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 SOUTH END TIMES. From the Council of Neighborhood Associations. March 11, 2014:

The next meeting of the Council of Neighborood a is scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, 2014, 7:30 pm, at Education House (downstairs Meeting Room), 5 Homeside Lane, WP (off North Street). Please mark your calendar.

Our guest speakers will be the Hon. Ben Boykin 2nd, newly elected Westchester County Legislator, District 5, and the Hon. Nadine Hunt-Robinson, newly appointed WP Common Councilwoman. There will also be a brief presentation by Councilwoman Milagros Lecuona, who will discuss the meds safety/ disposal crisis.  A question and answer period will follow their presentations.

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FaTye and Brittany Johnson as Coalhouse Walker and Sara the icons of Ragtime at the revival in Westchester Broadway Theatre

Not One, But Two Romances Ladies and Genlemen, that Tug Your Heart Strings. Victoria Lauzun as Mother and Joey Sanzaro as Tateh. How they come together is just one of those things

Strolling, tennis playing residents of New Rochelle, toiling immigrants, Negroes creating a new music, legends  J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Harry Houdini and anarchist Emma Goldman colliding together seamlessly, up close and personally, tragically and inspiring!

Ragtime tells America’s story as touching, heart-breaking and as dramatic as it gets:

The sound of distant thunder
Suddenly starting to climb…

It was the music
Of something beginning,
An era exploding,
A century spinning
In riches and rags,
And in rhythm and rhyme.
The people called it Ragtime…
Ragtime!
Ragtime!
Ragtme!

I have been reviewing shows at the Westchester Broadway Theatre for 14 years.

The Standing Ovations Studios rambunctious, irreverent, in-your-face overwhelmer of a revival of the 1998 musical Ragtime , that officially opened Friday night in Elmsford is the best production WBT has ever presented that I have seen. Easily it is the most involving and emotionally connecting.

Ragtime gives  theatre goers all this top-of-the-line 40-member cast has—right from the anthem Ragtime .  The anthem  I quite above   introduces the colors of America at the turn of the 19^th century from white New Rochelle residents lofting tennis balls  to immigrants from Latvia, Ireland,and Blacks up from the south from the Robber Barons and architects of America’s success to  all seeking success in America.

It never lets up on the audience from its hour and 20 minute first act to its 55 minute second act at rolls like an express train of emotions…it overwhelms with 32 songs—by the second time Broadway composing team of Composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens who executed a 4-song  audition score for original producer Harold Prince and beat out 7 other  4-song writing teams to win the task of writing this score. The score won a TONY as Best Original Musical Score in 1998. Their first hit was Once On an Island in 1990, then the musical score for the Disney movie Anastasia, followed by their winning the competition to compose Ragtime.   Their latest work, Rocky, The Musical premiers next Friday in New York City.

Part of the Ensemble sing What A Game at the Polo Grounds in New York. Made possible through the ingenious manipulation of set , music and choreography

Director John Fanelli and Set Designer Steve Loftus takes us back to the future with clever use of an arched set and revolving stage that simulates assembly lines in Detroit, the Polo Grounds, a court room, docksides.  We even have a model T Ford.

Coalhouse Walker (FaTye) comes to tea in New Rochelle greeting Mother (Victoria Lauzun

While choregrapher Greg Gramham has created ensemble numbers that do not look like dances they actually move the plot. And move it does. In a musical of this length and breadth the scenes never lag, you never yawn during songs that take you by the heart and soul.  The audience was enthralled, brought to tears, warmed, shocked, they connected with the characters  through the magical book of Ahrens & Flaherty put E.L. Doctorow’s novel on the stage.

The musical explores how prejudice against blacks and immigrants and denial of justice from by the suburban community of New Rochelle results in tragedy that turns Coalhouse, the ragtime musician into a violent activist.

FaTye,  a fixture with Standing Ovation Studios,  gives his best performance I have seen him do. When he reconciles with Sarah played by Brittany Johnson, his girl, who has taken refuge in a New Rochelle family home…their duet Wheels of a Dream warms the heart, and their chemistry delivers. The tragedy inflicted upon the couple tugs on your heart and will not be soon forgotten.  Their second duet, Sarah Browneyes gives breathing life to what two people mean to each other.

Joey Sanzaro below plays Tateh, a Latvian immigrant with his daughter,  delivers  as believable a role in an ongoing cameo scenario I have seen in a long time. He is touching, tough, self-starting, showcasing the palette of skills demonstrated by the immigrants who came with nothing, and made something of themselves.  You root for him.

The heroine who is the other storyline in this massive juggling of historical themes that hit home today is Victoria Lauzan above whose diamond contralto  puts the heartbeat into the “connectors” of the show (and believe me all the songs are good and connective).  From her Goodbye My Love (to her husband who is leaving on a polar trip with Admiral Perry), to the disdainful What Kind of a Woman (sung when she finds Sarah’s baby abandoned in her garden in New Rochelle, and she decides to take the baby in). Then Ms. Lauzan as she gradually realizes how sheltered she has been delivers a haunting anthem in the bring-down-the-house Second Act:  You Can Never Go Back to Before. which she sings with Mr. Sanzaro (above)

History you say you want history, drama?

You’ve got it:

Nadine Zahr as Emma Goldman (left) doing another deft cameo roll as the anarchist with one of her recruits, Todd Ritch, the younger brother who is inspired to fight for justice for Coalhouse and the oppressed workers

You meet Henry Ford (Todd Allan Little) , J.P. Morgan (Steven Stein-Grainger), Emma Goldman the activist (Nadine Zahr), and the Notorius Evelyn Nesbitt, Cali LaSpina (The “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee” girl).

The audience loved this show mounted as best  as any I have seen at the WBT. Only seven Actors Equity Members grace this 40-performer ensemble and you would never know it.

The orchestra laid a seamless ragtime beat into most of the soungs, and laid an unobtrusive supportive bed for the songs, that performers sung with a clarity that was as professional sounding as you could wish for. Even the children performers you could understand.

The audience rose to its feet. The Show had them at first spotlight.

For box office information, contact 914-592-2222 or go to www.BroadwayTheatre.com.

Ragtime lives for all-time through May 4. Cautions: gunshots, violence, emotional situations  that can affect younger children and adults. But that’s our country folks.

Don’t take my word for it. After the show ended some comments overheard by yours truly: “Just incredible,” “what a great show.” The speakers appeared so entertained they did not want to leave.They just stood there saluting this effort.

It is as Ms. Nesbit (Cali LaSpina of Scarsdale, above, “the Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Girl” shown performing “The Crime of the Century” with vampy, impish delight) would put it,

“It’s the Musical of the Century”

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• Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. East wind 7 to 9 mph.
• Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26. North wind 7 to 9 mph.
• Saturday: Increasing clouds, with a high near 45. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph.
• Saturday Night: A slight chance of snow showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. Northwest wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Sunday: A slight chance of snow showers before 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 41. Northwest wind 9 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

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WPCNR LABOR NEWS. From Nonprofit Westchester. March 6, 2014:

Nonprofits are a multi-billion dollar industry and make up the largest employment sector in Westchester County, according to a report released  by Nonprofit Westchester (NPW) and The Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.

The study, entitled “Westchester County Nonprofits: A Major Economic Engine,” found that 53,987 people, or 13.6 percent, of the county’s total workforce is employed by nonprofits. That’s one out of every seven workers. Additionally, this sector generated $6.9 billion in revenues and paid roughly $2.7 billion in wages and compensation – including hundreds of millions in federal, state and local taxes.

“We’ve always known that we provide many essential services and are critically important to the regional economy,” said Joanna Straub, executive director of Nonprofit Westchester. “With this study, we have concrete data that shows just how vital we are and how much we contribute to Westchester County.”

The $15,000 study, funded by the Westchester Community Foundation, includes five major economic findings. They include:

• At 53,987 workers, the county’s nonprofit sector employs more than retail, tourism, local government, construction, finance, real estate or other industries. In fact, nonprofits employ more than six times as many workers than the county’s real estate and information technology fields, more than three times as many as the finance industry, and 10 percent more than local governments.
• Health organizations, such as hospitals and nursing homes, were significant areas of employment in 2013 as were colleges and universities.
• Nonprofits generated nearly $6.9 billion in revenues and spent approximately $2.7 billion in wages. The compensation, in turn, translated into roughly $311 million in federal taxes, $104 million in state income taxes, and $21.8 million in local income taxes.
• Between 2003 and 2013, employment in this area grew by 8.4 percent, adding 4,203 jobs, particularly in health services and elementary and secondary education. Compared with an anemic 1.2 percent growth in all areas of the economy, growth in nonprofits trumped other segments.
• Other information in the study concluded that increased competition and overall wages were a mixed bag. Wages in this sector were below those in the for-profit and government sectors – by roughly 1/3 in both cases.  However, nonprofit wages are higher in fields where nonprofits and other sectors compete, suggesting that nonprofits are concentrated in low-wage fields.

The Westchester Community Foundation, which develops, manages and distributes philanthropic funds in a manner that is responsive to donor interests and community needs, funded the study because they believed it was important to show the wide economic reach and impact of nonprofits.

“It’s important that organizations, governments and members of the public understand the true value of nonprofits in Westchester County,” said Catherine Marsh, executive director of the Westchester Community Foundation. “These results show that nonprofits are not only respected service providers, but also create a wide range of economic opportunities.”            

For more information about Nonprofit Westchester or to read a copy of the study, visit www.npwestchester.org or call 914-332-6679.

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. March 5, 2014:

Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino announced in a strong 6 minute video today he would run for Governor against Andrew Cuomo.

He said New York was losing under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s three years of leadership, saying Cuomo has raised taxes not lowered them, and blamed Governor Cuomo directly for ” Governor Cuomo’s Common Core,” saying he would work for better teachers and better testing. He also criticized the Governor for delaying a decision on fracking for three years.

View Mr. Astorino’s announcement at http://www.robastorino.com/?mf_portfolio=35