The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Gotta Have Arts

Sweeping Sounds & an Engaging Story Line in ‘The Story Concert’

by

story-concert-photoThe show “fused classic children’s literature with the wonderfully dulcet tones of the Chappaqua Orchestra.”

By Matt Smith

Orchestra Photo by Carolyn Simpson

“There are a lot of personalities to deal with when you’re part of an orchestra. All the instruments are so different–strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion–but when the instruments play together, the orchestra is one big happy family.”

Such was the message emphasized to great effect at the second annual Story Concert held at Wallace Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. The event, sponsored in part by the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, fused classic children’s literature with the wonderfully dulcet tones of the Chappaqua Orchestra, under the baton of (who else?) composer extraordinaire Michael Shapiro.

story-concert-2
                                  

When I attended last year’s inaugural performance, I wrote that it was a delightfully moving experience that should not have been missed!! This year was no different, offering equally dynamic performances from musicians and narrators alike.

The melodious afternoon was kicked off in style with “The Tale of Custard the Dragon,” based on the popular poem by Ogden Nash, about a cowardly dragon who eventually steps up and saves the day when pirates attack.

With the sweeping sound, particularly of the violins, the composition, a sung-through recitation of the poem–by local musician (and HGHS grad!) Brad Ross (who, it should be noted, was in attendance at the event)–truly sounded as though it was plucked straight from a Broadway musical… fitting, as it was delivered (quite exceptionally, we may add!) by Main Stem alum Roger Seyer, late of such hits as Les Miz and Miss Saigon.

Of note, to add to the excitement and further engage the young kiddies in the audience, during breaks in the narration, Seyer would bound across the stage, acting out climatic moments within the story in full–a smart move on their part, which further enlivened what was no doubt an already stellar piece.

Following a short break, Paul Shaffer (yes, that Paul Shaffer), emerged from the wings (dressed as only he can) to narrate the second selection, “A Family for Baby Grand,” another composition by Ross, with a story by Sharon Dennis Wyeth (also in attendance at the event) which centers around a baby grand piano who breaks free from the antique shop in which she’s kept (the location of which is cleverly reworked to be Chappaqua… just to keep it familiar) and ventures out into the world to play in a first-rate orchestra.

Preceding the piece, Ross and Shapiro made it a point to mention that, in an effort to educate kids on all the moving parts of an orchestra, each instrument within the piece is given its own individual chance to shine. And shine they do!! Particularly notable standouts include the flourish of the piccolo, played by Rebecca Quigley, the oom-pah-pah of the tuba by Jonathan Greenberg, and of course, the grand piano of the title, whose ivories were tickled to perfection by Cynthia Peterson.

But while these individual instruments did indeed shine in their own right, to drive home the idea that everyone sounds better when they perform in unison, each section and set of instruments built on the previous one as the story went along–that is, after they have their solo moment, they’re added to the overall group. The result, as you may have guessed, is a rousing finale with the rich, resonant sound of all the instruments playing together in perfect harmony.

Furthermore, Shaffer attributed each character with its own voice–adding quirks and inflection to sound exactly what the instrument would sound like were it humanized–which, like in Seyer’s piece, added to the overall liveliness of the composition. You simply can’t beat it!

TCO Executive Director David Restivo, for one, concurs, stating: “The concert was a huge success [and] the orchestra never sounded better.” He also wishes to extend personal thanks to Shaffer, Seyer and Ross, whose contributions were indispensable (haha) to the outcome of the afternoon.

In addition to treating the audience with wonderful music and providing an escape from the blustery November afternoon, Restivo hopes “we were able to inspire the children to think about playing an instrument in the future or at least learn a little something about the orchestra itself.”

It seems to have worked–at least for some young audience members; as Restive mentions: “One of my good friends said his nephew was skeptical about coming to the concert – but left wanting to learn an instrument.”

Goal accomplished indeed! And with recurring events like these stellar concerts, hopefully, we can continue to drive the force of the importance of music home, and peak kids’ interest in music and the world around them–instilling them with the confidence to, as Mama Grand tells her baby in the afternoon’s second selection, “Be forte! Be pianissimo! Be grand!”

 The Wallace Auditorium is located within Chappaqua Crossing, at 480 Bedford Road in Chappaqua, just off of RT-117. Of note, the Story Concert will return in April 2017, with a performance of Peter and the Wolf, narrated by WQXR’s Elliott Forrest, and an original composition by Shapiro, featuring his “Babbling Orchestra.” For more information on these events and the orchestra itself, please visit www.chappaquaorchestra.org.

Matt Smith is a freelance writer based in Chappaqua. For further information or inquiry, visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com.

“Maybe Never Fell” Delves into Relationship Struggles

by

A Provocative New Play by Axial Theater Director Howard Meyer

By Matt Smith

Photos by Lynda Shenkman Curtis

“Goethe. There are passages in his books where he refers to ‘The Jew.’ An entire race of people summed up in two words. Can you imagine that today? The Black. The Muslim.”

I’m sure when playwright Howard Meyer initially wrote Maybe Never Fell, the brilliant new play now showing at the Axial Theatre in Pleasantville through Sunday, November 20th, he never intended it to premiere during such a tumultuous election season, let alone four days before the explosive reveal itself. Furthermore, if he’s like anyone in the rest of the world, it’s likely Meyer probably didn’t expect the outcome to be what it was. But given the result–and what’s transpired over the past week and a half (during which, mind you, this show has continued to play through)–this line, spoken by main character, the German-born Mattie, to American Jew Max, and the subject matter as a whole, are frighteningly more relevant today perhaps than ever before. maybe1

The storyline follows the 26-year-old German-born Mattie Schiller (the brilliant Sara Hogrefe), who’s been impregnated by American Jew Max Weber (a charming David Lanson), himself a lovelorn bachelor torn between his attraction to Mattie and ex-wife Rebecca, and plagued by the past actions of his ancestors, which makes it all the harder to align with his true cultural identity.

Deep stuff, indeed–and as director Jenn Haltman writes in the Director’s Note outlined on the first page of the program, “Digging into the ugliness that still lies beneath the surface is a hard thing to face up to.” That’s certainly true, and Meyer is completely unapologetic–indeed the subject matter is grim, straightforward, right in front of your face from the get-go–and there’s no escaping it, either, as it’s integral to the climax of the story.

What saves the piece, however, from being “just another rote history textbook lesson” (an expert move on Meyers’ part) is the interweaving of Mattie’s personal struggle (and on some level, Max’s, as well) alongside the historically true elements and events: she had had an abortion when she got pregnant at 15, by childhood best friend Gunther Holt (the hysterical Dominic Russo, who cleverly provides relevant comic relief, that comforts rather than distracts from the main action), and now struggles to come to terms with her new pregnancy by a man whom she fears will leave him eventually due to their religious differences and his newly proclaimed love for his ex-wife.

It’s a genius way of storytelling: it doesn’t hit us over the head with the historical elements, but still reminds us that it’s relevant, ever-present and lurking in the background ’til it’s used with passion and power in the final climatic scene. And at the same time the true revelation of Mattie’s and Max’s family history is revealed, Mattie simultaneously peaks within the story of her own struggle.

maybe2A tough task to pull off, no doubt, but, coupled with Meyer’s exquisite script, this cast does it effortlessly, with their top-notch performances blending perfectly with the others in each individual scene. As mentioned, Hogrefe’s Mattie is captivating from the moment the lights go up, channeling every emotion imaginable as she’s hit with multiple revelations throughout the course of the evening; Lanson offers a charming Max, who compels you to empathize and understand his struggle, especially in the show’s final moments; Russo–whose performance takes quite the unexpected turn in its own right–simply couldn’t be more delightful as Mattie’s bestie, Gunther–and Spencer Aste’s Manfred is just so darn powerful–his affective delivery conveys his genuine care for his daughter and his family’s legacy through his actions. Major props, too, to set designer Tim McMath, who does a lot with just a single set in a small space, and sound designer John McKenna, who cleverly infuses the show with an authentic German feel during the occasional scene breaks.

And then, of course–to return to the subject of the writing, the crux around which this masterpiece revolves–there’s the meaning of the title. Now, obviously, one could take the literal meaning–Max, the “maybe” in question, never really “fell” for Mattie or Rebecca, and spends the majority of the play waffling between staying with either one amidst the multiple discoveries that are revealed.

But, in my opinion, it takes two to make or break a relationship… and with her unwillingness to commit to either Max or Gunther, Mattie’s just as much of a “maybe” as is her other half. With her past history of abortion and attempted suicide, it’s easy to understand why she takes multiple trips to that window ledge throughout the course of the play, on the verge of jumping before she’s talked out of it.

But again, while she certainly has enough reason to feel like falling–and true, her life is not necessarily stable and hangs in the balance, especially at play’s end–she doesn’t, in fact, fall at all (as the title suggests). She’s damaged, for sure… but in not falling, she shows us she’s not fully destroyed. And with enough inner strength to know the fight is worth fighting. For her baby. For her friendship/relationship/whatever she’s got going on with Gunther. And for herself.

No doubt it’ll be hard–she does spend the play’s final moments alone onstage and in tears–but she’s giving the audience a sense of hope that, despite major hardships, everything’s going to be okay. And believe me, it’s a message we could all use right about now. I mean, if Mattie can do it, why can’t we?

Maybe Never Fell, written by Howard Meyer, plays at Pleasantville’s Axial Theatre (8 Sunnyside Avenue) through Sunday, November 20th. For tickets and more information, please visit axialtheatre.org.

 Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to The Inside Press. For further information or inquiry, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com

 

Steffi Nossen/Burke Rehab Offer “Dance Party for Parkinson’s”

by

You are Invited to Dance Party for Parkinson’s, a Partnership of Steffi Nossen School of Dance and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital

Join the summer series of Dance Party for Parkinson’s, a collaboration of the Steffi Nossen School of Dance and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital Fitness Center. Classes will take place at the fitness center, located at 785 Mamaroneck Ave in White Plains, NY on Fridays from 5:00 – 6:00 PM.  Eight weeks of classes will begin July 8th.

Classes are taught by dance professionals who have trained in the internationally-acclaimed Mark Morris Dance for PD program, a collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group.  Each week the class will present movement sequences drawing from musical theater, ballet, jazz, modern, folk dance tap, social dancing and more to create a dynamic and enjoyable hour of dance and artistic exploration in a group setting. Through dance, classes will address PD-specific concerns such as balance, coordination, flexibility, gait, and physical confidence while simultaneously developing artistry, grace, and creativity.  Whether seated or standing, participants will experience the joy of body connection through the interaction of movement and music along with their partners, families and caregivers.

Join in to share an aesthetic experience that will keep your spirit dancing all week!  No dance experience.  Drop-ins are welcome. Join solo or with a partner. Class fee:  $96 Individual; $160 per couple; $15 single class per person.  Register at the Fitness Center or call 914-597-2805 for further information or to obtain a registration form.

Broadway Talent in Armonk at Hudson Stage

by

Hudson Stage Company co-founders Olivia Sklar (left), Denise Bessette (center) and Dan Foster (right) on the set of their Spring 2016 production of Animals Out Of Paper.
Hudson Stage Company co-founders Olivia Sklar (left), Denise Bessette (center) and Dan Foster (right) on the set of their Spring 2016 production of Animals Out Of Paper.

By Brian Donnelly

The curtain goes up, the lights shine and 180 voices go silent as the play begins.

On stage actors and actresses bring their experience working on Broadway, television or both to the Hudson Stage Company in Armonk. Backstage, area high school students play interns, supporting the show with set changes, lighting and cues.

Those teenage stage hands include Horace Greeley junior Brian Blume, 17, who helps set up and breakdown the sets and moves props and furniture in between scenes.

“It was like a Broadway play but on a smaller stage,” the aspiring actor said, just one week into the spring production of Animals Out of Paper. “I’ve been to a lot of plays and I’ve memorized a lot of plays… and to see that type of talent on such a small stage is shocking.”

Founded in 1999 by Westchester residents Olivia Sklar, Dan Foster, and Denise Bessette, Hudson Stage Company is a non-profit professional theater that has built its reputation on Broadway-caliber performances right in your backyard.

“The audiences are always saying this is as good as Broadway or off-Broadway for a lot less money, free parking and the babysitter is on a shorter clock,” said Bessette, a Cortlandt resident and actress who has performed in theater, television and film. She has appeared in episodes of Seinfeld, Law and Order and Law and Order SVU.

Since its inception 17 years ago, the company’s backyard has changed from Croton to Briarcliff to Pace University, and now to Armonk. After its latest move in 2014, it is in residence at the North Castle Public Library’s Whippoorwill Hall Theater. Each year it stages two productions, in addition to several staged readings of new works. One of the reading slots is dedicated to area high school students, who perform their own original one-act plays.

“It’s so important to build a young audience, and theater is thriving at the high schools in Westchester,” Bessette said.

Students can pay $15 at the door for any show which still has tickets available, and Bessette said she hopes kids take advantage.

Blume, of Chappaqua, said not many of his friends are into theater, but that he hopes having Hudson Stage Company nearby will change that.

“I would encourage it because I need more help; as much help as I can get,” said the stage hand, who has gotten to meet and learn from the Broadway talent that is regularly a part of Hudson Stage productions. “I’m moving walls.”

Armonk Chamber of Commerce President Neal Schwartz said his brother-in-law came from Manhattan to see a show at Hudson Stage Company, a trip “I doubt he would’ve made previously.”

“Armonk is already known for its art and some local theater,” he said, referencing The Armonk Players, a community theater group, and The Small Town Theatre Company. “The Hudson Stage Company enhances what is already available in Armonk and strengthens Armonk as a destination for the Arts.”

Like Bessette, Foster pursued theater and, after a stint on the popular soap opera All My Children, got his break in the Broadway show City of Angels. He then switched his focus to directing, which he did both regionally and internationally in London and Australia. Now, he directs many of Hudson Stage’s productions.

“What’s been heartening is that I would say probably well over 50 percent of the people that come through the door now are people we don’t know, which is a great thing,” Foster, a Croton resident, said. “So, yes it’s been a wonderful move for us.”

Both Foster and Sklar worked on ABC soap operas in the 1980s and, in fact, worked just one block apart in Manhattan, but never met until they both had moved to Westchester. Sklar met Foster’s wife in a park in Croton in 1998. Within the same year Sklar also met Bessette at a gym after overhearing her talking about her hopes to start a theater. The three met for coffee at the Black Cow in Croton and put their plan into motion.

“You’re not going to get a Neil Simon or Guys and Dolls out of us,” Sklar said. “We try to present things to the Westchester audiences that are new to them, if not brand new.”

Hudson Stage’s production in fall 2015 of Outside Mullingar was one of the first to follow the Broadway debut of the show by John Patrick Shanley.

“I really felt like great alchemy happened,” Foster said. “It was the right cast, the right physical production, the right design. And it seemed to strike the right kind of nerve with the audience because we sold out just about every performance. It was also the kind of play that we like to do: slightly off beat, well written, challenging to the audience. That was a big one.”

This fall, they will stage the American premiere of You Will Remember Me, a French-Canadian play by Francois Archambault. The play has had success both in French and in English.

“I knew I was going to be directing in the fall and I’m always looking for new plays or plays that haven’t been done,” Foster said. “So, I tend to look at what they’re doing in England or Australia, or Canada.

It’s a very unique and challenging and funny play about a man with dementia. It’s kind of a new take on the subject.”

While the show has yet to be cast, Foster, Bessette and Sklar know they’ll have one member of the current production back – Blume.

“I’m really happy to be a part of it,” he said, looking forward to working on a third production with Hudson Stage. “Even though I’m backstage and I haven’t seen it in the full production, just from looking outside my wing or the side of the stage I’m on, I know the backstory and I know the lines.”

On July 31, Hudson Stage Company will hold its annual benefit. It typically involves a performance featuring Broadway talent. General admission tickets for all plays are $35 and students and senior tickets are $30.

Visit www.hudsonstage.com or call 914-271-2811 for more information.

Sharing Dance: A Tribute to Kathleen Fitzgerald’s Extraordinary Career

by

Kathleen Fitzgerald
Kathleen Fitzgerald

By Matt Smith

“Since my first class, I have loved dance, and I want to share that with everyone.”

While she presumably meant those words to be a wish for the future, by the looks of it, Kathleen Fitzgerald, speaker of the above, seems to already have the “sharing” covered. So much so that the Mount Kisco resident was named Gala Honoree during the Steffi Nossen School of Dance’s 79th Annual Benefit Week, held earlier this year, from March 31-April 2.

As is tradition, the yearly Gala serves to benefit the Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation, a not-for-profit dance advocacy and community outreach organization within the school, while at the same time honoring one of their own for his or her Outstanding Contributions to SNDF. As a special treat unique to Fitzgerald, this year’s event included a performance of a new work, danced by nine graduating seniors of SNDC and choreographed by Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation Artistic Director–and Annual Benefit producer–Jessica DiMauro, which served as a tribute to Fitzgerald’s life and career. “I’m flabbergasted,” she says of receiving the honor. “I’ve worked behind-the-scenes for so long now that I was just not expecting it. I’m uncharacteristically speechless.”

While she may not have been expecting it, the honor is certainly deserved–dancing’s clearly in her blood.

Fitzgerald began dance training at age eight, as a way to augment the “complete lack of coordination” that resulted from poor vision. Nonetheless, regardless of the reason, it was clear she was hooked from that very first day. “I got in the car after [the class] and said, ‘Mommy, I’m gonna be a dancer,’” she recalls. “That was really all I ever wanted to be.”

Her first foray into the professional dance world came at age fifteen, when she auditioned for “new state-supported performing arts school” North Carolina School of the Arts… as #13, no less, which Nossen herself always considered a–a telling sign of what was soon to come.

Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”
Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”

Subsequent to graduation, and prior to joining the Steffi Nossen family, Fitzgerald was a principal dancer and Company Ballet Mistress with Ballet Frankfurt, where she worked under choreographer William Forsythe. Preceding that, she was a soloist with Netherlands Dance Theater I, before Jiří Kylián took her on as Assistant Director of Netherlands Dance Theater II. “I can’t say enough about how great it was,” she says of those experiences. “We toured all over the world. We toured with live orchestra, with live singers and choirs and incredible lighting designers and costume makers…It was everything you could possibly want to experience.”

After following Ballet Frankfurt with work for Johann Kresnik’s radical dance theater group, Bremer Tanztheater, Fitzgerald moved to Mt. Kisco–for the sake of her daughter, Jessica Rose, who has special needs and requires intensive therapies. Thanks to some guidance from an local librarian, she found herself an all-too-perfect position at Steffi Nossen School of Dance, and she’s been with them for 16 years. Fitzgerald began first as a core curriculum teacher in 2000, then as School Director, a position which she held from 2004-2015. Today, she continues to lead the Ballet Program at SNSD, and serves as Production Manager for the Copland House concerts at Merestead. She has also been extensively involved with the outreach programs, one being the 13-year-old Wheels and Heels intensive dance program for disabled performers, one of the programs this very benefit helps to fund.

In accepting her honor, she acknowledges the work of the “fantastic” students at SNSD and takes note of “the incredible camaraderie of the Steffi Nossen faculty.” (“You don’t find that everywhere,” she adds, with a smile). “I feel that I’ve found a home at Steffi Nossen, an organization that stresses the importance of family, community, and mentoring. And I feel very lucky to have had this incredible performing career, and to have [done] such meaningful work within the arts.”

Steffi Nossen School of Dance is located at 216 Central Avenue in White Plains. Fitzgerald notes the company has several satellite locations throughout Westchester, including one in Chappaqua at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. For more information, visit steffinossen.org.

Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to the Inside Press. For more information, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com.