WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By Judith Higgins On the Aisle November 10, 2003: For one night this year, White Plains wasn’t 45 minutes from Broadway. Broadway was here. Broadway Salutes White Plains, part of the “kickoff weekend” of the White Plains Performing Arts Center brought 17 volunteer stars to the stage of the new theater.
Even in the back row you could hear, and we were in the back row. There were some beautiful moments. There was something for everyone.
There were beautiful moments with Anna Maria Andracais, singing Beauty and Beast, and a song from Les Miserables.
The biggest voice of the evening went to a Mr. William Michals doing The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha.
Neil Berg, a super pianist and composer, described in the program “as one of the most successful and up-and-coming young composers of today,” was the principle accompanist for most of the acts. He was terrific. He had flying fingers. Accompaniment consisted of Mr. Berg, a guitarist, and a drummer. They backed up most acts, but not all.
There was one number called Throw That Girl Around from the show Swing that used recorded music. They were a very cute couple…a real crowd pleaser, Katie Boyle and Robert Royston, who doubled as emcee. They delighted the audience. It was great dancing, it really was.
The production was simple. The stage was bare practically, and you sort of depended on the talent, and the talent varied very greatly, I’ll have to say that. They had some pretty girls who couldn’t sing. But these two numbers Throw That Girl Around and Boggie Woogie Country, both from Swing were great dancing.
A performer named Jordan Rudess performed a virtuoso piano solo.
Older people there wanted to hear more familiar music. Some of the music was not too familiar if you do not go to the theatre often, which I don’t.
There was just one spotlight. Robert Royston, the Emcee complained once the spotlight did not follow him around. It didn’t bother anyone very much.
The audience was there to be pleased and they were. All the city fathers were there, with local people like Jo Falcone and Chauncey Walker, people of that nature. There were a lot of out of town people there.
The lasted two hours, straight through, no intermission. The emcee, Mr. Royston, was not domineering.
It was a perfect evening.
It was a very good, welcoming audience but a quiet audience. The only noisy people were ones cheering for Danny Zolli singing Scenes from an Italian Restaurant from a show called Moving Out. The way they screamed I had a feeling they were family.
On the whole the performers were a classy group. They all joined in and sang God Bless America at the end. It was amazing for them to come up for nothing. The program showcased them, and maybe they’ll be working up here one day.
Mayor Joseph Delfino was pumping for a Season Subscription to the White Plains Performing Arts Center that includes Ambassador Satch, (December 6 to 21), Fashion (March 20- April 4, 2004 ) and My Cousin’s Wedding (May 1 to 16, 2004). No new productions were announced. There was only one problem with the theatre, the ladies room has only four booths.
Trotters was offering a prix fix Theater Special for dinner at $37 plus tax before the show, and invited theatre goers to join them for dessert and coffee afterwards. We went to DG’s for dinner, which wasn’t bad.
The Mayor stopped me after the show and said “You’ve just witnessed a great night in the history of White Plains,” and chucked me under the chin, he hasn’t chucked me under the chin in some years.
