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 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.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. December 1, 2004, UPDATED 12:35 A.M. December 2, 2004: A meeting is in the process of being arranged between Grace Church and representatives of the County Department of Social Services to explore how Samaritan House could be kept open, according to Gary Kriss, a spokesman for William Ryan, Chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. Mr. Ryan is reported today as expressing concern that the Grace Church Samaritan House may have to close if the D.S.S. does not fund them. Mr. Kriss said this afternoon that a meeting is tentatively scheduled for either next Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon between the Church and the D.S.S. and Mr. Ryan. He did not know if it would be open to the press.

THE GRACE CHURCH COMMUNITY CENTER on Church Street. Photo by WPCNR News.

In another development, Susan Tolchin, Westchester County Executive Chief Advisor, and  Director of Communications, talking to WPCNR this morning, said Samaritan House has never justified the increase they requested from the Department of Social Services when asked to do so.

Tolchin told WPCNR today that  the D.S.S. was faced with a 37% increase in funding requested by the Community Center and asked Samaritan House to give details to substantiate the need for that increase. Tolchin said they were in the budget for 2005 to be given a contract. It was the increase that needed to be discussed. She said the Department of Social Services never told them they would not be given a contract.

Tolchin said Grace never got back to the Department of Social Services with material making a case for their need for the 37%  increase. Tolchin said the Center requested a $70,000 increase in rent and $100,000 more to pay for services. “When faced with an increase of that magnitude, we need to discuss it, those are taxpayer dollars,” Tolchin said.

D’Ambrosio of Grace Church Calls to Announce Closing

Ms. Tolchin said that after Grace Church was asked to detail their financial picture justifying the increase, the Department of Social Services, was told by Grace Church they were closing Samaritan House. WPCNR asked who from Samaritan House announced the closing to the Department of Social Services. Ms. Tolchin said Joe D’Ambrosio, Executive Director of Grace Church Community Center had done so.

WPCNR asked if Mr. D’Ambrosio had done so in writing (a standard practice). Ms. Tolchin said no, that D’Ambrosio had informed the D.S.S. by a telephone call that Grace Church had decided to close the center.

Grace Church News Release Issued Wednesday Afternoon

This is in conflict with a statement issued at 4:30 P.M. Wednesday from Reverend Janet Vincent of Grace Church.

In the statement, Reverend Janet Vincent repeats her assertion to WPCNR Monday and again on television News 12 last night that Grace Church did not choose to close the Samaritan House that they were forced to do so by the County D.S.S.

The Reverend Vincent, in her statement, confirms the meeting next week Mr. Kriss spoke of as being in the process of being scheduled, and explains that Louis Cappelli, the developer, had never asked or indicated he wished them to close Samaritan House as a condition of his promise of $1,000,000 in renovation work to be performed on the annex.  Here is the text of that statement, in the press release:

 

 

“We are in the process of scheduling a meeting that will be held next week with the Westchester Department of Social Services,” said the Rev. Janet Vincent, rector of Grace Church, which houses the shelter. “Our intention has always been to keep the shelter open as long as it is needed, and as long as we are financially able to,” she added.

 

The Rev. Vincent said that contrary to recent media reports, the Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) did not inform county officials that it intended to close the shelter. In fact, she said an officer of the Westchester Department of Social Services (DSS) informed GCCC Executive Director Joseph D’Ambrosio in a phone conversation on November 17, 2004 that GCCC would not receive a contract to operate the shelter in 2005.

 

According to The Rev. Vincent, several members of GCCC’s Board met with the DSS Commissioner on July 22, 2004 to discuss funding for Samaritan House and Open Arms Shelter, another facility operated by GCCC.  “We outlined our continuing concern that the shelters have not received contract increases in three years,” she said. She noted that GCCC has had to raise funds to meet actual costs. The Church has underwritten costs for housing the shelter for many years. 

 

“We were in the process of negotiating the new contracts when DSS made the abrupt decision to close Samaritan House in 2005,” she said.

 

In the wake of recent media reports about the shelter closing, Rev. Vincent said DSS contacted the Church last Friday and requested a meeting between the DSS Commissioner, First Deputy Commissioner and the GCCC Board. “We are hopeful that something can be worked out when we sit down to discuss what has happened,” she said.

 

The Rev. Vincent also refuted media reports linking the planned closing of the homeless shelter with a $1 million gift to the Church from Louis R. Cappelli, developer of the Renaissance Square complex adjacent to the Grace Church property.

 

“Originally, Mr. Cappelli introduced the idea of a cash gift that would allow us to contract for the work on our own. However, after further consideration it was decided that the best value for the Church would be for Mr. Cappelli’s construction company to build the renovations concurrent with the $300 million Renaissance Square project. This way, the Church would possibly receive a construction value of the improvements in excess of the $1 million commitment,” said Rev. Vincent.

 

“There has never been a link between our ongoing negotiations with Cappelli to renovate our parish hall and other spaces and the operations of any program including Samaritan House. On the contrary, all of our conversations and correspondence have emphasized our commitment to the poor and our need to renovate our entire building, particularly those areas used by GCCC programs,” she said. “To Mr. Cappelli’s credit, he has never once asked us to consider closing a program. In fact, in August of 2003 he hired and paid for architectural plans, which included renovations of the Samaritan House as well as other programs in the Church. Nor have we been pressured by the City of White Plains,” she said.

 

“We will continue to seek out resolution and reconciliation with the Department of Social Services. We will continue to be an Oasis of Hope for those who seek our help through the Grace Church Community Center and for those who are looking for a spiritual home. We hope that Samaritan House will continue to offer welcome and care,” Rev. Vincent concluded.

 

Long-time Parishioner does not recall congregation being informed of the closing or Cappelli “Gift.”

 

WPCNR has learned in speaking with one parishioner at Grace Church, that the first time she had heard of the closing of Samaritan House was when it appeared in The Journal News  November 23, one week after the November 17 date. She said the congregation was never asked whether they felt Grace Church should close Samaritan House. No congregation vote was taken. She said when she read about it (the closing of Samaritan House), “That was a shock.”

 

She also said that she could not recall reading of Mr. Cappelli’s gift in the church newsletter or it being announced.

 

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WPCNR SCREEN GEMS. From National Amusements. December 1, 2004: Julia (Roberts) and Wesley (Snipes) newest flicks hit the City Center Cinema De Lux this week. Ms. Roberts’ new vehicle CLOSER premiers Friday at the Centa, and Mr. Snipes newest BLADE: TRINITY arrives one week from today, December 8. Here’s the lowdown on the new movies and the week’s schedule at the Cinema De Lux for all you vacationing college students out there:

CLOSER — Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman star as four strangers who meet and fall in love in this bitingly honest look at modern relationships. Academy Award-winning director Mike Nichols directed this film about attraction, love and betrayal. Rated R

OPENING IN THEATRES WEDNESDAY, December 8th

BLADE: TRINITY — Wesley Snipes returns as a day-walking vampire hunter in the explosive third and final film in the Blade franchise. For years, Blade has fought against vampires in the cover of night, but now he is forced out into the daylight for his most dangerous confrontation ever. Rated R

Wednesday, December 01, 2004  
Ray (PG-13) –12:05; 3:25; 6:40; 10:05 pm. ;
Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience (G) –12:40; 3:00; 5:20; 7:40; 10:00 pm. ;
The Grudge (PG-13) –9:45 pm. ;
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie **(PG) –12:15; 2:45; 5:10 pm. ;
The Incredibles **(PG) –1:20; 4:10; 7:05 pm. ;
National Treasure **(PG) –6:20; 9:20 pm. ;
Alexander **(R) –7:30 pm. ;
The Incredibles (PG) –12:25; 1:50; 3:10; 4:40; 7:35; 10:10 pm. ;
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (PG) –12:45; 1:40; 3:15; 4:05; 5:35; 6:30; 7:55; 10:15 pm. ;
National Treasure (PG) –1:05; 3:55; 6:50; 9:50 pm. ;
Alexander (R) –12:00; 4:00; 8:00 pm. ;
The Polar Express (G) –1:00; 3:20; 5:45; 8:05; 10:25 pm. ;
After the Sunset (PG-13) –5:00; 7:10; 9:25 pm. ;
Christmas With the Kranks (PG) –12:10; 12:35; 2:30; 2:55; 4:50; 7:15; 9:40 pm. ;
Finding Neverland (PG) –12:00; 2:25; 4:55; 7:25; 9:55 pm. ;
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (R) –1:45; 4:15; 6:55; 9:00; 9:35 pm. ;

Thursday, December 02, 2004  
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (R) –1:45; 4:15; 6:55; 9:00; 9:35 pm. ;
The Polar Express (G) –10:20 am; 1:00; 3:20; 5:45; 8:05; 10:25 pm. ;
Finding Neverland (PG) –12:00; 2:25; 4:55; 7:25; 9:55 pm. ;
Christmas With the Kranks (PG) –12:10; 12:35; 2:30; 2:55; 4:50; 7:15; 9:40 pm. ;
After the Sunset (PG-13) –5:00; 7:10; 9:25 pm. ;
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (PG) –12:45; 1:40; 3:15; 4:05; 5:35; 6:30; 7:55; 10:15 pm. ;
Alexander (R) –12:00; 4:00; 8:00 pm. ;
National Treasure (PG) –1:05; 3:55; 6:50; 9:50 pm. ;
The Incredibles (PG) –12:25; 1:50; 3:10; 4:40; 7:35; 10:10 pm. ;
Alexander **(R) –7:30 pm. ;
National Treasure **(PG) –6:20; 9:20 pm. ;
The Incredibles **(PG) –1:20; 4:10; 7:05 pm. ;
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie **(PG) –12:15; 2:45; 5:10 pm. ;
The Grudge (PG-13) –9:45 pm. ;
Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience (G) –12:40; 3:00; 5:20; 7:40; 10:00 pm. ;
Ray (PG-13) –12:05; 3:25; 6:40; 10:05 pm. ;

Friday, December 03, 2004  
Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience (G) –10:20 am; 12:40; 2:55; 5:20; 7:40; 10:00 pm; 12:10 am. ;
Closer **(R) –2:30; 5:00; 7:30; 10:00 pm; 12:20 am. ;
Ray (PG-13) –12:05; 3:25; 6:40; 10:20 pm. ;
National Treasure **(PG) –6:20; 9:20 pm; 12:15 am. ;
The Incredibles (PG) –11:00 am; 12:00; 12:50; 1:50; 3:35; 4:40; 7:25; 10:10 pm; 12:35 am. ;
National Treasure (PG) –10:15 am; 1:05; 3:55; 6:50; 9:50 pm; 12:35 am. ;
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (PG) –10:25 am; 12:15; 12:45; 2:45; 3:15; 5:10; 5:35; 7:55; 10:15 pm. ;
Alexander (R) –12:00; 4:00; 7:35; 8:10; 11:20; 11:50 pm. ;
The Polar Express (G) –10:40 am; 1:00; 3:20; 5:45; 8:05; 10:25 pm; 12:35 am. ;
After the Sunset (PG-13) –5:05; 7:10; 9:25; 11:40 pm. ;
Christmas With the Kranks (PG) –10:25 am; 12:10; 12:35; 2:35; 2:55; 4:50; 7:15; 9:40 pm; 12:00 am. ;
Finding Neverland (PG) –12:00; 2:25; 4:55; 7:20; 9:55 pm; 12:20 am. ;
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (R) –1:45; 4:15; 6:55; 9:35 p