BIG RIVER Explores Slavery, Roots of Black Music Thru Mark Twain’s 1850s South



WPCNR ON THE AISLE. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. February 13, 2012:


 


BIG RIVER, a spirited, rousing Family Theatre Company production staged at Westchester Broadway Theatre was recognized by a host of Westchester County leaders on its premier week as WBT’s giveback to the community to celebrate Black History Month. The leaders were on hand to salute WBT owners and producers Bob Funking and Bill Stutler for turning over the theatre in February for the first time to present a production keyed to celebrate Black History Month.’



County Executive Robert Astorino and County Leaders Thank Westchester Broadway Theatre for creating the first Black History Month production, Big River, produced by the local family theatre group, Family Theatre Company.WPCNR Photo


 



The Family Theatre Company Cast of BIG RIVER playing through February 26 — musical black history! Production Photos by Jordan Matter


Fittingly they chose John Fanelli the longtime major domo and pioneer of theatre programs for youth in the county at the Westchester Broadway Theatre, John Fanelli, (since then he has founded the educational Times Square Group theatre in New York, the Lighthouse Youth Theatre, and now the Family Theatre Company. The FTC production of the rolling,endearing Big River is based on Samuel Clemens breakthrough classics, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin.




 It treats the grim issue of slavery in America (as do Clemens’ novels)  with a precise touch, not too harsh for the children and not too soft for the adults while showcasing some of the brightest young performers around the County. It plays for two more weeks at the WBT, and provides a diverse, funny, and rollicking entertainment experience that starts slowly an  gathers dignity, joy, and mightiness like the Mississippi itself.



 



The eager Anthony Malchar (right) carries the precocious role of Huck Finn, the runaway, aided by his michievous pal, the silly and naive Todd Ritch (left) as Tom Sawyer,  the lads entertain the audience and will amuse youngsters with their shenanigans, and sense of adventure. With his innocence and sense of self-preservation to get away from his threatening father, Huck sets off with Jim, a freed slave, down the Mississippi and the friendship that grows between the two, as does Huck’s sense of right and wrong, send a valuable lesson that will not be lost to the young, nor the old.


Perhaps no other novels of the nineteenth century said more about in the inhumanity of slavery than Clemens’ (writing under the greatest nom de plume of all time, Mark Twain)two books, and said it in such a way that made the conclusion that slavery was wrong inevitable to whomever read them. Clemens would have won a Pulitzer prize if they gave them away then. Big River delivers the jolt.



Fatye Francis playing Jim belting out Free at Last in the Grand Finale


Highlight performer of the evening is FaTye Francis as Jim whose presence dominates the stageand belies his age and his  ringing voice lifts the roof  to the Heavens. He is easily the most commanding black voice I have heard in musical theatre in some time. (But then there are not many black leading men in Broadway Musical Theatre are there? I do not see many. Tell me I’m wrong.)


FaTaye is a star-to-be. He  gives the role of Jim the runaway salve, intelligence, dignity, and  gravitas that Clemens’ books do not. In the Huckleberry Finn novel, Jim is portrayed as somewhat dependent on Huck. In Big River, Jim trusts Huck not to betray him, but is suspicious and presents a portrait of the runaway slave that is not stereotypical, hut his own man. FaTye makes Jim the hero of this show through his sheer force of will and magnificent voice. We’ll be seeing him on Broadway, I predict. He is worth going to see and hear!


The choreography in the hour and a half first act portraying slaves in the field uniquely captures the sweat of working in the hot southern sun while in one striking metaphor shows how the rhythm of the fields found its way into the rhythms of early Black music in “Waitin for the Light to Shine.”


Later in the first act, the role of the church that made life livable for many black slaves (as if I knew anything about that), is captured with electrifying emotion when we first hear and see the amazing soprano of Jasmine Knight singing the spiritual, “The Crossing.”  Her voice will send chills up your spine during a recreation of a old church service. It is a rouser!


Ms. Knight is also featured in the second act singling Waitin for the Light to Shine. This young lady is a star of the future. You will not forget her voice. It is a voice from Heaven that fills your heart, and makes you want to look for Billy Graham.


One of the most touching scenes occurs  when two conmen that Huck and Jim meet up with attempt to swindle Susan Wilkes out of her inheritance, and as a result her slaves have to sold and families split up. Their walk up on the  auction block, the way the amateur actors convey the doom of parting from family is heart-rending. This is easily the hardest scene in the play and it is very moving.


Tom and Huck save the day by duping the two conmen, the King and The Duke (played deliciously deviously by August Abatecola andJoey Sanzaro) when Tom realizes Susan Wilkes (played most innocently and virtuously by Melanie Burg who sings You Oughta Be Here With Me)


For a production that features many youth of the area,  delivering at once flawlessly, (with pretty good articulation for young actors and actresses), a historical perspective on America’s shame of slavery, an era of youth innocence, and the strong roots of Black music in America, Big River is a satisfying first production in the first of many Westchester Broadway Black History Month productions in Februaries to come.



Anthony Malcar as Huck with FaTye as Jim


 


BIG RIVER plays February 15 and 16 at 11:15 A.M.; The 17th and 18th at 6:15 P.M.; the 19th at 11:15 A.M. and 5:15 P.M.; the 23rd at 11:15 A.M. and  6:15 P.M.; the 24th at 6:15 P.M.; the 25th at 6:15 P.M. and closes Sunday the 26th with an 11:15 A.M. performance. For more information go to www.broadwaytheatre.com, www.facebook.com/BigRiverMusical . Or call the WBT at 914-592-2268

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Looking at the Long, Tall Lean Guy from Illinois

WPCNR’s The Daily Bailey. By John F. Bailey. February 12, 2012 Retrieved from the WPCNR ARCHIVES.


Today marks the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, whose Presidential performance during the Civil War (1861-1865) was perhaps the most admirable of any American President. He had to create things as he went, dealing with a complex political issue: slavery, while deciding to fight a war to preserve a divided nation.



How did Abraham Lincoln handle pressure and political opportunists? He did not have press agents and spinmasters and talk show hosts and superior punditry critiquing his every move and loading him up with advice.


Though he did have the “crusading editors” and “editorial boards” of his day. Let’s take a look at the Big Guy from Illinois


In the days of Lincoln, media coverage was simply print media, however, the amount of reporting on the burning issues of the day was far more detailed than today with dozens of newspapers presenting the chronicles of burning issues. For Lincoln’s presidency was the presidency of the nation’s greatest crisis in its eighty-five year history:


The Civil War.


It is interesting to note how President Lincoln conducted himself in dealing with America’s interests, its factions, pulling him to free the slaves.

When Lincoln was running for the Presidency in 1860 at the Republican Convention in riproaring Chicago, he was up against James Seward, a powerful New York politician. However, the western states at the time were highly distrustful of the New York political machine. Lincoln won over support by taking a position of what was good for the nation as a whole.

Taking a Position and Working To it

Lincoln first gave notice of his potential for the Presidency when he impressed Horace Greeley, influential editor of the New York Tribune with a fiery speech at the Cooper Union in February, 1860, delivering a sharp criticism of the South, hard on the heels of South Carolina’s secession from the Union. The speech included these words,

You say you will not abide the election of a Republican President. In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! (The northern states) That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”

Greeley printed the speech in his Tribune the next day, scooping the other New York papers, by simply asking Lincoln for a copy of the speech. The subsequent printing in the popular Trib, sent Mr. Lincoln on his way. As William Harlan Hale’s biography of Mr. Greeley (Horace Greeley: Voice of the People)describes the scene at “The original Trib’s” offices, as remembered by Amos Cummings, a young proofreader:

Amos Cummings, then a young proofreader, remembered the lanky westerner appearing over his shoulder amid the noise of the pressroom late at midnight, drawing up a chair, adjusting his spectacles, and in the glare of the gaslight reading each galley (of the Cooper Union speech) with scrupulous care and then rechecking his corrections, oblivious to his surroundings.

A Comeback President

Lincoln had been a highly successful politician from Illinois in the 1830s and 1840s. He was three times elected to the state legislature, and The Kunhardts’ The American Presidency reports he was “a recognized expert at forming coalitions…he learned how to keep secrets, how to trade favors, how to use the press to his advantage. And he cultivated his relationship with the party hierarchy.”

Graff’s book writes that Lincoln was described as “ruthless,” that he “handled men remotely like pieces on a chessboard.” Humor and frankness were character traits.

Lincoln was elected a congressman, only to serve just one term.

Lincoln had been practicing corporate law privately and had lost interest in politics by 1854, until the repeal of The Missouri Compromise, which had restricted slavery to the southern states. Lincoln felt stirred to come back. He spoke out against the spread of slavery, running for the senate in 1858 against William Douglas, unsuccessfully.

Saving the Union His Mantra

As the furor over slavery and the South’s threats to secede grew, a crisis of spirit and purpose in this nation which makes today’s concerns about terrorism as a threat to America, pale in comparison, Lincoln realized that the Union was the larger issue. He expressed this in response to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, an influential figure at the Republican (Whig) Convention in Chicago in 1860. Greeley was the kingmaker at the 1860 Chicago convention who eventually swung the western states for Lincoln, giving the man from Illinois the nomination on the third ballot over William Seward, the candidate of the Thurlow Weed “New York Machine.”

Greeley then tried to influence the President-Elect to free the slaves. (Lincoln was being lobbied by the still-powerful Weed-Seward faction to compromise with the southern states on the issue of slavery).

Standing Tall Against Pressure.

Lincoln refused to free the slaves as one of the first acts of his presidency, standing firm to hold the union together, when he announced his attention not to do so, on his way to Washington after being elected. His words in this time of international tension, are worth remembering as America considers starting a war for the first time. Lincoln said:

I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy (the Union, he means), so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the single people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.

Seeing the Big Picture.

After Fort Sumter was fired upon, Lincoln was pressured harder to free the slaves. Still, Lincoln held firm. Mr. Greeley published a blistering open letter to the President, he called “The Letter of Twenty Millions,” meaning his readers (slightly exaggerated)in The New York Tribune. Greeley’s letter took the President to task for not freeing the slaves now that the Civil War was on, writing, “all attempts to put down the rebellion and at the same time uphold its inciting cause are preposterous and futile.”

President Lincoln responded with an open letter which Greeley published in The Tribune. President Lincoln’s letter is instructive as to how a President moves in crisis, when a nation is ripped apart to calm and state his position. He begins with a conciliatory tone, calming Greeley’s bombast:

…If there be perceptible in it (Greeley’s letter) an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

As to the policy I “seem to be pursuing,” as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution.

The sooner the national authority can be restored the nearer the Union will be – the Union as it was.

If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them.

If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them.

If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it – if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it – and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be new views.

I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free, Yours

A. Lincoln

Wearied by War

Horace Greeley described the toll the Civil War had taken on Mr. Lincoln, seeing him in person shortly beforeGeneral Lee surrendered. Greeley wrote:

Lincoln’s face had nothing in it of the sunny, gladsome countenance he first brought from Illinois. It is now a face haggard with care and seamed with thought and trouble…tempest-tossed and weatherbeaten, as if he were some tough old mariner who had for years been beating up against the wind and tide, unable to make his port or find safe anchorage…The sunset of life was plainly looking out of his kindly eyes.”



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FBI DETAILS FORMER SENATOR SPANO’S TAX EVASION ACTIVITIES RESULTING IN GUILTY PL




WPCNR FBI WIRE. Special to WPCNR from the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (EDITED) February 10, 2012:


Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Victor W. Lessoff, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (“IRS-CID”), and Janice K. Fedarcyk, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that former New York State Senator NICHOLAS A. SPANO pled guilty today in White Plains federal court to obstructing the ability of the IRS to assess and collect U.S. income taxes by filing fraudulent tax returns. This evening a news release revealed details of the former Senator’s tax evasion activities.


SPANO, 58, of Yonkers, New York, pled guilty to one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue Laws. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the crime.


According to the information and statements made during today’s proceeding in White Plains, here is what former Senator Spano did:


Background


NICHOLAS SPANO served as a New York State Senator for the 35th district, representing most of Westchester County, from 1987 until 2006. In that capacity, SPANO was responsible for voting on and approving the operating budget for New York State, a portion of which included funding for the Office of General Services (“OGS”).


In 1993, a White Plains-based insurance company began paying SPANO a $1,500 monthly fee to act as an outside consultant. In 1996, after the insurance company was awarded a lucrative contract by OGS to become the broker of record for New York State, the payments increased to $5,000 per month. The payments were subsequently increased to $6,000 per month in 1999 and $8,333.33 (or $100,000 per year) in 2002. The payments stopped in 2008 when the insurance company ceased to be OGS’s broker of record.


The payments from the insurance company were paid through various corporate entities controlled by SPANO, including ONAPS, Inc. which later changed its name to HVM Corp. ONAPS had no employees or offices and was used almost exclusively to receive money paid to SPANO by the insurance company.


Spano’s Concealment of Income


From 2000 through 2008, SPANO engaged in a scheme to impede and impair the due administration of the Internal Revenue Laws by filing false federal income tax returns that falsely characterized income he received from the insurance company and other sources to unlawfully reduce his tax burden.


During the relevant time period, SPANO wrote checks that totaled more than $180,000 from HVM to a real estate holding company he owned, 221 Ridge Ave. Corp, which owned a two-family rental property in Yonkers, New York. The checks were for non-existent rental expenses. SPANO falsely advised his tax return preparer that HVM conducted business at 221 Ridge Avenue, had an office at that location, and paid rent to the holding company. As a result, HVM deducted more than $180,000 in false and fraudulent rental expenses on its tax returns.


In 2004, SPANO also failed to report to the IRS a $45,000 commission he received from the sale of a building to a White Plains real estate developer, and between 2005 and 2006, failed to report cash rental payments he received from residential real estate tenants.


* * *


Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “Former Senator Nicholas Spano is the latest in a regrettably long line of lawmakers turned lawbreakers. When elected officials put padding their pockets above the law, they tarnish our government and undermine people’s faith in their public servants. We will not tolerate this conduct and will continue to aggressively prosecute those who engage in it.”


IRS Acting Special Agent in Charge Victor W. Lessoff stated: “Public officials, whether elected or appointed, hold positions of trust in the eyes of the public. That trust is broken when these officials commit crimes. Public officials do not get free passes to ignore the tax laws and they will still be held accountable after they leave office. IRS-CI works to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. “


FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk stated: “We hope that our elected representatives hold themselves to a higher standard. At a minimum, the people of New York have the right to expect that lawmakers will not be lawbreakers.”


SPANO will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel on June 11, 2012, at 3:30 p.m.


Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding work of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI in the investigation.


This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Perry A. Carbone, Jason P.W. Halperin, and Cynthia Dunne are in charge of the prosecution.

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Spano Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion in White Plains Federal Court

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. At the U.S. District Court House today. Special to WPCNR from Westchester County Roving Correspondent, Nancy King. February 10, 2012:

 


Former Senator Nick Spano surrendered in Federal Court Friday on tax evasion charges.  Originally scheduled to appear at 10:30 a.m., Spano arrived at court about 45 minutes early and was in an unmarked car.



Waiting for Spano. Media Assembled for former Senator Nick Spano’s arraignment today in White Plains.


Earlier in the morning, United States Attorney’s Office spokesperson Herbert Hadad said that Spano had turned himself in at the FBI’s district office on Bloomindale Road in White Plains. Prior to this statement,Hadad had only released a brief statement on Thursday evening that said “a proceeding of interest in a public corruption matter” would be taking place on Thursday morning before Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith.   As this was taking place, Leonard Spano, the former senator’s brother said that his brother (Nick) would be making a short statement following the surrender.


As of around 11:15 a.m. Spano had indeed been arraigned  by Justice Cathy Seibel.  He was ordered held on $100,000.00 bond which was co-signed by his brother former Westchester County Clerk Leonard Spano. At 10:45 a.m. Spano plead not guilty as a formality to the charge of obstructing and impeding the administration of Internal Revenue Laws.  As expected, he appeared before  Magistrate Lisa Smith. By 11:45 the plea of guilty was entered and Spano  was released on bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11th.


The details of his plea deal were unclear at the present time but is believed to include 12 to 18 months of prison time.  Half of that sentence could be completed while at home.  It is also up to a judge to decide if there would be any prison sentence at all.  During a break in the courtroom proceedings, Spano joined the large contingent of media present and chatted  with them.


When he finally addressed all of the media, Spano said that he was ready and willing to take responsibility for his actions.  His brother, Mayor Mike Spano also issued a statement that re-iterated that “This is a very difficult time for our family”.  He also hoped that they would be able to put this behind them and that Nick Spano would once again be able to serve others. 


Nick Spano ,once one of the most powerful men in New York State, spent 28 years in the Senate legislature rising to the position of Assistant Senate Majority Leader.   In 2006 he was edged out of his senate seat by Democrat Andrea Stewart Cousins.  Since then, Spano has returned to Albany as a lobbyist.  He is the principal with Empire Strategic Planning whose client list includes, Yonkers Raceway,CityCarting,a branch of the Capelli enterprises, the Westchester County Police Department and the Westchester County corrections Officers unions. 


Today’s turn of events  have  been rumored for months here in Westchester.  There were unconfirmed reports of Spano being seen in and about lower Manhattan as questioning of former Spano aide Anthony Mangone , former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi and former Yonkers GOP leader Zehy Jerais were preparing for their trial on federal corruption charges.  That trial is expected to begin on Tuesday February 14th.


Whether Mangone’s cooperation with Federal authorities had anything to do with today’s charges has yet to be revealed. Mr. Spano’s lobbying firm was instrumental in in getting the Ridge Hill project in Yonkers developed.  Forest City Ratner, the developer of Ridge Hill was a client of Spano’s.  Former City Council member Sandy Annabiis charged with accepting bribes to change her vote in order to move the project forward.


WPCNR.com will continue to follow this story as it unfolds.


(Editor’s Note:) News of Nick Spano’s intention to plead guilty on tax evasion charges was first reported by New York Times reporters William Rashbaum and Danny Hakim early Thursday evening. The reporters quoted Mr. Spano’s lawyer,Richard Levitt as saying Spano would appear in Federal District Court in White Plains this morning and plead guilty to “failing to avoid more than $45,000 in income from 2000 to 2008.


WPCNR tax experts estimate this to mean Mr. Spano did not report approximately $150,000 in income.


The Times reported Mr. Levitt as saying Spano didn’t report a $45,000 “commission” he got on a real estate transaction; he reported deductions for a corporation he owned for rental expenses for an office he did not have; he failed to report “cash rental payments” from tenants in a building he owned in Yonkers.


Ms. King reports no details of the principles or actions involved in these situations Levitt described were revealed in the court proceedings today.

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