THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

 

WPCNR  DANCIN IN THE AISLES. By John F. Bailey. April 28, 2008: Saturday night  was the most unusual concert  The 5th Dimension has experienced in their 43-year recording and performing career – according to founding member, Florence LaRue. Speaking to WPCNR backstage she said the group had never gone on without musical scores,  or their elegant costumes,  but the show had to go on with or without the music – the sheet music that is.

5th Dimension Takes the Stage Saturday Night, Taking a Full House Up Up and Away at Westco’s Latest Gold Star Concert!

 Let me set the scene for you: at the Westco Productions “happening” at Tarrytown Music Hall Saturday, staged by Westchester’s First Lady of Theatre, Susan Katz, an audience of over 700 waited.  It was approaching 9 PM and Ms. LaRue and her “Dimensionaires”  —  were waiting for their music.

At  that moment, speeding across I-287, was Ms. Katz’s co-producer, Peter Katz ,on a mission to and from LaGuardia Airport to get the legendary group’s music.  American Airlines had lost the case of sheet music  as well as the  Dimension’s  elegant limegreen  suits and costumes due  to the massive cancellation of flights from heavy weather Friday in the middlewest .

The Dimension improvised on  costumes — having T-shirts made reading “London Paris Rome TARRYTOWN”  (destined to be collector’s items), which were an instant hit with the audience when the group appeared on stage. But it was a question whether the Dimension musicians would have to play backup from memory. Would the music get there before they were to hit the stage?

As Mr. Katz screeched into the back parking lot of the ancient Music Hall, racing in with the music – the band was prepared go play into the night without music. But, with the music in hand and tension gone the 5th Dimension hit the stage with the audience warmed up laughed out and feeling great thanks to opener-upper comic Billy Garan – the Dimension gave Tarrytown all they had.

 

Getting Acquainted: Westco Concerts held in Westchester’s beautiful traditional theatres like Tarrytown Music Hall, bring out interesting reactions from the artists. Here The 5th Dimension get acquainted with the audience. Florence LaRue, original Dimension member , is second from left.

The group was introduced and  bounded  out with their first song drowned in applause. Rapport with the audience was immediate and the crowd entered another dimension in space and time – The 5th Dimension.

The  Dimension sang for 90 minutes straight delivering 14 gold records, and favorites that evoked the emotions of those changin’ times, their voices and harmony stronger,  more emotional and as meaningful, perhaps more meaningful than when they first became hits in the 1965-1975 era.  Their intro song all but drowned out by the applause, they shifted into a Motown records classic – My Girl –  complete with a nostalgic coordinated “Temptations” shuffle moves by Ms. LaRue’s  backup boys — then launched into Up, Up and Away first big single and the audience  was winging away feeling the freedom , the high of those years when that song just made you feel good.

 

The 5th Dimension — 1960s — Florence LaRue is pictured at lower right of this publicity still. Today’s  Dimensions deliver a tight, personal show, as crisp as old Top 40 Radio – lead by the only original 5th Dimensioner – Florence LaRue, who was a Bronze Talent Award Winner in 1964. She’s perhaps even more beautiful today singing with an authoritative silky contralto with depth range and emotion that lifts you right out of your chair and makes you pay attention, baby.

 

From the warm start,  the audience  dug Wedding Bell Blues, Worst That Could Happen, Last Night I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All,  and MacArthur Park, they turned to a change of pace: 

Florence LaRue Today — Dancing with a member of the audience to Stoned Soul Picnic.

 

 Stoned Soul Picnic  turned into a dance contest, with Ms. LaRue going down into the audience, inviting former flower children to come up on stage and show their moves with her – and dance to the Dimension’s  upbeat treatment of their classic.  (You remember it, don’t you? “Come on and surrey down to the stoned soul picnic”). 

Audience dancing in the aisles.

She got the packed-in house moving, conjuring up memories of Richard Nader’s Rock N Roll revivals, and as I’ve written before of these popular Westco Gold Star Concerts, the Fillmore East. Only no one was lighting candles or smoking anything Saturday night. They were listening to the once and future, and still digging it.

After the spectacle of Stoned Soul Picnic, the group assumed stools and showed their mastery of moods with what I’ll call, the “Rain” medley – started off by Jamila Ajibade’s solo turn on It’s Raining Men

Then Ms. LaRue showed off her remarkable voice singing a portrait of  Stormy Weather that was a little Billie Holiday, a little Ella Fitzgerald, a little Lena Horne,  but uniquely Florence LaRue. Ms. LaRue’s sensitivity and depth  had the entire throng of upwards of 800 silent, rapt, reflective.

Ms. LaRue’s Stormy Weather was my favorite of the show and was a highlight of  a set of rain songs, that included Ms. Ajibade’s Raining Men,  Can’t Stop the Rain, Rain Keeps Falling on My Head. The difference between then and now is the group sings the songs with more depth and feeling, rich with the  wisdom of a full life, the understanding conveyed in the harmony and earnest manner the group delivers them. They sound just like those great 45s — only better.

Love Back to You — The group wrapped up the evening  with their perhaps most loved song, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In and it did!

This brought back an encore where Ms. LaRue and the group just did not seem to want to leave. Rarely have I seen an audience so on edge, ready for every song – as energetic in listening as the performers were in performing. This reporter has heard only one other group over the years who played for 90 minutes straight — The Ventures. The 5th Dimension showed the advantage of the continuous format, building and building the memories with each song. They made everyone feel so good!

King of the Two-Liners

The Katzes also gave the Goldies aficionados something completely different on this concert: A standup comic who is really funny – the Italian Henny Youngman, Billy Garan – king of the two-liners – Set up and punchline in 25 words or less and you laugh — guaranteed! A lot.

As Mr. Katz was flooring it from LaGuardia back to Tarrytown music case in hand containing the precious sheet music,  the new king of the one-liners 2008, comic Billy Garan fresh in from a gig in Atlantic City was convulsing the audience with his machine gun, New Yawk Italian wiseguy  stand up routine – sample: “I’m sorry  Rudy Giuliani didn’t get the nomination President, so we could have a President who can say, Go bomb Iran and make it look like an accident.”  There was not one dud.

 On and on his jokes  went about traffic, L.A. people being too nice, tolls, all jokes consisting of two lines – setup and punchline.  Like an Italian Henny Youngman, he went for 20 minutes,  then 30 minutes –  faster, funnier, cleverer than the Letterman – Leno – O’Brien legions of writers could ever be. He should be doing a talk show. 

Garan asked the audience if they wanted “More” They did – and then he gave us  his 4 minute version of Casablanca with him playing all the parts. Billy the joke gunner must have told  50 jokes. You cannot get more laughs for the money. You have to see him to believe him. But – Billy – please slow the lines down they’re all so darn funny – and you say them so fast – we hearing-impaired 60s types miss them. Give us a CD, please!

The Katzes  caught Billy’s act in Newport, Rhode Island, and decided due to the nature of the 5th Dimension show to add him as an opening act. Rarely have I laughed so much – without it being polite laughs executed by myself because a comedian no matter how bad or unfunny, you feel as an audience you have to titter or give a polite laugh even though comedians are not funny in the least

There was no need for that with Mr. G. Mr. Garan got thousands of genuine, oh did he really say that’s?  Gasps, grins and chuckles, yucks and howls of recognition—guffaws of truth – and belly laughs of shock.  Laugh out loud laughs. Lots of them. There are no false laughs in a Garan monolog.

Mr. Garan works casinos  from Las Vegas and points west and had just finished up a gig in Atlantic City, and gave Westchester some much needed laughs on what was a very bad week.

Westco’s Susie the K (Katz), left with The Fifth Dimension  and the legendary Florence LaRue, center…and Michael Mishaw, left, Jamila Ajibade, Ms. LaRue, Leonard Tucker, and Willie Williams.

Another feature of Westco’s Gold Star Concerts is the autograph and meet and greets with the artists. Here Ms. Larue and the gang sign for their fans after Saturday’s show. (You have to love those T-shirts…what an idea).  One Dimensioner told WPCNR after the show, that though he has been singing for 25 years, that he never gets tired of it. He loves it. It showed Saturday night.

The 5th Dimension is the latest in Westco’s Gold Star Concerts  the series invented  by Susan Katz two years ago that brings back groups so great they have never gone away. WPCNR has given her the sobriquet “Susie the K” —  in homage to the legendary DJ, Murray the K who staged concerts at the Brooklyn Paramount.

The lineup to come includes Jefferson Starship with Grateful Dead pianist Tom Constanten September 27; The New Christy Minstrels October 5; The Turtles October 25 and one I know all of you fraternity brothers have been waiting for – Eric Burden and The Animals on November 16.

However, we have to do something about the dress code. At the next Gold Star Concert – bring those cigarette lighters – and could we see some tie-dyed dresses, ladies, please, and men – a few leather jackets?  For information to score ducats, go to www.westcoproductions.org. Or dial 914-761-7463

Remember, children — it’s Peace, Love, and music,  not  lawyers, guns and money.  

 

 

 

 

 

WPCNR ON THE AISLE. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. April 25, 2008 UPDATED With Pix:  As the blue hues of  designer Herrick Goldman’s virtuoso lights transform WPPAC’s magic “How to Succeed” set into soaring corporate windows above a city street, revealing Matt Wilson as J. Pierrepont Finch reading “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” White Plains Performing Arts Center patrons buy  into this rip-roaring madcap screwball comeback of the 1961, 1,417-performance  comedy musical– one of only four dramas to win a Pulitzer Prize, running from 1961 through 1965.

Matt Wilson cajoles, plots, and powers his way to the top — hilariously — in WPPAC’s revival of “How to” Photos, Courtesy, White Plains Performing Arts Center

Friday evening’s White Plains Performing Arts Center revival of  “How to Succeed” proves  once a great show – always a great show – for all time.

 

 The ingratiatingly obsequious Matt Wilson is an endearing, conniving, plotting  charmer of a young man who uses a book to advance from mailroom to top of a company – and delivers comic lines with a comedian’s timing.

The Big 4 of “How To:”  (Counter Clockwise from lower right): Patricia Noonan as Rosemary, Matt Wilson as the ubiquitous Finch, Nicholas Wyman as the stuffy Mr. Biggley, and Jill Abramovitz as Hedy

The wholesome brunette Patricia Noonan, in her third WPPAC assignment, is the marriage-minded young secretary, Rosemary. She wants to live with Finch in “New Rochelle” where she’d  be Happy to Keep his Dinner Warm. She dazzles the stage every scene she’s in.   The young lady’s rich coloratura soprano voice, is multi-faceted as a diamond. Her Doris Day (there’s a time-reference) innocence fills the little theatre from her first song Keep His Dinner Warm – to her comic enthrallment with her Paris Original – (an ode to the sheath dress of the 50s), to her duet with Mr. Wilson on Rosemary – a satiric send-up of Maria from West Side Story.

Ms. Noonan has a  Mermanesque sense of the comedic.  She demonstrates this when she sings of the slinky cocktail dress she is wearing to the company reception for the new Advertising V.P. – only to be shocked when she sees the other ladies of the stenopool.  We’ll let you guess what that shock is – and the resultant mass number by all the secretaries in a hissyfit is a hoot.

Nicholas Wyman is J.B. Biggley, the president of World Wide Wicket Company, filling the Rudy Vallee role of the original production wonderfully, from his argyle socks, to his golfer’s outfit – to his pomposity.  Highlight of the first act is when Wyman and Wilson mug and sing the Grand Old Ivy fight song – Groundhog, Groundhog.  Finch uses “college ties” to ingratiate himself with Mr. Biggley. Wyman reminds me of Gale Gordon  (of Our Miss Brooks) in his demeanor and certain CEOs we’ve seen at press conferences around town.

Lurking like a Woody Allen  type as a roadblock to Finch’s trip to the top is Ron DeStefano , as Bud Frump,  the nephew of President Biggley who sees Finch as a threat.  A running story line in the show is how Frump, (like the Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon), attempts to embarrass  and discredit Finch only to have Finch cleverly turn the tables in surprise ways. DeStefano’s smarmy plotting, furtive as a weasel, creative as a lawyer, and his cackling and delight in his own cleverness is hilarious.

Ms Noonan is finally brought together with Finch for their first date in front an elevator bank in a clever number, It’s been a Long Day.  Here Mr. Wilson, Ms. Noonan and Linda Gabler as the wisecracking steno mother hen, Smitty,  sing what Finch is thinking, what Rosemary is thinking, and what Smitty is thinking – and it is so real life about how you thought about dating in the office fifty years ago—well it was just cute. The timing and character interplay on this song is just spot-on.

I cannot say enough about Director Eleanor Reissa’s whipping this cast into delivering crowd-pleasing big production numbers in this show and they come out you one after another in the hour and 20 minute first act — that grabs your attention, never lets you go, and keeps that smile on your face. A tip of the CitizeNetReporter fedora to choreographer Lorin Latarro for the inspiring high energy spectaculars. j

Just when you think there can be nothing left in Act Two to entertain – just a quick wrap up — you’re wrong.

The show is worth seeing alone for the first big super number, No Coffee. That’s Ron DeStefano as the icky Bud Frump, Finch’s rival discovering there’s “No coffee!?!” This repawta remembers the coffee wagon — do you?

The next number that’s a must see is The Company Way, where Finch is taught the company philosophy by the mailroom head. This number about toeing the company line is followed by A Secretary is Not a Toy.

You must remember — A secretary is not a toy! Jill Abramowtiz as Hedy makes her grand entrance in Act One.

This ode, relative to today’s sexual harrassment  worries, comes about after the appearance of the redoubtable, brassy blonde  Hedy Larue, overplayed perfectly by the unique Jill Abramovitz – who just happens to have been promised a job by Mr. Biggley.

Abramovitz has some of the best crackup lines in the play and she delivers  them perfectly getting laugh out loud guffaws from the audience.

As Finch washes the windows of the Worldwide Wicket Company,  the narrative voice of David Hyde Pierce speaks wisdom to the young man, and How to Succeed succeeds immediately  and carries  Mr. and Mrs. White Plains through 2 hours and 20 minutes of laugh after laugh, spiffy Bob Fosse-inspired choreography, and wonderfully devious subplots in a typical American Corporation brought the sharply-directed, enthusiastic, high energy ensemble a 2 minute standing ovation.

The musical original starred Robert Morse as Finch and Rudy Vallee as President J.B. Biggley, and is staged  through the magic of lighting, and an intricate sliding set that creates a  21^st century corporate style. There is a contemporary feel  that explores the culture of the American Corporation of 50 years ago set in the New York of today. Though the costumes are distinctly circa 1960.  The musical could start a fashion trend.

“How to” creates it all just as yours truly remembers it: the executive washroom, the stenography pool, the personnel department, golf, old school ties, competition among executives, are spoofed with laugh-out-loud jokes and realities of the business world are lampooned in outstanding ensemble numbers. The spirit of get-ahead of the other guy competition is demonstrated – creating the “innocent” strive for success style of the 50s and 60s.This is farce, satire, and pokes fun unmercifully at the corporate life.

The period anthropology of this musical is superbly demonstrated by the executive washroom  scene where Mr. Wilson sings a love song to himself  – I believe in you – while his 3-button suit competitors sing “Got to Stop that Man.” In it Wilson compares himself to the “Slam, Bang Tang of a shaker of gin and vermouth” – for you young whipper snappers out there – that is a martini.

It is so rare to see a musical where every scene is a keeper.

The second act tops the first with Ms. Noonan being persuaded to “keep the Prince” – (Finch) – when she decides to leave him because he is not paying attention to her now that she is his new secretary.

The Cinderella Darling number with Ms. Gabler, Ms. Noonan, Delaine Andrzejewsi, Jessica Bircann, Stephanie Nicole Carter,Elinor Harrison, singling “Hallelujia” at key times, will make women of today flinch, but it captures the 50s attitude that women had in business very right on.  By this time Finch has worked up to Vice President of Advertising and is about to make a major presentation.

Shortly thereafter Hedy gives the President  an ultimatum that she either gets a better job because “she’s stranded in the steno pool with no big fish to bail me out.” (With those killer legs of hers, she is worth bailing out). This takes Biggley aback and here in this picture, Mr. Wyman delivers a rich baritone love song Love From a Heart of Gold that is another highlight.

From a repawta who was an advertising man in another life, I salute Mr. Wilson’s presentation of the big ad campaign to promote Worldwide Wickets on television that Mr. Wilson delivers – making great laugh use of a balloon. The use of advertising jargon in this musical is spot-on. Take it from a man who was there in the 60s when advertising was king.

This leads into a spectacular television commercial featuring Hedy, Ms. Abramovitz as the irrepressible incendiary Blonde – The Worldwide Wicket Treasure Girl – a dance number by the Wickers and Wickettes  with a terrific emcee played with Ed Herlihee–Bert Parks panache by Doug Trapp. I have to say all the players deliver excellent cameo bits and are to be commended.

In the finale, with Finch’s job on the line due to an indiscretion by Ms. Abramovitz on live television, Finch once again saves the day.

There is one great continuing bit throughout this show: whenever Finch succeeds,  a mastery of light and timing trick guarantees a laugh every time. You’ll discover this gem when you see the show.

You’re going to like the way you feel after this show.

Sets – Executive Producer Jack Batman’s scenic designer Vicki Davis  has created an ingenious sliding set combining with Lighting Designer Herrick Goldman’s mastery of hues to create men’s rooms, mailrooms, boardrooms, spectacular cityscapes,  all with the urban style of today. What Goldman has done with the lighting is spectacular. This is the magic of theatre at its best – something sorely missing during the first three years of WPPAC’s existence, that Mr. Batman, the man with the unlimited expense account is bringing back big time.

White Plains Performing Arts Center’s “How to” is easily their best production they have ever mounted.  Jack Batman the new Executive Producer on a rescue mission here continues to put out a professional Broadway style product that more people should be coming out to see.  Either the marketing mix is not right, they’re advertising in the wrong places or the wrong way, or the Westchester audience is not as sophisticated as it likes to think it is. This is good stuff!

You have through May 11 to catch this great revival. For less than the price of a tank of gas  you can see Broadway in White Plains. Every darn bit as good. It’s a show you can take the children to. The laughs are non-stop. It’s funnier than any movie you can see next door. You never feel bad once. I cannot remember when I have laughed more at a show. See it. Tell your friends.

 You’re gonna love the way it makes you laugh.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying runs through May 11 at White Plains Performing Arts Center. It runs 2 hours and 20 minutes  with a 20 minute intermission. For the box office, go online to www.wppac.com, or call 914-328-1600