broadway

Axial Theater Benefit: March 30th

March 8, 2019 by The Inside Press

Pleasantville-based Axial Theatre will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on March 30 at its annual benefit by paying tribute to its founder, Howard Meyer. Meyer, the original artistic director of Axial and an award-winning playwright, is also the founder of the Howard Meyer Acting program, the County’s first major multi-tiered acting program for children through adults. Last year, Meyer turned the keys of the ensemble company over to Catherine “Cat” Banks and Linda Giuliano, now Axial’s co-artistic directors, who form a trio working closely with managing director/general counsel Elizabeth “Betsy” Klampert. Giuliano remains the company’s literary manager.

The benefit will offer a cornucopia of gourmet bites, savory and sweet, plus libations and a silent auction featuring a one-week getaway in Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean coastline of the Italian Riviera, Broadway tickets, and other exciting items. Past and present members of Axial Theatre will pay tribute to Howard Meyer through a variety of entertainment formats.

For more info, visit axialtheater.org

Yeston & Kopit’s ‘PHANTOM’ IS BACK! Dinner/Show & Matinee Options At WBT Through November 25th

October 24, 2018 by Stacey Pfeffer

Matthew Billman (as Erik; The Phantom)
and Kayleen Seidl (Christine Daaé)

Phantom’s first New York Premiere at the Westchester Broadway Theater (WBT) was in 1992 and enjoyed a record breaking nine-month run: over 120,000 people attended. Night after night, audiences rose to their feet for the stunning musical thriller PHANTOM, which returned in 1996 and in 2007, directed and choreographed by Tom Polum, who had been in the original production. This extraordinary piece has already been brought back to WBT, and once again with Tom Polum at the helm.

PHANTOM was written by Arthur Kopit, with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston who were the Tony Award winning collaborators for the Broadway Musical “Nine.” PHANTOM is not to be confused with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, although both shows are based on the same Gaston LeRoux novel, with the Webber extravaganza being more like an opera, completely sung. The Yeston/Kopit PHANTOM is more of a traditional Broadway Musical with dialogue and songs throughout.

The story revolves around the central character of a man named Erik (also known as the Phantom), who was born and raised in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House. Through a series of circumstances, he takes on as a pupil a young woman named Christine, who has been a street singer. She has a natural talent and a beautiful voice, but she lacks the special training to perform in an Opera company. He agrees to take her on as a student with certain conditions, the main one being that she will never see his face. After a lot of hard work she eventually auditions for the company and is not only accepted but is given the opportunity to play a principal part in an Opera. Without realizing it, they fall in love with each other. The relationship becomes obsessive and impossible, leading to a stunning conclusion which can only be experienced by attending a performance.

The music and the drama of this piece are extraordinary and should not be missed!

For further details and for individual and group reservations: Call (914) 592-2222.

Or visit www.BroadwayTheatre.com.

Zany Fun at ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’… Just Look Up First!

January 27, 2018 by The Inside Press

(l-r) Harrison Unger, Jonathan Fielding, Clifton Duncan, Amelia McClain, Alex Mandell in the Olivier and Tony Award winning production of The Play That Goes Wrong, co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, directed by Mark Bell. On Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street).Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

Soon after the audience took its seats for the Tony Award winning and Broadway comedy mega hit The Play that Goes Wrong, a member of the ‘crew’ recommended we ‘look up.’ “The light fixtures are ancient,” he deadpanned. “And if we were sitting under one of them we ‘might want to move’ (as if we even could)…fair warning to patrons that even ‘before the show,’ nothing would be sacred or safe, and if something could go wrong, it probably would! We giggled, if a tad nervously.

The actor’s matter of fact ‘warning’ set the tone as members of a 1920s era ‘Cornley University Drama Society’ struggle valiantly to perform their roles in The Play that Goes Wrong, a double murder mystery… over the course of getting to the bottom of whodunit, the actors are ‘challenged’ by a virtual onslaught of Mad Hat mishaps. Mind you, these consummate actors all the while are effortlessly employing classic devices of comic genius whether forgetting their own lines or reciting one another’s, or yelling at the audience (“‘You are a terrible audience!” one actor bellowed to our laughter) while navigating a precarious set in which everything either bops you in the nose or eventually collapses during the ensuing mayhem.

Grab some tickets too to enjoy these hilarious and classic British ‘slapstick’ performances complete with dead bodies rising (and reappearing), staircases falling, doors slamming, a kooky affair, a nutty brawl for the lead female role, and so much more! Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong manages to induce a feeling of hopefulness about life. Despite the potential for everything to go magnificently wrong at every possible moment, you can still feel happy! And, laugh your head off! Yes, it’s true! Simply give in and lose yourself to the nonsensical, and you too may happily spring up with everyone else in a standing ovation to honor this clever, well choreographed production and in appreciation of a thoroughly entertaining eve out on Broadway in the beautiful Lyceum Theater. More mini reviews and tickets info from the producers, below.— Grace Bennett

Reviews and Info from The Play that Goes Wrong:

“Year’s best! This plucky British import, against all odds (and more than a few pundits), outlasted every play that opened last season by cleaving wholly to a pure vision of comedy.” – Forbes

“One of the best Broadway debuts of the year. The Play That Goes Wrong was all about precision in its humor and each of the ensemble players delivered. Nothing was funnier or as well-executed onstage in 2017.” – Entertainment Tonight

The Tony Award winning hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong continues to go right into the New Year! The producers of the longest running play currently on Broadway have announced that a new block of tickets is now on sale through July 1, 2018 following its best week ever and highest gross yet of $707,315. for the week ending December 31, 2017.

The Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong stars Ashley Bryant (Emotional Creature) as “Annie,” Clifton Duncan (City Center Encores! Assassins) as “Robert,” Mark Evans (Paper Mill Playhouse’s Mary Poppins) as “Chris,” Jonathan Fielding (Noises Off) as “Jonathan,” Alex Mandell (Hand to God) as Max, Amelia McClain (Noises Off) as “Sandra,” Harrison Unger (Broadway debut) as “Dennis” and Akron Watson (The Color Purple) as “Trevor.” The company also features Preston Truman Boyd (Sunset Boulevard), Ned Noyes (You Can’t Take It With You), Ashley Reyes (Broadway debut) and Katie Sexton (Broadway debut).

The Play That Goes Wrong began performances March 9 and officially opened on Broadway on April 2 at The Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45^th Street).

The Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong received the 2017 Tony Award for Best Set Design, a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Best Play and the Theater Fans Award Choice Award for Best Play.

Awarded 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, 2014 WhatsOnStage Best New Comedy and 2015 UK BroadwayWorld Best New Play Awards, The Play That Goes Wrong is now in its fourth year in the West End, is currently on a 30 week UK tour and currently playing on six continents. The producers have avoided Antarctica for fear of a frosty reception.

It is a remarkable rags-to-riches story for a play which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying members of the public at the first performance, and has gone on to play to an audience of over 1.5 million people around the world.

Mischief Theatre, led by Artistic Director Henry Lewis and Company Director Jonathan Sayer, was founded in 2008 by a group of graduates of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and began as an improvised comedy group. Mischief Theatre performs across the UK and internationally with improvised and original scripted work.

In addition to the current hit London production of The Play That Goes Wrong at The Duchess Theatre, Mischief Theatre’s The Comedy About A Bank Robbery plays The Criterion Theatre and in January 2017 their production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong completed a limited holiday run at The Apollo Theatre to rave reviews, making Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields the youngest ever writers to have three shows playing simultaneously in the West End. Their specially filmed studio version of Peter Pan Goes Wrong was broadcast by the BBC on New Year’s Eve 2016 and this year they were commissioned to write A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong which broadcast on BBC One over Christmas. Both shows were seen by over six million people in the UK.

The Play That Goes Wrong is directed by Mark Bell, featuring set design by Tony Award Winner Nigel Hook, lighting design by Ric Mountjoy, sound design by Andy Johnson and costume design by Roberto Surace.

The Play That Goes Wrong is produced on Broadway by Kevin McCollum, J.J. Abrams, Kenny Wax, Stage Presence Ltd., Catherine Schreiber, Ken Davenport, Double Gemini Productions / deRoy-Brunish, Damian Arnold / TC Beech, Greenleaf Productions / Bard-Roth, Martian Entertainment / Jack Lane / John Yonover and Lucas McMahon.

Tickets for the Broadway production are available by calling Telecharge at 800-447-7400, online at www.telecharge.com or in person at the The Lyceum Theatre box office (149 West 45^th Street).

Broadway Talent in Armonk at Hudson Stage

June 3, 2016 by The Inside Press

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.

From Armonk to Broadway: One Recent Grad’s Journey

March 6, 2016 by The Inside Press

How Alexander Baron is making waves in the theater world
By Lindsay Hand

We all have dreams of making it big and doing what we love. Here in Westchester, many kids are fortunate to have the fun and exciting experience of being in a show, whether through school or community theater, but only a select few are able to turn it into a career. For Armonk native and current Penn State freshman Alexander Baron, however, that dream has come true.

Discovering the NYC Theater Scene

Though he never dreamed of being involved in theater when he was younger, while at Byram Hills High School, Baron discovered a passion for the production aspect of the business. Rather than studying for finals, Baron wrote a one-act show and submitted it to the Manhattan Repertory Theatre. The show was accepted, and from there his involvement in New York City theater really took off. “I’m terrible at writing plays and it was the worst show ever, but I loved producing it,” says Baron. “I loved bringing things from page to stage.”

Through this initial experience, Baron was introduced to many successful people involved in theater who have helped him gain experience and discover his passions. One such person is Marathon Live Entertainment president and Penn State Programming Board of Theater member Mike Karns, who “has been able to make me realize how many more options there are in the theater world than just producing,” explains Baron.

Through Karns and Marathon Live Entertainment, Baron had the opportunity to intern at both The Last Ship and Hamilton, two extremely successful recent Broadway shows. In addition, in 2014, he produced his own off-Broadway show entitled Vote For Me: A Musical Debate, which provided him invaluable experience and a new connection in producer Dori Berinstein, a fellow Armonk resident.

She was impressed with him from the moment they met. “Not only was Alex already–at such a young age–a determined, visionary producer,” she says, “but he was kind, warm, articulate and very clearly an extremely smart and focused young man.”

Gotta Dance (and Produce)

Despite starting college, Baron is still working nonstop. He started his own production company called Baron Theatrical Inc., and then truly got his chance when producer Berinstein presented the opportunity for Baron to co-produce Gotta Dance, a pre-Broadway show set for the Chicago stage. The show focuses on a story about the 2007 New Jersey Nets senior citizen basketball team and incorporates music and dance. After a successful premiere in Chicago, the show, directed by Kinky Boots director Jerry Mitchell, is planning on a Broadway debut this Fall. Baron points out how the show “crushes the stigma of age that you’re never too young to dance,” and compared it to himself, stating proudly, “you’re never too young to produce.”

He is fortunate to bring extensive experience to the show, and credits Hamilton in particular with really showing him the power of social media, and he plans to use those ideas “to get the younger crowd to come see the show.” For someone so young he has already accomplished so much, and this fact is not lost on him. “The opportunity has done so much for me and we’re only getting started, and I’m really excited for what the show is going to hold in the future,” Baron states.

He recognizes that he has been incredibly lucky to have some experienced, extraordinary people helping him along and providing him with incomparable opportunities. “As we ramp up for Broadway, Alex’s insight on how best to excite and engage younger theater-goers about Gotta Dance will be invaluable,” Berinstein adds. “I’m thrilled to have Alex on our team and I’m very much looking forward to watching him become a major force on Broadway.”

Alex Baron with Gotta Dance director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell

Looking Ahead

While of course paying attention to his studies and life in college, Baron is highly focused on Gotta Dance. He plans to not only keep producing but also get more involved in the advertising, PR and marketing aspects of the industry. He is co-producing a show headed to Broadway and living his dream, and can serve as inspiration for many young people with similar dreams of working in the theater. There is no doubt that he will continue to grow and become an important part of the New York theater community. “It’s an incredible feeling to open up a playbill and see my name under the title,” Baron adds. “Every second I’m truly grateful.”

Two-time Inside Chappaqua Guest Editor Lindsay Hand is a sophomore at Cornell University.