austrian hills to a backstage murder-mystery musical comedy to a Skid Row flower shop.

Last summer, it was a high-flying boy who wouldn’t grow up. This year, it’s a Who-hearing pachyderm who’s faithful, 100 percent. Westchester Broadway Theatre presents the second Family Theatre Company production, Stephen Flaherty’s and Lynn Ahrens’ “Seussical: The Musical,” an eye-poppingly colorful production directed by John Fanelli, through July 31. It’s… Read More →

After a winter of weathery discontent, “Singin’ in the Rain” at Westchester Broadway Theatre does the unthinkable: It actually makes you wish it would rain one more time. Yes, it rains on the stage in Elmsford during the iconic title song, when silent-film star Don Lockwood (Jeremy Benton) flies high… Read More →

Theater’s fleeting nature makes it difficult, but not impossible, to compile a list of 2010’s memorable stage moments across the Lower Hudson Valley. There are plenty of moments that linger in the mind long after the set has been struck. Here, in no particular order, is a list of memorable… Read More →

There is good, evil and a little bad in “Jekyll & Hyde” at Westchester Broadway Theatre. Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 story has inspired countless adaptations on stage and film. The earnest Dr. Jekyll labors to find a cure for mental illness, to drive away the demons that have stricken his… Read More →

Through the years, Dr. Laurence Baker has received his share of awards. “Recently, I was honored by the Psychological Association,” he says, “but I told my wife, Joy: ‘This one makes me happier.’” “This one” is the 2010 Cab Calloway Lifetime Achievement Award honoring work in the performing arts in… Read More →

Xander Chauncey says that, try as we might, it’s hard to hide our Hydes. Chauncey — whose first name is pronounced “ZAN-der” and is short for Alexander — plays the title characters in “Jekyll and Hyde” at Elmsford’s Westchester Broadway Theatre, in a run that opens officially on Oct. 7… Read More →

I wrote about Westchester Broadway Theatre’s cinema-pub venture a while back — and they’ve just announced a new slate of films. To refresh your memory, tickets are $8 and you can order food and drinks (including “adult beverages”) to be served while you watch the movie. You can reserve prime… Read More →

If you know the story behind “Rent,” the lyrics to “One Song Glory” can be a little heart-breaking. Early in the musical — now on stage in a stirring production at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford — the songwriter Roger (the strong-voiced Mark Ayesh) strums his guitar, alone in his… Read More →