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.

Hits: 576

The blockbuster, swinging, swishing,loving, glamorous cast of Mama Mia! which opened the local outside NYC run of the 8th longest running Broadway musical last night. (All photos, courtesy Westchester Broadway Theatre by John Vecchiolla)

200^TH WBT PRODUCTION PULLS OUT THE SUPER TROUPERS! FIRES UP THE DISCO ROUND FOR MEGAHIT MAMA MIA! FIRST PRODUCTION OF HIT SHOW IN TRISTATE REGION.

Jennifer Swiderski as Rosie (left), Michelle Dawson as Donna Sheridan and Elise Kinnon as Tanya. reuniting as their trio once more. Ms. Swiderski does another great number with Brent Bateman, singing Take A Chance on Me, clowning with him in a most amusing sequence.

THE MOVE-YOUR-FEET, SWAY-YOUR-HIPS, SHAKE YOUR ABS, CLAP-YOUR-HANDS, SWISH YOUR SEQUINED GOWNS HEARTBEAT OF THE 80S THROBS AGAIN!

My Three Dads: The ingenue, Mariah MacFarlane as Sophie Ms. Dawson’s daughter, quizzing her three possible dads, left to right Xander Chauncey as the suave and earnest Sam; Kilty Reidy as Harry and Brent Bateman as Bill. MacFarlane just carries this difficult role with just the right gushing, sensitive, anxiety you’ll recognize in your young person.

MICHELLE DAWSON  SINGLE MOM  TRYING TO FORGET BRINGS DOWN HOUSE ON THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL! INGENUE MARIAH MacFARLANE PITCH-PERFORMANCE PERFECT AS DAUGHTER SEARCHING FOR HER DAD IN FIRST REGIONAL ‘MM” PRODUCTION.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. THEATRICAL REVIEW BY JOHN F. BAILEY. FIRST RUSHES. MARCH 31, 2017 UPDATED April 3:

Remember how  “anthems” of ABBA, the Swedish pop group of 70S-80s Swingin? With their driving vibrance and intoxicating, swaying seductive beats and so-true-to-feeling lyrics that moved you into The Hustle and loving the nightlife,and brought back elegance and drama to going out?

Westchester Broadway Theatre has produced its 200th production and easily its most spectacular. WBT is bringing back ABBA’s magic brought to life in the 8^th longest running musical of all time MAMA MIA!, thanks to the hardest-working, best costumed, engaging cast we’ve seen in 16 years of reviewing WBT productions.

Mama Mia! weaves 18 of the top ABBA songs together into a surprising dramatic story about a daughter about to be married, trying to find out who her father was.

Maria MacFarlane plays the daughter Sophie to her mom, Michelle Dawson as Donna Sheridan. Sophie discovers her mother’s diary. In it, the mother wrote of three affairs with three different men about 20 years ago, just when Sophie was born. Sophie shocked invites the three men to her wedding on a Greek Isle where Ms. Dawson as Donna Sheridan has made a hotel a success.

The fun starts when Sophie’s girlfriends arrive, and then the men arrive. Highlights of the first act feature Sophie meeting and trying to figure out which of the three men is her father. Xander Chauncy as Sam Carmichael immediately senses he is her father, while Brent Bateman as Bill Austin, the Australian, and Kilty Reidy the banker, each deliver the befuddled regrets and concerns about their misspent time with Ms. Dawson 20 years ago.

Mom’s  girlfriends from her band of 20 years ago, played with zany swagger and savvy by vampy, beach boy aficionadoette, Elise Kinnon as Tanya, Jennifer Swiderski as Rosie, team with Ms. Dawson for a evocative Dancing Queen in Act One. While the intrepid ensemble of beach boy “help” is appreciated in a splendid and saucy routine with Ms. Kinnon as Tanya wowing the house with her tearing-off-the shirt off Connor Wince  as Pepper.

As Act One closes it seems as if Ms. Dawson as mom Donna just does not have the feelings for Sam Carmichael as she fights the highly believable, earnest Xander Chauncy’s  attempts to woo Ms. Dawson back are ripped with heartache.

In Act Two, the Mama Mia! turns on the color. Incredible costuming brings back the memories of when women looked great going out on the floor. Sequins galore, all you old hipsters!   The sets (by Steve Loftus) actually look like a Grecian Isle beach. The shimmer of the ocean on the scrim suggests the appeal of the past as well as its rapturous regrets.

Music! You got it.

Another word, on the rapport between Ms. Dawson and Mariah MacFarlane as mother and daughter. Their duet together in Act Two, Slipping Through My Fingers is splendid as the two strong women’s voices entwine and conflict in the emotion of mother watching her daughter grow away, making her own decisions, and daughter Ms. MacFarlane realizing what her mother has sacrificed to raise her. This duet leads into the song of the show, Winner Takes It All and touches raw memorable emotions all Mothers and Daughters can relate with.

Michelle Dawson after MacFarlane leaves the stage slides seamlessly into a dynamite stop the show Winner Takes It All, her strong contralto just killing the house! The audience on opening night  burst into  spontaneous roars, stopping the show when she just lays it on Mr. Chauncy’s Sam Carmichael her former lover with this shattering lyric—Look and wait for this one.

Rarely have I heard bravos and calls of admiration from a WBT audience like the one Ms. Dawson received after finishing this emotional woman’s song about the man who got away with this lyric:

I don’t wanna talk
If it makes you feel sad
And I understand
You come to shake my hand
I apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence
But you see
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all…

It is the show stopper song.  But wait there’s much more: the songs you love to move your body to:

GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!, STORM TROUPER (just to get me through the rest of the day), TAKE A CHANCE ON ME, LAY YOUR LOVE ON ME and the very funny I DO, I DO,I DO,I DO, I D0. That’s a marriage acceptance. The end of the second Act wraps it up with the strangest wedding you’ll see – a happy ending, even when all seems black.

But, wait you have to stay for the encore where the whole ensemble reprises a handful of the songs they’ve already sung.

Mama Mia! is a must-see! No excuses! It plays through June 25. The box office may be reached at 914-592-2268. Or go to www.BroadwayTheatre.com

ABBA-CADABRA! IT’S DISCO MAGIC1

Hits: 366

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the White Plains City School District. March 29, 2017:

A total of 520 of 3,256 Students in Grades 3 to 8 in the White Plains City Schools “opted-out” of the New York State English Language Assessment Tests Tuesday, a total of 16%.

This is an increase of 3% from a year ago. Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education said the increase was attributed to a large group of 8th grade students deciding among themselves “to convince their parents to let them opt-out of the test.”

A total of  205 Eighth graders of 542 in the 8th grade at the Highlands Middle School (38%) opted out according to district statistics.

In 7th Grade, 91 of 575 students in Highlands “opted out” (16%). (Highlands teaches all 7th and 8th graders in White Plains, while Eastview School instructs all 6th graders.

In the 6th Grade at Eastview School, known as the “Prepartory Academy,” that transitions 6th graders to the Middle School routine in 7th grade, 79 of 489 6th graders opted out (16%).

Between the 7th and 8th grades, the critical preparation time for getting into the academic rigor of high school, 296 of 1,117 8th graders taking the ELA TEST opted out–a total of 26.5%.

In the elementary schools, 3rd to fifth, the opt out rate was 9% in grades 3 to 5.

Some elementary schools opted out hire than others George Washington students were opted out by parents at a rate of 14%; Church Street Elementary,10%. Mamaroneck Avenue School, 8%; Post Road School, 6%, and Ridgeway School, 5%

An ethnic breakdown  of those who opted was not yet available.

Hits: 324

WPCNR ENVIRONMENTALIST. From Environment NY. March 28, 2017:

Today, President Trump will sign an executive order rolling back climate progress. The executive order instructs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite the Clean Power Plan, the single largest step the U.S. has taken to limit climate change. The order also lifts the moratorium on federal coal leasing and limits on methane from fracking operations. The administration also initiated a process to reconsider the Social Cost of Carbon and the National Environmental Policy Act guidance on climate pollution. Heather Leibowitz, Director of Environment New York, issued the following statement:

“Calling climate change a ‘hoax’ won’t stop temperatures or sea level from rising. We can tackle the climate crisis by investing in science and clean, renewable energy, but only if we move boldly and quickly. Defunding science, undercutting clean energy, and doubling down on fossil fuels is sheer reckless folly.

“2016 was the hottest year on record, beating 2015 which was the hottest year before that.  The climate and clean air safeguards that President Trump is proposing to block would increase pollution and threaten our health and the planet. If fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan alone would have reduced our power plant emissions 32% by 2030 with huge health and environmental benefits for New Yorkers.

“Instead of accelerating this progress, the administration is proposing to endanger our health and threaten our children’s future. Blocking the Clean Power plan will lead to 3,600 additional premature deaths, 90,000 more asthma attacks in children, and 300,000 more missed work and school days by 2030.

“Millions of Americans have called for strong climate action, submitting more than 8 million comments asking the EPA to take action to cut carbon pollution from power plants. More than 600,000 of these comments came from Environment America’s members and supporters.
“More than 1100 health professionals sent a letter urging the President to support the Clean Power Plan, to limit carbon pollution, phase out drilling and mining on public lands, increase electric vehicles and set higher fuel economy standards for cars.

“We need to stop President Trump’s rollbacks of our environmental protections that will make us more dependent on dirty fossil fuels. Today’s actions by the administration threaten our health, our environment, and our treasured places.

“Despite the President’s dangerous and backwards energy agenda, the fact is the clean energy revolution can’t be stopped. Clean energy solutions like solar, wind and efficiency will reduce carbon pollution and clean up our air, protect our health including reducing asthma attacks, and promote energy independence.

“And, as our most successful climate programs face attack on the federal level, it is incumbent on states to double down on their climate commitments. We are calling on New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to keep leading the charge and push the progress we need to tackle the climate crisis and get 100% renewable energy.

“At a time when the federal government is stalling progress, we need Governor Cuomo to keep leading the charge on and double the strength of America’s most successful regional climate and clean energy program. New York is one of nine in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative which has helped cut power plant pollution in half and invested more than $2.5 billion in clean energy over the last decade. We need Governor Cuomo to act swiftly and boldly to double the strength of this successful climate program.”

Hits: 91

WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Office. March 24, 2017:

With President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday afternoon that the bill to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act was being withdrawn due to a lack of votes to pass it in the House of Representatives, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued this message:

Dear friend,

This week, Washington showed the people of this nation a disgusting display of government at its worst.
 

We saw Members of Congress openly bribe one-another at the expense of their own constituents, racing each other to decimate New York’s healthcare system while attempting to ram through a piece of legislation that would jeopardize the healthcare of 24 million people and supported by only 17 percent of Americans.
 

Some Republican Members of Congress apparently forgot who put them there in the first place. So let me remind them: you are elected to fight for your constituents – not hurt them.

For the first time in my life, I witnessed New York elected officials pound their chest proudly while cutting nearly $7 billion in funding for the people they serve, tripping over themselves to cut taxes for millionaires while simultaneously cutting healthcare services for seniors, women, and the disabled and killing jobs across the state.
This bill appears to be on life support for now – it should be killed once and for all.
 

Republican leadership may have counted on the complexity of the issue to confuse the debate, but at the end of the day it’s actually quite simple. This Congress tried to play the people of this nation for a fool – they were wrong, and they lost.

Andrew

Hits: 111

WPCNR WASINGTON WIRE. From Communications Director House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff. March 24, 2017:

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), House Rules Committee Ranking Member Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley (D-NY), and House Judiciary Committee Members Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) released a legal analysis prepared by the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff demonstrating the unconstitutionality of the ongoing Republican plans to single out New York State for sharing Medicaid costs with its counties. The Members  released the following joint statement:

“House Republicans’ Trumpcare bill is nothing more than a tax cut for the wealthy masquerading as a ‘healthcare bill.’ If this bill were to become law, 24 million Americans would lose their insurance coverage, and seniors would face skyrocketing premiums. Even worse, to appease the extreme conservatives of the House Republican Freedom Caucus, the newly adopted manager’s amendment includes provisions eliminating Essential Health Benefits requirements such as maternity care, prescription drug and emergency coverage – essentially erasing protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

“In a desperate attempt to pass this unconscionable bill, Speaker Ryan and the House Republican leadership have offered to include the Faso-Collins amendment in order to gain the support of vulnerable New York Republican members.

This blatant vote buying represents the worst side of Washington politics. In fact, many Republican Attorneys General called a similar provision in 2009 ‘constitutionally flawed’ and ‘violating the most basic and universally held notions of what is fair and just.’

“By singling out New York State – even though 15 other states have similar systems for sharing Medicaid costs — and forcing New York to give up its core sovereign power to decide how it will raise funds for its own share of Medicaid, this measure is unconstitutional. This is why we believe New York State would be well within its rights to challenge the provision in court, as Governor Cuomo has suggested.

“The irony of this buyout is that the payment supposedly being delivered in exchange for votes is the legislative equivalent of a check on a closed bank account. It will never deliver the promised benefit.

“Finally, it is also important to note that House Republican Leadership’s reckless attempt to cram Trumpcare through Congress is that according to the most recent CBO report, the Faso-Collins amendment has no or only incidental impact on the federal budget.  It should therefore be struck under reconciliation rules if this bill even reaches the Senate.”

The House Judiciary Democrats’ report is available here.

Background

For the last 51 years, New York State has chosen to fund a portion of its share of the Medicaid Program by using funds from county property taxes.  Fifteen other states structure Medicaid funding through a similar legally authorized system.

The Faso-Collins amendment, being incorporated into the Manager’s amendment to H.R. 1628, the “American Healthcare Act of 2017,”  specifies that any State that had an allotment of Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) funds that was more than 6 times the national average, and that requires subdivisions with populations of less than 5,000,000 to contribute toward Medicaid costs, shall have its reimbursement reduced by the amount of contributions by such subdivisions.

This effectively limits the application to New York State, and carves out New York City. Under the amendment, New York State is at risk of losing $2.3 billion of its $32 billion in Federal Medicaid funds.

The amendment would implicate Constitutional limits on the Federal Spending Power, the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses and the Tenth Amendment (reserving all undelegated powers to the States) because it is not related to a legitimate Federal interest; no rational Federal purpose has been proffered for the provision which singles out New York for discrimination; and it severely intrudes on traditional state prerogatives, such as structuring taxing and spending authorities.

Under a series of Supreme Court cases these provisions would exceed Congress’s spending authority, violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, and violate Tenth Amendment principles.