WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. December 8, 2004: The White Plains Department of Public Safety has confirmed in talking with firefighters who were first into the apartment fire at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road Tuesday night that two rescues were executed in the first smoke-filled minutes of the fire.

 

Fire Lieutenant  James Maganello felt the presence of a person collapsed on the stairway as he was groping his way up the stairway between the 4^th and 5fh floors of 23 OMR as he was searching for residents of the building  in dense, zero visibility conditions.

 

 Maganello told Inspector Daniel Jackson, of the Public Safety Department that he was proceeding up the staircase in dense smoke, feeling his way up the stairwell when he felt a body with his fingers. He then proceeded to carry a woman, unconcious from the smoke,  down two flights of stairs where he handed her off to two other fire fighters. The woman, Inspector Jackson reports, is still hospitalized at White Plains Hospital Medical Center. Another person who was disabled was also found and placed on a fifth floor fire escape where Police Detective Wilhelm stayed with her until it was safe to evacuate her.  The fire was declared completely out at 5:50 P.M.

Jackson said that Deputy Commissioner David Chong was first on the scene within one minute of when the alarm was called in. Jackson reported the first apparatus arrived within 3 minutes and firefighters were into the building, deploying hose and into the building within 3 minutes of the 4:36 P.M. alarm He said he did not have a time when water was first poured on the fire. He said that within 3 minutes firefighters were into the building looking for occupants and attempting to make rescues in what Jackson described as a smoke-filled environment. Fire did go beyond the 3-C apartment where it began in a bedroom.

 

Have To Go at the Fire From the Inside.

 

Jackson explained that contrary to what observers might think, a fire of this sort cannot be attacked by water from the outside by pouring water into the windows,  because “you drive the fire into other apartments, and you would have more fire damage to other apartments.” 

 

He said the fire was contained within Apartment 3-C where it started. He described the building as sustaining extensive smoke and water damage on the other floors in another of other apartments. Jackson said of reports in other media that firefighters did not attack the fire fast enough, that  “it is a terrible thing to watch your  life’s belongings to go up in flames, and it never seems as if enough is being done.”

 

Jackson said that hose was deployed up the stairwell to the third floor and to the apartment where the blaze was situated and extinguished from the inside.

 

Investigation Continues.

 

Jackson said there is a question of whether smoke detectors were deployed within the building, and that is under investigation along with the cause of the fire. He said there were no sprinkler systems in the premises.  He had no knowledge of whether fire extinguishers were available in the building.

 

The spokesman for the Department of Public Safety said 50 White Plains Firefighters were actively involved in fighting the fire, representing 10 companies, 4 mutual aid departments were deployed.

 

 

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. December 7, 2004, UPDATED December 8, 9:02 A.M. E.S.T.:  A number of families are evacuated from their apartments at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road, the scene of a third floor fire early Tuesday evening. Three families have been housed overnight by the American Red Cross and an undetermined number of other residents have found shelter with other family and friends.

Inspector Daniel Jackson of the White Plains Department of Public Safety told WPCNR this morning that the 22 apartments in the wing of 23 Old Mamaroneck Avenue were not inhabitable because the power and services had been cut to that part of the building. Jackson said the City of White Plains Building Department would be meeting with some of the residents at noon today to inform them on the status of the building and when they could return to their homes.. Inspector Jackson said he did not have information on the total residents left homeless by the fire.

Jackson said the alarm was phoned in at 4:36 P.M., and was fought  from the interior of the building. He said four residents were treated at White Plains Hospital Medical Center for smoke inhalation. No Fire Department personnel were injured Jackson said. No cause has been determined at this hour.

23 Old Mamaroneck Road on Shapham Place side, 8 A.M. Photo by WPCNR News

At about 5:15 P.M, WPCNR learned of a fire in progress in the vicinity of Mamaroneck Avenue School. Police Headquarters reported the fire is at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road. Police Scanner reports indicated the fire was on the third floor. A resident reported a very smokey atmosphere in the area, and as of 7 PM, a pungent acrid smokey odor could be smelled on the east side of the city. A motorist phoning in to WPCNR said traffic was  blocked off on Mamaroneck Avenue and in the Old Mamaroneck Road area, and that “the southend is in gridlock.” The building was at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road a short distance from Nosband Avenue

Shapham Place View. Photo by WPCNR News

As of 9 P.M., the fire was reported out by Bob Reggio, the Coordinator for the American Red Cross. He said a number of persons had been evacuated from the building, and could not return. He reported an undetermined number of residents were able to find shelter with “family and friends,” and that the Red Cross was housing three families they were “putting up for the night.” As of 9 P.M., Reggio said he had six Red Cross volunteers in the Mamaroneck Avenue School  handling inquiries. 

Fire began on Third Floor. Closer View of the damage as of Wednesday morning. Photo by WPCNR News

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WPCNR City Hall Limits. By John F. Bailey. December 6, 2004: The city unveils its First Quarter Financials for its fiscal year of 2004-05 this evening, and there’s good news. The city sales tax pace for July, August and September of the first quarter is running 15.6% of the 2003 First Quarter Pace. The figures released by the City Clerk’s office provided by the City of White Plains Financial Department, show that the city if it mains the present sales tax pace of 15% will collect $43.7 Million in Sales Tax by the completion of the fiscal year June 30, 2005.

The city Financial Report for 2003-2004, examined by WPCNR at the City Clerk Office,  is also being officially released this evening showing the city collected $37,698,714 in sales tax for the 2003-04 fiscal year, hitting WPCNR’s projection made in the spring of 2004 that the city would have to collect $9 to $10 Million in sales tax in the last quarter to hit their budget projection. They just did make it.

 

The 2003-04 Financial Report also paints a picture portraying a robust White Plains economy last spring, when the city picked up $9,240,938 in sales tax in the final quarter to meet their budget, a  13-1/2% increase in sales tax pace over the last quarter (April May June) of 2002-2003, when the city took in $8,135,166 in sales taxes.

 

A fast examination of the Final financials of 04-04 by the CitizeNetReporter appears to indicate that the unreserved fund balance, though has committed $5,644,256 to “subsequent year” expenses this fiscal year, leaving the city only a $1,190,655 cash available for emergencies. It should be noted that the fund balance can be replenished as the so far “roaring 04-05” rolls on.

 

Other items in the Financial Report of note are a reported construction cost of $3,219,975 for the White Plains Performing Arts Center, and a $1,000,000 bond for the White Plains Performing Arts Center. There was no explanation as to whether these costs were offset by other revenues for specifically that purpose. There was also a construction cost of $2,757,271 for the Renaissance Plaza Fountain, which again did not have an explanation as to whether it was offset by grants and cash coming in for specifically that purpose.

 

WPCNR will provide a more detailed report when the Final financials become available to the general public this evening.

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WPCNR West Side Story. By John F. Bailey. December 4, 2004: Is redevelopment about to be proposed for Post Road in  vicinity of South Lexington Avenue? WPCNR has learned a reporter from another news organization has interviewed merchants of the Lexington Avenue-Post Road strip to get their views on redevelopment of the area.

 

One member of the White Plains Common Council told WPCNR about hearing rumors of redevelopment, but had no facts to support the rumors, and had not been briefed on any such development planned for that part of the city.

 

The “West Side Story” so far as WPCNR can tell based on the wildfire of rumors going around the city this weekend is that it may  involve affordable housing and other development  possibly planned to be built somewhere on West Post Road by a prominent local developer. The actual location of the development is sketchy.

 

The rumored site would according to the whispers be in the vicinity of  West Post Road and South Lexington Avenue near Calvary Baptist Church.

 

Reverend Lestor Cousin of  Calvary Baptist Church told WPCNR he was unaware of any such planned development, and would check into it.

 

Is there any substance  to the rumors? Stay tuned.

 

 

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey. December 3, 2004: Mr. and Mrs. Westchester, your holiday show has arrived. The trolley from Meet Me In St. Louis, the revival staging of the 1960 musical Broadway hit and 1944 movie, stopped officially for an 8-week run at the Westchester Broadway Theatre Thursday evening, and cast the spell of the optimistic American Family of one hundred years ago when family was close, husbands and wives worked things out, and young men wore vests and suits and would not kiss unless they were engaged. By the end of the evening everyone is singing along, and wishing they could go back to this gaslight era.

 

OPENING NIGHT DINERS OBSERVE THE GOOD OLD SMITH FAMILY BACKYARD IN OLD ST. LOU. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

 

The 2-½ hours fly by.  The creeky old and marvelous book (by Sally Benson) Meet Me in St. Louis makes you want to sing along, gets you to smile, lets you feel in love, remember your old family holiday dinners, feel sentimental, smile, and let the holiday magic warm your heart once more.

The Singers

 

And what singers: MMIS has the perky, belting little redhead, virtuous, virginal, mischievous and believable, Kristin Maloney as Esther Smith. The Esther role was iconized by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie. Always a tough act to recreate.

 

Maloney steps right up to the plate. She contraltos the brassy style, throaty moxie and vivid, smash enthusiasm  the “signature songs” of Judy Garland require.

 

In her trifecta of terrific songs in ACT II, Maloney just nails the “The Trolley Song,” rolling out the long holds, getting higher and higher, and crescendos terrifically.

 

She  spreads her wings, duetting and getting slung around by her beau, John Truett,  the hunky Boy-Next-Door, played by  Kyle McDaniel as they sing “You Are for Loving.”

 

She brings tears to cynical critics’ eyes and melts the audience with Christmas magic with the holiday classic, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. This was the song that Judy Garland sang to child star, Margaret O’Brien in the movie original in 1944. The two 2004 troupers, Maloney and Kimberly McGuire delivered and brought tears to this curmudgeon’s eyes.

 

She sings to one of her spunky little sisters, Tootie, played by  Kimberly McGuire. And she sings to her. Something not all leading ladies do.  I commend the diminutive Ms. McGuire, a former “Annie” in Westco’s Annie, who stayed in character terrifically in this scene while Ms. Maloney sung to her on Christmas Eve. You moms and dads out there are going to love this moment in the show.

 

The Return of John Raitt

 

Mr. McDaniel (think a young John Raitt), as Truett, Esther’s beau, (they were called beaus in those days), holds his own with Ms. Maloney, and creates a real innocent young lover electricity between them. McDaniel wheels her around effortlessly in his arms like John Raitt used to do with his leading ladies in his heyday.  He’s on his way and McDaniel and Maloney handle their duet beautifully. You believe it.

 

McDaniel conveys the wonder of what redheads can do to a young man when he delivers Over the Bannister and the Diamonds In the Starlight number, when he contemplates Esther leaving for New York while he stays in St. Louis. 

 

I liked his rendition of this lovesick ballad that lyrically creates exactly how a great girl makes you feel stars become diamonds in the starlight. Well, you’re going to hear it because well, you’re going to see the show right? He’s a leading man – the right age. Though I will say Esther (as played by Ms. Maloney), and Truitt (played by Mr. McDaniel) are a little older looking than 17-18 year olds.

 

Their boy-girl romance comes off though, and he matches Maloney’s confident joy in his love for her during this song with confidence and that sense of great feeling a man feels when he’s got the girl. You hear it in his voice and hers.

 

Da Kids

 

Kids? MMISL has four of them. WPCNR saw Kimberly McGuire as Tootie Smith, and  Marissa O’Donnell as Agnes Smith  Esther Smith and Rose Smith’s little sisters.

 

W.C. Fields once said about acting that you should avoid sharing the stage with children and dogs.

 

Tonight was no exception because Ms O’Donnell and Ms. McGuire were little scene stealers  recalling Our Gang  kids of 30s movie fame, in their ability to win your hearts, make you laugh, and make you remember when you were a kid again, or when your children were kids.   Joanna DeRosa plays Agnes and Mikie Sakanaka play Tootie in alternating performances.

 

Even W.C. Fields Would Have Loved Them:  Kimberly McGuire, left, at the Cast Party, played Toody Smith in MMISL on Opening Night, and her partner Mikie Sakanaka, right will play Toody Friday night.  Marissa O’Donnell and Joanna DeRosa play Toody’s partner-in-misdemenors, Agnes Smith.  Ms. McGuire remembered that she got started in theatre after she saw a show as part of her mother’s day care. “I watched a show that was a (Westco) workshop, and that got me interested in it.” She said she had a lot of fun in her evening’s performance. She said her favorite part in the show was performing in “The Cake Walk,”  with Ms. Maloney. Ms. Sakanaka and Ms. McGuire do four shows a week each. Ms.Sanaka said she got started in theatre in Japan when she was taking piano lessons. Ms. McGuire and Ms. Sakanaka, her father J.P. said, learned their parts in nine days of rehearsal.  Photo by WPCNR CastCam.

 

Family Therapy

 

The show takes you through about a year in the life of the typical extended family of the turn of the last century, the Smith Family who are all excited about St. Louis hosting the World Exposition of 1904.

 

Young ladies Esther and Rose are more interested in young men.  Ms. Maloney and Jennifer Evans as her sister Rose (though a little old to be teens), create the teen and upper teen roles nicely getting their laughs and connecting with their situations. The audience is witness to the anxiety of young love in Rose’s long distance crush on Warren who lives in New York, and ride the roller coaster edge of  Esther’s infatuation with the new boy who has moved in next door, John Truitt.  

 

Crisis Management

 

Ms. Maloney’s first big solo is The Boy Next Door. She gets the wistfulness and warmth this song demands just perfectly that you’ll remember how you feel that old thrill when a new girl or boy moved into your neighborhood. But, lest you get the wrong idea, that is as risqué as this show gets.

 

 This is so much a family show, you feel you want to have dinner together with your children tomorrow night. Not one unwholesome thing in this show, mind you. Not one.

 

The Original Family Sitcom

 

The Smith Family household could have been a pilot for every television family sitcom ever created from Father Knows Best, to My Three Sons, to The Addams Family to Frazier. You have the humorous Irish maid played by Nora Mae Lyng who keeps the household running. She sings a wonderful Mermanesque  Danny Boy to cheer up Rose, whose phone call from New York has been thrwarted by father. Instead the makes the sisters cry. (This is a very funny moment in the show.)

 

Jeanne Lehman as Mrs. Smith looks like Jayne Wyatt in Father Knows Best, who tolerates her head-of-the-household husband’s pompous attitude. Mr. Smith is played by Bob Freschi. Freschi and Lehman team for the  wonderful duet, You and I at the end of the First Act that presents an oh-so-corny but believable bond of husband-wife affection.  Love is corny.

 

Doing a great turn as the wise Grandpa is Gene Jones, who has one of the great funny lines in the show to cheer up a heartbroken Esther when she does not have John Truitt to go with to the “last dance in St. Louis.” Grandpa, dressed in his tuxedo and tales, offers to take Esther to the dance because, “Suits are Like Men, They like to step out.”

 

Everybody steps out and cuts a rug in this show.

 

Producers Bob Funking and Bill Stutler (also the owners of theatre), have got a great cast here. Everybody is believable, chimes in on cue, and you’ve got a family that cares for each other. There’s melodrama, heartbreak, music you know, and a well-knit cast that engages one another.

 

Great work by the ensemble of singers too, all elegantly dressed in spiffy, sporty bowlers, boaters, vests, bustles, corsets.

 

Highlights

 

MMISL recreates an era of dances when they actually danced and you see them in showy production numbers that will entertain the youngsters. Heck, it entertained the movas and shakas on Opening Night. (2-minute ovation with bravos)

 

You see what they actually did to Skip to My Lou. You’ll dig the Cake Walk, the Castle Walk. The very entertaining Under the Bamboo Tree  dance when Ms. Maloney as Esther dances and duets with child prodigy, Ms. McGuire as Tootie, will bring a smile to your faces. 

 

When Esther plays a trick on her sister’s rival at “The Last Dance in St. Louis” Ms. Maloney is given very funny comedic bits with different dance partners that  she carries off with Ms. Garland’s flair for slapstick.

 

Did I neglect to mention that good old good one, Meet Me in St. Louis, Louie? I did. You’ll love that too.

 

Special Effects

 

How much special effects can you do in a show in a restaurant and theatre-in-the-square setting? You get a simulated trolley with lighting, and very believable sound effects.  You get snow. You get fireworks. You get Halloween night. You even get the World Exposition of 1904.

 

Kudos go to Andrew Gmoser, Lighting Designer who creates a Halloween night, a sky of diamonds and a full moon, while making it snow on stage. The set does not depend on rotatating stages and Broadway hydraulics, but creates with one of the best set designers, the audience’s imagination. If the acting and performing is there, the set comes to life, even if it’s only a chair.

 

Two Guys From Madison Avenue

 

 

Producers Bob Funking and Bill Stutler (also the owners of the theatre, starting it in 1974 when they were both in the advertising business), have got a great cast here. Everybody is believable in their roles, chimes in on cue, and you’ve got a family that cares for each other. There’s melodrama, heartbreak, music you know, and a well-knit cast that engages one another. Credit that to Director and Choreographer, Drew Scott Harris.

 

THEY KNOW WESTCHESTER THEATRE: Owners, Producers, Founders of Westchester Broadway Theatre in 1974, Bill Funking, left, and partner, Bill Stutler, celebrate another Opening Night at the Cast Party. Funking told WPCNR, “The whole idea (of WBT) originally was one musical, followed by a comedy or a straight play, a mystery, or another musical. After about three shows like that we discovered nobody wanted to see the non-musicals, they wanted the musicals, so we switched to all musicals.” 

Funking advised WPCNR that Westchester still wants musicals: “Look at what’s going on Broadway. Right now the world and the United States wants pure entertainment. They don’t want to think about anything. Look at what’s coming in, you have  the ABBA show, The Beach Boys Show, an Elvis Presley Show. These are shows coming into Broadway and it’s just pure entertainment …but it’s what you’re also familiar with.” The first musical at WBT 30 years ago was Kiss Me, Kate, Funking remembered. Photo by WPCNR PartyCam.

 

 

The WBT production gets it all right in this theatre-in-the-square venue: live music with just the right “East Side, West Side” feel to it recreates the vaudeville and ragtime feel of 1903-04, where all the women were virtuous and high-busted, all the men dressed in suits, vests and high collars even in 100-degree heat, and everything was possible.

 

The 8-person ensemble (under the direction of Milton Granger), offstage does not overplay the singers, but rollicks, supports, and buoys the performers on every number – not an easy thing to do in a small venue.  As the producers at Westchester Broadway Theatre always seem to do they create just enough illusion to make the audience imaginations complete the illusion, and Meet Me In St. Louis takes you back in time.

 

Looking for a great show for the whole family for the holidays? MMISL is the one. It made me want to go out and pick out a Christmas Tree.

 

Meet Me In St. Louis plays the WBT in Elmsford through January. Tickets include dinner (WPCNR recommends the trout almondine), and information is available at www.broadwaytheatre.com. Or by calling 914-592-2222.

 

Awaiting Another Night, Another Show: The closing set, featuring the great cyclorama of the St. Louis World Exposition of 1904. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.