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 FRONT ROW LOGE.  Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. August 22, 2010:

 

 A tropical storm pounded the roof of the Westchester Broadway Theatre Sunday evening, but it was no match for the storm of emotions, energy, and passion blasted at the audience like WABC MUSICRADIO last night by the young and “into it” cast of the Theatre’s Rent revival last night.

 

 

There are no trendy restaurants on the Avenue B of Rent. What we have is Roger (above), played with haunting, twisted anxiety by  Mark Ayesh who deliver anguish like scratched glass (that’s a compliment) trying to write One Song Glory before he dies. His pal, the filmmaker,  Mark, played by Andy Kelso,  sets the scene for us,with a series of phone calls in song, we learn the mogul who owns the hideous building they live in wants the Rent, one year’s worth.

 

The company belts into the title-song, with the chorus, “How we gonna pay last year’s rent,” and during the opening title song you have to listen carefully as each of the characters’ problems, (Collins, Benny, Maureen, Mark, Joanne) are explained – it is bittersweet funny— laments and bravado echo against the black brick wall– the wall of the tomb where their living bodies are living in the despair their choices have made. But it’s fun!

 

Rent, the Best Musical of 1996 Tony Award winner  musical/operatta retelling of La Boheme, book, music and lyrics by White Plains High School graduate Jonathan Larson portrays the vivid, colorful, and not so vivid and downright painful world of the creative artists and the down and out of the East Village of the 1960s.

 

This operetta (every word is sung) drops Mr.and Mrs. Westchester into the world of struggling songwriters, filmmakers, entertainers, and their pals, junkies, pimps, prostitutes and street dealers – sort of a Guys and Dolls of the 90s with a hard edge, and yes their struggle against the establishment. However this is also the story about the toll street life, the night life, the life of poor choices takes in the rough streets of any times.

 

Ayesh comes into his own with what I felt was the best sung song of the hour and a half first act, One Song Glory, picking away, Roger the former rock star, now dying a little each day, sings,

O

ne song to leave behind
Find one song
One last refrain
Glory
From the pretty boy front Man
Who wasted opportunity
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory

 

It is the story of the show, how our own choices when they turn out wrong hurt us forever, but they should not be reasons for society to reject an individual. Each of the tortured people you meet in Rent has a sad sad story to tell but there but for the grace of God go you or I.

 

 

Mimi the prostitute, played with power, passion and range with body by Steena Hernandez  asks Roger for shelter from the cold. They also do I Should Tell You at the stunning close of the first act, Hernandez steals the show with Ayesh on their duet Light My Candle when she seeks shelter from the cold from Roger who is feeling sorry for himself and throws her out. It is  the beginnings of that ill-fated romance.  Another  gay couple Angel (Justin Senense) and Collins(are another romantic thread and they combine on a sensitive  I’ll Cover You

 

Hernandez at a building party on Christmas Eve, the first act takes over the stage with a sensational Out Tonight,

 

Let’s go out tonight
I have to go out tonight
You wanna play?
Let’s run away
We won’t be back before it’s Christmas day
Take me out tonight (meow)

When I get a wink from the doorman
Do you know how lucky you’ll be?
That you’re on line with the feline of Avenue B

 

 

Maureen, (Sara Ruzicka) another pop singer down on her luck due to a habit,  who stole Mark’s girlfriend Joanne is the topic of   Tango Maureen as Mark points out to Joanne  how Maureen manipulates people:

 

‘At least I’ll have tangoed at all’
The Tango Maureen
Gotta dance till your diva is through
You pretend to believe her
Cause in the end — you can’t leave her
But the end it will come
Still you have to play dumb
Till you’re glum and you bum
And turn blue

 

Throughout the first act, the nitty gritty of the East Village (where a Westchester boy like me never went in the 60s) is played out in vignettes of attempted muggings, proprietary power struggles, and the point of these cameos of conflict is to put across this is what people have to do to survive. They should not be looked down on for it, not pitied, but perhaps helped – what a concept!  You could easily update it to the day laborer situation today, or foreclosed homeowners.

 

The first act concludes with a dinner party where Maureen performs a hilarious spoof of the singer Janis Joplin in her spotlight performance, Over the Moon, and all the misfits of Avenue B confront their landlord

 

The Second Act opens with the famous song Seasons of Love

 

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes – how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

 

The Second Act finds  the various lovers despite their flaws and failures come to their respective fates which win the audience over. WPCNR was unable to stay for Act II due to a commitment, but then I cannot tell you how it ends anyway.

 

Rent is spectacle. Its pace breathless. It’s loud, rocky(some really great signature rock and roll backbeats), sensitive, outrageous and comes at you with raw emotions that really get into your heart, but it is not maudlin or sentimental in any way. Here is a show that confronts you, setting the tone for many of the very unique musicals of today: Next to Normal and Rock of  Ages, come to mind.  It is not subtle, but like the street life it seeks to portray is in your face, just like the show is.

 

The choreography (and Direction) by Patricia Wilcox was inventive with singers and choristers leaping and jumping everywhere – by far the most energetic show WBT has staged in some time.

 

The sound system needs some adjustment because at times the words were hard to discern they were sung so fast and there was distortion. In fact the show comes at you so rapid fire your head spins trying to concentrate. But, this will probably be adjusted.

 

Jonathan Larson wrote the book, music and lyrics for Rent over eight years, and ironically died just before the show opened  Larson also wrote  Superbia and tick, tick…BOOM! And songs for Sesame Street. 

 

Rent  though, is his One Play Glory.

 

RENT only plays WBT for one month through September 25, so I suggest you call the box office 914-592-2222, and pick your dates or go to www.broadwaytheatre.com

 

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WPCNR THE PARKING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. August 21, 2010:

 

White Plains residents can no longer count on “automatic” permission from police to park overnight on White Plains Streets between 2 and 6 A.M, simply by calling in the car’s license number to the police.

 

The White Plains Department of Public Safety is no longer guaranteeing that residents who call the Police Department requesting  permission to take advantage of the long-standing practice requesting permission for overnight guests or whatever reason to park a car on the street overnight will have their requests granted, Police Chief James Bradley confirmed in a written statement to WPCNR Saturday morning.

 

The Chief in a statement, said the new policy  is due to “overwhelming” requests for a waiver of the No Parking between 2 and 6 A.M. experienced by the police lately.

 

 

WPCNR received a report from a resident who was seeking permission for a friend of theirs who was they reported unable to drive. The resident said they were told by the police officer they spoke with, that residents no longer had the option of requesting permission to park a car on the street overnight, no matter what the circumstances.

 

WPCNR went to Police Chief James Bradley to clarify the policy since WPCNR knows of persons who did receive permission to park over night within the last three weeks.

 

The answer is you may or may not be granted permission depending on the circumstances. And if you do not receive permission you may receive a $25 Ticket. The reason, according to Police Chief James Bradley is the Department of Public Safety Night Desk is being “overwhelmed” with such requests recently.

 

The new policy: A pass on Overnight Parking will only be granted for “unexpected” emergencies.

 

According to Chief Bradley:

 

   “We are advising callers that exceptions to the ordinance are for unexpected emergencies.

 

We have been overwhelmed with callers who are not aware of that and believe the call itself guarantees that a summons will not be issued. We also try to point out the availability of legal parking in the area of the caller.

    We have been receiving calls from residents and neighborhood associations about uneven enforcement.

 

We understand that unexpected events will necessitate our assistance and we will continue to work with our residents and certainly we would not direct an incapacitated driver to move their vehicle. “

 

The ordinance forbidding parking on the street between 2 and 6 A.M. was originally put into affect to keep streets clear of cars for snow removal. For years residents have been able to call the police Department Front Desk on an evening and  give a license number of a vehicle requesting perfmission. When this reporter has asked for it, usually for overnight guests, or a vehicle breakdown in a rare circumstance, it has always been granted.

 

Residents should be advised that this is now no longer the case, and should not “count” on it.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS WEEK NEWS. August 22,2010:

 County Executive Rob Astorino appears on the city news round-up show, WHITE PLAINS WEEK, this week discussing the county’s latest budget situation.

 

County Executive Visits WHITE PLAINS WEEK, Talks Money, Housing Settlement negotiations, Playland Now at www.whiteplainsweek.com

Rob Astorino was interviewed by John Bailey, the CitizeNetReporter and Peter Katz, the noted ABC Television editor and commentator on Friday evening. The County Executive previewed the budget battle coming up, broke major news on Playland (he sid he would pledge to preserve the buildings now on the site), updated the situation on the county affordable housing settlement (currently county is negotiating how flexible the government guidelines are), and discussed the state of the county and what needs to be done, and how he expects to do it.

The program may be seen around the world on the White Plains Week news site at www.whiteplainsweek.com and on local television at 7 P.M. on Monday countywide on Verizon FIOS channel 45 and on Cablevision, Channel 76 (in White Plains only).

Viewers around the world know they may see Mr. Astorino discuss his fiscal strategy, the affordable housing settlement and what’s ahead on that issue, and reveal startling Playland news, and a look into the future on www.whiteplainsweek.com.

 

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. August 18, 2010: 

 

The Westchester County Board of Legislators leadership, Chairman Ken Jenkins and Democratic Majority Whip Legislator Judith Myers (Rye), said today they supported County Executive Rob Astorino’s initiative to see proposals for new ideas and usages for Playland Amusement Park in Rye.

 

Legislators announced plans to move forward on a lease agreement that would house the Westchester Childrens Museum at Playland.  Slated for soft openings in mid 2011, the Museum would occupy the building formerly housing the Playland Bathhouse.

 

WPCNR observes that the alterations to the bathhouse section where the museum would go has been substantially changed in design of the museum portion in the recent reconstruction that has taken away, in this reporter’s opinion, the “art deco” style that made the Playland Boardwalk a landmark.  

 

 

“At a time when budget cuts and the erosion of quality after-school youth programs are causing more people to seek out community-based alternative services within Westchester County, the Children’s Museum will be a vibrant, interactive, cultural institution for children and families, a dynamic resource for schools, a welcoming environment for special needs children, and a means to build tourism in the county,” said Chairman Jenkins.

 

The former Andy Spano Administration agreed to lease the newly repaired South Bathhouse at county expense for $1 a year, if the Museum could raise the money to build the interior and operate the museum. The Museum has raised $8 million so far and wants to raise $14 Million, and has spent $1.5 Million on building designs.

 

Legislator Myers, a staunch advocate for the Children’s Museum, supports the County Executive’s request for proposals for Playland because the time is right to make a change, however she won’t support anything that brings more traffic into the Rye residential neighborhood, nor any discussions that do not include Rye residents at the table, or anything that prohibits public access to the Long Island Sound.

 

“The Children’s Museum represents a community-wide investment in our children without spending any taxpayers money,” said Legislator Myers.  “Over 870,000 children under 11 years of age live within a 15-mile driving radius of our future site at Playland Park in Rye. Yet, Westchester has relatively few cultural resources designed specifically for children.  The Children’s Museum on the boardwalk would be a welcomed addition to the outdoor cafes that don’t interfere with boardwalk runners and walkers, to historic ‘Kiddyland’ for the very young, an Ice Casino for year-round skating, and a music tower for summer concerts. 

 

The Museum has begun educational programs with community groups as part of its operations. The lease for the museum is being developed for presentation to the Board’s Committees on Budget and Appropriation and Public Works, Parks, Labor and Transportation, chaired by Legislator Bill Ryan (of White Plains).

 

 

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WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. From The Mayor’s Office. August 16, 2010:

The new ImageCast Voting Machine (first introduced to the public two weeks ago on WHITE PLAINS WEEK),  will be available to the public for viewing and familiarizing in the City Hall Rotunda, 255 Main Street through August 26, 2010.

The ImageCast Voting Machine–see it, feel it, experience it at City Hall

The Westchester County Board of Elections has purchased these new machines to replace the mechanical voting machines used in the past. The mechanical voting machines will not used at all in the September 14 Democratic and Republicn Primaries, the November 2  General Election or in any future elections. Citizens can stop by city hall to familiarize themselves with White Plains — and the county’s new voting machine. A powerpoint presentation describing the voting process and the use of the machine will be available, as well as sample ballot and handouts.

City Hall is open 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Friday and Saturday morning. The machine may also be viewed at the Westchester County Center on Thursday September 9 from 7 to 9 P.M. and Sunday October 3 from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M.