WPCNR FRONT ROW LOGE.  Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. August 22, 2010:

 A tropical storm pounded the roof of the Westchester Broadway Theatre Sunday evening, but it was no match for the storm of emotions, energy, and passion blasted at the audience like WABC MUSICRADIO last night by the young and "into it" cast of the Theatre’s Rent revival last night.

There are no trendy restaurants on the Avenue B of Rent. What we have is Roger (above), played with haunting, twisted anxiety by  Mark Ayesh who deliver anguish like scratched glass (that's a compliment) trying to write One Song Glory before he dies. His pal, the filmmaker,  Mark, played by Andy Kelso,  sets the scene for us,with a series of phone calls in song, we learn the mogul who owns the hideous building they live in wants the Rent, one year’s worth.

The company belts into the title-song, with the chorus, “How we gonna pay last year’s rent,” and during the opening title song you have to listen carefully as each of the characters’ problems, (Collins, Benny, Maureen, Mark, Joanne) are explained – it is bittersweet funny— laments and bravado echo against the black brick wall-- the wall of the tomb where their living bodies are living in the despair their choices have made. But it's fun!

RENT, the gritty, life-affirming musical experience celebrates the power of love and friendship and community. Set in NYC's East Village, RENT is a modern take on the classic Giacomo Puccini opera, “La Bohème”. The mustical that ran on Broadway for 12 years,  written by White Plains High School graduate, the late John Larson, opens Thursday evening at the WBT, and will play through September 25.

Tonya Thompson and Andy Kelso (as Mark) on the set.

Photo, Courtesy,Westchester Broadway Theatre by Jennifer Edwards Kawa

This unforgettable story of a group of starving artists who, despite poverty and illness, learn to fall in love and find their voices, brings a universal message of hope for everyone. For information, go to www.broadwaytheatre.com or call 914-592-2222

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS WEEK NEWS. AUGUST 4, 2010:

The White Plains Week Voting Machine Special which may be seen on the internet now at www.whiteplainsweek.com,  may be seen on local television all week long on Verizon FIOS at Channel 45, and on Cablevision Channel 76, at 8:30 A.M.

Because of the significance of the debut of new voting machines in elections this fall and going forward, the program will be repeated on Channels 45 and 76 all week long at 8:30 A.M. -- Start your day with WHITE PLAINS WEEK-- "News that really bites!"

WPCNR DOINGS. June 30, 2010:

The City of White Plains, and the Department of Recreation and Parks is hosting its 2010 Independence Day Celebration on Thursday, July 1st at White Plains High School on Bryant Avenue and North Street from 6pm to 10pm.

This year’s extravaganza will feature the usual food, fun and fireworks, along with a performance by “Tramps Like Us” – a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.  There will also be plenty to do for kids like face painting, magic and variety shows, games, and inflatable rides.   One of the highlights of the night will begin at 7:30 p.m., when the West Point Black Knights Sports Parachute Team makes a jump onto the school grounds.

The celebration will end with the traditional fireworks display, put on by International Fireworks.  Rain date for the event is Friday July 2nd.

WPCNR MAN ABOUT TOWN By John F. Bailey. June 27, 2010:

The Livanos first family of Westchester restaurateurs latest creation, the Moderne Barn on Route 22 in Armonk, just North of Exit 3S and 3N on I-684 gives singles with Franklins in their wallets a new level of social interaction way above any local sports bar,  with plenty of conversation corners.

MODERNE BARN, ARMONK -- MAIN FLOOR MINGLING-- Seen from Balcony.

The Livanos Family opens another unique venue! From left, Nick Livano, Corina, John and Bill Livanos.

The Westchester horsey set will enjoy the atmosphere where barristers,realtors and any tycoons left who deal and the insulated hedge fund crowd with the genuine masculine polish of Manhattan sophistication and the diversity of dining tastes. I think will appeal to the culinary standards of the dine out for entertainment crowd.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Kathleen Davison, White Plains Performing Arts Center. June 2, 2010: The White Plains Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees announced that the annual Spring Benefit, to be held on Monday June 21 at 7pm, will honor the talented young performers from the Conservatory Theatre’s 2009/2010 season. 

The entertainment for the evening will be highlights from several of these productions including “A Chorus Line”, which played this winter to sell out crowds, “Fame” which just finished a successful run as well as a sneak preview of the upcoming production of “Edges”, which has already garnered rave reviews while still in rehearsal. Broadway World called “Edges” a “scintillating new production” and a “must see event for all theater lovers in the Greater New York Area”.  The production costs for the Benefit are supported by a generous contribution from U.S.Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

WPCNR ON THE AISLE. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. May 7, 2010: The moment she steps into the joint, you want to do it for Sugar! She’s Colleen Hawks, the gammy, breathy, breathtaking, sugary confectionary blondie from Broadway – a Marilyn Monroe reincarnation with the legs, the chassis and  charm of the one and only.

Ms. Hawks  breathlessly carries the Westchester Broadway Theatre “just in time” diversion – SUGAR – with her companions in flapper skirts, Gary Lynch as Joe/Josephine (right) and Eric Santagata as Jerry/Daphne, left – the sax and bass players fleeing the notorious – natty and "Tappy" -- Spats Palazzo. 

Colleen Hawks as Sugar Kane and Ann-Ngaire Martin (far left), with The Society Syncopaters.

This just-in-time shot of musical seltzer (a David Merrick two year run hit back in 1972) brings back the1959  Billy Wilder classic black and white movie Some Like It Hot. It starred the legendary Ms. Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon.

SUGAR pulled into the Westchester Broadway Theatre Thursday night when The Dixie Flyer from Chicago arrived with the all girl band—The Society Syncopaters featuring Sugar Kane whose comic playoffs with the madcap Eric Santagata as Jerry/Daphne and the chesty baritone, Gary Lynch as Joe/Josephine -- to rescuse Westchester.

SUGAR rescues you from stocks in free all, Madoff madness,  spreading oil slicks, disappearing shrimp, vans full of fertilizer and jawboning tired, tawdry politicians without a clue tediously filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and bromides that give you a headache.

The whopper of a Second Act sends you out into the night smiling, with zip zing and ginger, and the lady on your arm turns into Sugar Kane, and the man you’re with – Tony Curtis.

WPCNR PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION NEWS. May 1, 2010:  The previous Monday April 26th 2010 Mayor Adam Bradley Proposed Budget Hearings where the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Recreation and Parks and The Library  appeared before the Common Council will be rebroadcast on White Plains Cable Access Channel 76 and FIOS Channel 45 Sunday Night at 11PM prior to the Monday May 3, 2010 City Council Public hearing on the Proposed City Budget.

The meeting is instructive  for citizens who wish to hear Commissioner of Public Safety David Chong's analysis of the Police and Fire retirement situation, the heavy presense of thousands of youths milling about the downtown from 1 to 5 A.M. Friday, Saturday and Sundays, the profitable status of the Department of Recreation and Parks, and the Library case for opening Saturdays. Set your video taping machines for 11 P.M. Sunday evening.

The hearing is three hours long of the April 26th 2010 Budget Hearing 

WPCNR CITY DESK. By John F. Bailey. April 17, 2010: When Brenda Starr (Mrs. Bailey) picked out the documentary film Ahead of Time at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville for us to go see,  she told me it sounded interesting. She said it was about a writer/reporter who helped save Jewish refugees in World War II. The name of the writer did not ring a bell with me.

Ann Curry, left, News Anchor/Correspondent, Today Show and Dateline, with Ruth Gruber and Stephen Apkon, founder and executive director of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville. Curry interviewed Gruber after screening of Ahead of Time, the opening night film of the Westchster Jewish Film Festival 2010 at the Center. Gruber, the subject of the film was a foreign correspondent, photojournalist, author and humanitarian for 70 years. She covered the Nuremberg Trails,documented the voyage of the Exodus and has a lifelong devotion to Jewish causes. Photo, Courtesy, Jacob Burns Film Center, by Lynda Shenkman Curtis.

So we went and I met Ruth Gruber.

I know who she is now. She really did fight  for truth, justice and the humane way. She was one writer against the odds, just like in the movies.

With one big chilling difference: she had no script to assure things would turn out right and she would come back alive.

WPNCR STAGE DOOR. From Pia Haas, Westchester Broadway Theatre, April 17, 2010(Edited):  WBT is coming through to put a smile on your face, a leer on your lips, and fill your evening with side-splitting laughter with just the right cocktail to forget your troubles: Starting a run April 29th,  an evening of hilarity, hi-jinks, high camp seasoned with a spicey blonde when Stutler and Funking, the WBT empressarios present the musical revival of Billy Wilder's hilarious movie, Some Like it Hot!

What's the best way for two unemployed male musicians to escape the Chicago mob? Dress up in drag and join an all-female band on a train headed for Miami, of course! That's Michael O'Steen, Jennifer Lee Andrews and Keith Bernardo reprising the Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon roles a previous smash Westchester Broadway Theatre production of SUGAR, a WBT revival of  SUGAR  with  Colleen Hawks in the Marylin role, Gary Lynch in the Curtis role and Eric Santagata in the Jack Lemmon role comes back April 29 at the WBT. Photo by John Vecchiolla.

The Hit Musical, SUGAR is based on Billy Wilder's 1959 comic masterpiece; "Some Like It Hot," starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. Two musicians in 1920s Chicago are unwilling witnesses to a showdown between rival bootleggers and need to get out of town fast. The only jobs to be had are in an all-girl band conveniently headed for sunny Miami. Their problems aren't over by a longshot, though: both fall for the band's lead singer, Sugar Kane; one of them becomes the object of affection for an elderly millionaire - and then the Chicago mobsters show up. Memorable musical numbers include “Penniless Bums”, “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad”, “We Could Be Close”, “Doin' It for Sugar”, “What Do You Give (To a Man Who Has Everything?)”, “Beautiful Through and Through” and “November Song”.

WPCNR ON THE AISLE. Theatre Review By John F. Bailey. April 2, 2010 Complete with Pictures!: Cue the glamour, cue the high-maintenance beauties, light the flattering lights, cue the enigmatic, emotional, charismatic dashing star,  Westchester Broadway Theatre’s spring show, Nine (the 5-Tony Award-winning toast of Broadway in 1982) revives evocably  a bold musical of the Broadway that was then and the movie world of the 1960s and, ironically today.. Nine is all about women and the man they love even though they never quite really have him, and their irresistible attraction to the artist.

Guido and the Women in his Life:

Robert Cuccioli with the high maintenance women on stage at Westchester Broadway Theatre until April 24: Front to back Emily Zacharias as his mother; Julie Tolivar as his mistress; Dana Moore as his producer; Glory Crampton as his wife, Luisa; Lauren Blackman as his actress;  Jesmille Darbouze; Erin O'Neill.

Photos by John Vecchiolla, Courtesy, WBT

The women peforming the Follies Bergere spectacular in Act One

Robert Cuccioli “The First Leading Man of Westchester Theatre” is the great Guido Contini a director-in-demand, whose mere association with a film sends producers to writing checks and starlets slipping out of their sheaths (in the most irresistible way) for him, which he is only too glad to succumb to in a musical of two levels, the emotional and the rational. 

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. March 28, 2010: Assemblyperson Amy Paulin whose daughter performed with Westco Productions called White Plains' Susan Katz, "the person who makes every one a star;" County Legislator James Maisano declaring  Susan Katz Day in Westchester County called her organization one that the county has been supporting for years because of Westco's unique contribution to Westchester families: White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley presented a plaque declaring Saturday Susan Katz Day in White Plains saying he looked forward to her company Westco Productions serving White Plains for many years to come.

Westco Productions "Magic to Do Players" Perform for over 140 Guests at the local Westco's 30th Anniversary Celebration Saturday evening. Master of Ceremonies Jason Summers on stage (background) a performer with Westco since the age of 7, and now a professional choreographer, director and actor, leads the very special group of performers that Westco has nurtured the last two years. They were the stars of the evening and had a wonderful time-- and were easily the best dancers on the floor.

White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley Presented Susan Katz, "The First Lady of Westchester Theatre," Founder of Westco, with a Proclamation Declaring Susan Katz Day in the City. Bradley said he had known Ms. Katz for many years and looked forward to her giving White Plains another 30 years of Westco Productions to come.

Serena Russell, President of the Westco Productions Board of Directors saluted Ms. Katz for creating an organization that has entertained over 700,000 persons over the last 30 Years.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin reminisced about her own daughter's Westco career.

County Legisalator James Maisano recognized Ms. Katz's Westco is unique and an important resource in Westchester County also declaring Saturday Susan Katz Day in Westchester.

Jason Summers and the Westco staff entertained the friends of Westco with a medley of Westco's Greatest Hits...from 30 Years of unique, "Flop-proof" productions because the people who produce them -- produce them with love -- that produces hit after hit -- from Frosty the Snowman to Annie to "Resuse,Recycle."

The Katzes -- "First Lady of Westchester Theatre," Susan Katz and her husband, Peter Katz...dance on Susan Katz Night. Mrs. Katz graciously thanked Mr. Katz for all his contributions to Westco's success.  Surrounded by family and friends, Ms.Katz remembered her father, Sonny Katz, long-time City Marshall for his encouragement and belief in the Westco Dream when she first thought of starting a youth theatre in the city.

The occasion was Westco Productions 30th Anniversary Gala Celebration held at the Womens Club of White Plains where 150 persons gathered to salute Suan Katz for founding Westco Productions -- the county's most successful and enduring non-profit theatre company that for thirty years has introduced theatre to youngsters, entertained youthful patients in county hospitals, and most recently created a theatre group for developmentally disabled youths.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. March 24,2010: Even though things are still a bit rocky for the overall economy, there’s a bright spot here in Westchester for White Plains-based regional theater company. Westco Productions is celebrating its 30^th anniversary season. There will be a gala this Saturday, March 27 at the C. V. Rich Mansion (formerly The Woman’s Club) on Ridgeway Ave., in White Plains. There will be a cocktail hour, silent auction, buffet dinner, entertainment and dancing. Tickets may be obtained by calling 914-761-7463.

SUSIE THE K

Susan Katz, Founder, Westco Productions

Susan Katz, Executive Director of White Plains-based Westco Productions, says this is shaping up to be another successful season for Westco. “When you offer people value in entertainment, and present top quality programming close to home, they keep coming back. Our repeat audiences know they can expect to have a good time at a Westco concert or with the children at one of our family shows, and the experience won’t break the budget” Susan says.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. November 25, 2009: In this time of year when many organizations are staging benefits asking for donations, Westco Productions, Westchester’s most popular, loved-by-all-ages nonprofit theatrical company, held an intimate buffet and cocktail gathering at the Westchester Arts Council rehearsal space Westco leases, last week to thank the donors who have supported Westco over the last 30 years.

Serena Russell, center, member of the Westco Board of Directors welcomes donors and supporters of Westco last week. Susan Katz, founder and impressarioess of Westco Productions is at left.

White Plains Susan Katz, founder of  Westco in 1979 has been staging shows and experiences that matter throughout the county, such as  The Magic to Do Players (show business experience for disabled youngsters, lauded by WARC and parents, that is in need of more support to keep the program going), Healing Walls, Bedside Buddies (actors visiting hospital-bound kids),  original educational shows in schools around the county, plus Ms. Katz’s Gold Star Concert Series – the county’s most successful, affordable popular artist’s series, which helps fund Westco’s public service performances. On hand were many of the persons who support the arts, including Chester Day, Jim Benerofe, Assemblyman-White Plains Mayor-Elect Adam Bradley, and others.

Susan Katz -- reminisced about how Westco grew out of a county program she originally began in the County Center with Westchester  -- which eventually turned into Westco Productions

Among the foundations who support Westco work are The Shirley G. Benerofe Foundation,The Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation,The Louis R. Cappelli Foundation,The Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation, Drew Industries, Edith Glick Shoolman Children's Foundation, Fein Foundation, Glickenhaus Foundation, Hitachi America Ltd., Hitachi Foundation,The H.O.P.E. For Youth Foundation, HSBC Bank USA (which funded the cocktail party) , Hudson Valley Developmental Disabilities Service, Office of Westchester County Hudson Valley National Foundation, James A. Macdonald Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts,New York State Senate, Paul & Harriet Weissman Family Foundation, The Janis & Alan Menken Foundation, The John H. & Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust, Westchester ARC, Westchester Arts Council, Westchester Delegation of New York State Assembly

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS WEEK NEWS. November 13, 2010: White Plains Week reports the latest on the Common Council Quixotic effort to terminate Commissioner of Safety; the pending sale of Ridgeway Country Club; the double-dip dip-in by our public servants; and Bill Ryan's absentee vote win. Viewers may see the program this evening at 5:30 P.M. on Verizon FIOS Channel 45, and Cablevision Channel 76 and it will be repeated later this evening at 7:30 P.M., Saturday evening at 10 P.M. and Monday evening at 7 P.M

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John Bailey, The CitizeNetReporter and Peter Katz, left,above and Jim Benerofe, right count down the week's top stories in White Plains tonight at 5:30 and 7:30 P.M. and later worldwide on the internet at www.whiteplainsweek.com