WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From The Music Conservatory. June 27, 2009: The Music Conservatory of Westchester, a non-profit community school of the arts in White Plains, NY, has appointed Rye resident Carol Shiffman as Executive Director effective July 1, 2009. The announcement was made by Board President Nancy Goodman.

The Baton, Please:

Carol Shiffman, New Director, The Music Conservatory of Westchester, White Plains

Shiffman succeeds Dr. Aaron Flagg, who leaves to become the next Dean of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Shiffman is nationally recognized for her work in arts administration and music, dance, and arts education. Previously the Dean of SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Dance, Shiffman led one of the country’s preeminent arts institutions with world renowned faculty. She strengthened and expanded the school’s range of course offerings, master classes, and special events, and increased student opportunities for performances both on and off campus.

WPCNR CENTER STAGE LEFT. Theatrical Rush Review by John F. Bailey. June 25, 2009: There was a buzz and energy at opening night at WBT.  Most had never heard of this comedic hoot of a review that debuted Off-Broadway in 1996, and just closed in 2008, outrunning My Fair Lady.

A full house was eager for something happy and amusing and they got a Laugh-in's worth!

Courtney Holds Court!

Courtney Balan is the Complete Comedienne, mugging, madcapping, accenting, wisecracking, sending up, dialecting, wallflower, babe, single girl, torch singer in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Photos, Courtesy WBT, By John Vecchiola.

When  comedienne Courtney Balan makes a match.com video on WBT’s widescreens,  talking to a video camera, with her back to her audience,  she brings down the house with laughter as she tells all her foibles and faults with mugging and facial expressions that generated steady laughter nonstop.

When  Noel Molinelli sings a lament about the bride’s maids dresses in her closet, and ill-fated grooms,  the women of Westchester grinned and nodded knowingly, remembering weddings past. When Jonathan Rayson laments about waiting for his wife in Macy’s, the men laugh and laugh, while Ms. Molinelli agonizes in line for a women’s restroom—both men, women nod, laugh and remember.

Understudy Travis Taber, last seen in Oliver!  as the Knife Grinder (at that incubator of talent, the White Plains Performing Arts Center) did a masterful job jumping in on Opening Night. He's at the wheel of the family car! With the ubiquitous Courtney Balan as his wife, and Noel Molinelli, back seat with Jonathan Rayson as his kids.  Mr. Taber  had to do the 42^nd Street Opening Night  "Dream Brake" Replacement role thing this evening filling in for  Frank Vlastnik. The kid will always remember this night. He wise-cracked and delivered the part as if he created it! What a great job by the kid. Who doesn't like a little schmaltz on Opening Night? Photos, Courtesy, WBT By Frank Vecchiola

Taber coordinated with perfect comic timing with Ms. Balan to  turn four rolling desk chairs into the family car, it's madcap mirth!  (Even Brenda Starr, your reporter’s date for the evening laughed in uncharacteristic glee for the most dignified no-nonsense redhead in journalism – mentioning on the way out that her brothers used to fight in the backseat just like Mr. Rayson and Ms. Molinelli.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Westco Productions. June 18, 2009: A White Plains High School senior and a  senior from Port Chester High School are recipients of the 2009 Sonny Katz Scholarship Awards from the White Plains-based non-profit theater company, Westco Productions. The awards are from a scholarship fund named in honor of  the late Seymour “Sonny” Katz, who had been a founding member of Westco’s Board of Directors. “Sonny” was best known as the White Plains City Marshall for more than 35 years.

Zach Sorrow, White Plains High School

Sergio Marroquin of Port Chester  High

Recipients of this year’s scholarship awards of $1,000 each are Zach Sorrow, age 18, of White Plains and Sergio Marroquin, age 17, of Port Chester.  

The Sonny Katz Scholarship Fund was established in 2006 by Westco to benefit students who will be studying the performing arts in college. Westco is celebrating its 30^th season of providing quality entertainment for children and adults.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. June 15, 2009: Plans for the 2009-10 season of the White Plains Performing Arts are not clear yet according to the Chairman of the WPPAC Foundation, John Ioris in a statement issued to WPCNR this afternoon.

According to Mr. Ioris, "We are currently in the process of formulation of the WPPAC operating budget for 2009-10 for presentation to the Board. There have been no firm decisions made at this time regarding anything to do with the theatre. Decisions aregard the (theatre) staff, are directly related to our operating budget."

Asked if the WPPAC would break even for this year, Ioris said, with two weeks to go, it was still too early to call: "We are still in tghe 2008-2009 operating year which will conclude on June 30. At this time, it appears as though we will be at a break even or show a surplus."

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From the Lovely and Talented Pia Haas, Westchester Broadway Theatre. June 14,2009:    I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the laugh-inducing, award-winning musical comedy about love in the suburbs, is often described as “Seinfeld set to music”.  It’s a hilarious look at love and relationships that is as touching and insightful as it is humorous. Four actors play over forty roles scaling the dizzying spectrum of male/female relationships. The trials and tribulations of being single, dating, marriage, loss, and heartbreak - and everything in the relationship process that you have ever secretly thought about, but were afraid to admit - are cleverly explored. The show opens this Thursday, June 18.

4 for the Seesaw: (Left to right). Energetic young cast gears up for opening night: Courtney Balan, Frank Vlastnik, Jonathan Rayson and Noel Molinelli bring back I Love You, You're Perfect Now Change -- the 1996 Off-Broadway smash -- the longest-runnin Off-Broadway Musical in history. Photos by Pia Hass

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Peter Bassano. June 8, 2009: White Plains High School junior Jennifer Damiano was nominated for a Tony award in the catagory of Best Performance by a Feature Actress in  Musical for her performance in the off-broadway musical Next to Normal.   

Ms. Damiano at the TONYS Sunday Night.Photo, broadwayworld.com.

Jennifer, only 16, is already a Broadway veteran, having been the youngest member of the original cast of the play "Spring Awakening" last year. 

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. WPCNR Interview with John Ioris Chair of the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation. June 2, 2009: One Enchanted Evening, the first White Plains Performing Arts Center fund-raiser in two years gave the beleagured White Plains city theatre a fresh start last night, raising according to its Foundation Chair, over $50,000 towards next year’s season.

HONOREES AT WPPAC ONE ENCHANTED EVENING GALA : (L to R, Event Co-Chair Ann Bernstein, Honoree Isabel Villar, Honoree Marsha Gordon, Event Co-Chair, Susan Egginton, Honorees Barbara and Richard Dannenberg, and WPPAC Chairman John J. Ioris. Photo, Courtesy, White Plains Performing Arts Center

 John Ioris, right, and Jack Batman,left. WPCNR News Archive

John Ioris, the Chair, indicated that the WPPAC's Executive Producer, Jack Batman would continue to be the driving creative force as the theatre moves forward, and that the number and scope of the fall season productions depended on further fundraising efforts. Ioris tentatively held out hope the current season ending would produce the theatre's first surplus.

WPCNR’S BIG BEAT WITH BIG MELVIN MEAD "With all the hits you need," The Boss Jock on KKIX  THE MIGHTY1440 "The Rock of America," Host of Your Saturday Night Rock and Roll Party. May 17,2009: Back in the 60s, his voice boomed out of your transistor and 77 WABC RADIO’s Dan Ingram Show after school, or Cousin Brucie, and crystallized all the anxiety and longing and torture of your first passions. His songs, Woman, Woman, Young Girl, It’s Now or Never, Don’t Give In to Him,  dealt with the tortured gut-churning abysses of awakening passions, adult stuff, unrequited love, and relationships gone bad in driving beats fully orchestrated that made the pain, and the longing bearable and still do. When you heard his songs you knew he knew how you were feeling .

GARY PUCKETT FOREVER -- SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE IRVINGTON TOWN HALL. Photo, Peter Katz, Courtesy Westco Productions.

Last night, Suzy the K, White Plains Susan Katz, brought the great Puckett back and the soundtrack of those days back again. It's been one hit after another since Westco Productions started the Gold Star Concerts 4 years ago, and the hits just keep on coming. When a Westco concert hits Irvington, Irvington restaurants JUMP. Saturday night continued Suzy the K's mastery of Westchester entertainment.She brings you the stars you'll always love, the music that makes you forever young, and the personalities up close and personal.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. May 14,2009: The Educational Public Access Channel announced days and times of its video tape of the League of Women Voters Public Forum held Tuesday night. The first telecast will be Friday evening at 8 P.M. on Cablevision Channel 77, and Verizon FIOS Channel 46, (right after White Plains Week, showing at 7:30, the city news roundup show -- public access channel's best  lead-in), just switch the channel to 77 or 46.

School Board Candidates' Public Forum  For the Record  begins Friday at 8 on Educational Channels.  (L to R), Peter Bassano, Jim Hricay, Reynolds Longfield, Donna McLaughlin without Augostino Zicca, Jr. and Elsie Lahrmann, (empty seats) who declined to participate, according to Mr. Zicca, on advice of his legal counsel due to an inflammatory letter circulated by leaders of the White Plains Democratic Party.

That letter urged Democrats to turn out and ask pointed questions of the two. The letter also portrayed Mr. Zicca as being anti-immigrant, which Zicca told WPCNR was "slanderous."  Zicca told WPCNR, "we thought they were going to ambush us, and we would not get an oppotunity to get our message out."The series of Forum telecasts of the replay featuring the four candidates who appeared will be televised Friday at 8

Viewers on Educational Access Channels 77 (Cablevision) and Channel 46 (Verizon) can view all the action in Tuesday evening's League of Women Voters Public Forum beginning at 8 P.M. Friday night. The show will also be telecast Saturday at 12:15 and 4 P.M.; Sunday at 9 AM, 3:15 P.M. and 7 P.M.; Monday, at 12 P.M., 3 P.M, 5:15 P.M., 8 P.M. and 10 P.M., and on the election day itself, Tuesday at 9 A.M., 12 P.M. and 3 P.M.

The letter Zicca and Lahrman in a news release refers to, reads:

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. from Piaa Haas, Westchester Broadway Theatre. April 28,2009:On Monday, May 4, 2009, The Westchester Broadway Theatre will again, be hosting the annual Cab Calloway Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2009.  Cab Calloway was a resident of Elmsford, N.Y. for approximately 34 years. His career spanned over six decades and was highlighted by his work on stage, film, television and in the recording industry. The Cab Calloway Lifetime Achievement Awards are meant to honor his commitment to excellence in the performing arts as well as his dedication and support for young, rising talent. It is an honor that the award bears his name.

The recipients are recognized for their body of work, dedication and contribution to some aspect of the performing arts in Westchester County. This criterion can cover performers, educators, entrepreneurs, technicians, designers, producers, directors, choreographers, composers, librettists, conductors, actors, dancers, mentors or even individuals who, through their continuous support, have had a positive effect on some aspect of the performing arts in Westchester.  Recipients are chosen by an advisory panel from names submitted by any of the following: The Cab Calloway Foundation, previous recipients of the award, or individuals who know a person worthy of the honor. The awards were established by George Puello in 2001

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey April 20, 2009 UPDATED 3:45 P.M. E.D.T:  Four days  after announcing  Hello, Dolly would be postponed exclusively to The New York Times, the news appearing in Saturday's Times Westchester Section,  and in the paper's  website, after telling WPCNR nothing had changed with the show or the theatre to WPCNR Friday afternoon, the White Plains Performing Arts Center issued a news release Monday announcing all performances of Hello, Dolly (April 29 to May 17)are cancelled due to financial reasons, without explaining what those financial reasons are, and announced a gala fundraiser for the theatre to be held June 1.

Persons who hold tickets to Hello, Dolly may receive full refund of their tickets or put their purchase of tickets as credit to the fall season, according to the news release,  which the former Executive Producer, apparently without a contract will be putting together. No resigning of Jack W. Batman, the Executive Producer has been announced. The release does not explain how a refund may be obtained.

Calling the theater at 914-328-1600 and pressing Extension10, gets you the general manager of the Theater, Kathy Davison, who is heard in a taped message, telling  the caller that "all ticketholders"  will be receiving a letter "perhaps as soon as today (Monday) explaining the reasons for the postponement, where the White Plains Performing Arts Center goes from here,  and what to do with your Hello, Dolly tickets. " You are not told on the tape what to do with them.

Calling the box office, the caller receives a message making no reference to the Dolly situation.

WPCNR had learned through sources over a month ago that the show had been cancelled (musicians who had been released from the show), yet the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation would not confirm the show was in trouble and was supposedly still going on as of last Friday. Ticketholders were not notified, so imagine their surprise reading about the postponement in The Times Westchester Section Saturday.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. April 18, 2009. UPDATED 1:30 P.M. E.DT.: The last scheduled big show of the 2009 season of the White Plains Performing Arts Center scheduled to open April 30 is no longer selling tickets on the White Plains Performing Arts Center website.

Geoffrey Thompson, spokesperson for Cappelli Enterprises, told WPCNR today that Cappelli Enterprises, the major sponsor, supporter and angel of the White Plains Performing Arts will not fund the theater if the City of White Plains withdraws its financial support, now budgeted for $142,000 in the new 2009-2010 city budget released last week.

WPCNR has asked whether Cappelli Enterprises would purchase back the theatre space, and have asked Mr. Thompson if Cappelli Enterprises would match whatever funds the city eventually decides to use to support the theater.

John Ioris, the head of the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation has not responded to a query on how theatregoers could obtain refunds or will be accommodated now that Hello, Dolly production appears off the WPPAC Schedule.

Ticket sales for Hello Dolly have stopped online,  just one day after the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation head advised WPCNR Friday afternoon by e-mail whether any decisions had been reached on the future of the Performing Arts Center, saying,"Nothing has changed since our last communication. We'll let you know if anything new occurs. Many thanks."  

WPCNR learned  a month ago the show had been cancelled but for the last month, the WPPAC management has insisted the show would go on in some form, perhaps with a substitute show, and has continued to sell tickets. The website Saturday morning has no mention of any upcoming Hello Dolly show, and there is no mention of how subscribers and ticketholders compensating options.

WPCNR has contacted the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation Chair, John Ioris, to confirm the official "cancellation" of Hello, Dolly, and for clarification of the refund policy.  Previous WPCNR inquiries asking if the Foundation was attempting to purchase the theatre from the city have not been answered, and the status of Executive Producer Jack Batman (whose contract expired at the end of March, have not been clarified.

The New York Times Westchester Section reports this morning that Entergy funding for the theater may be reduced and that Cappelli Enterprises -- the major supporter of the theater since its inception six years ago-- will not support the theater unless the City of White Plains does. The Times reports in error that the city had cut all funding for the theater ($142,000 still remains in the2009-10 proposed budget at this time).

The Times reports Mr. Batman as confident he (Batman)would be able to mount a fall season.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. April 6, 2009: John Ioris, Chairperson of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, Inc., the community group which operates the White Plains Performing Arts Center, and Jack Batman, formerly Executive Producer, whose contract expired one week ago have issued the following statement through O & M Agency, their public relations firm in New York City this afternoon on the status of the theatre which Mr. Ioris has described as in desperate need of financial contributions in order to stay in operation.

 “White Plains Performing Arts Center is categorically not closing.  We are in the process of reevaluating our production requirements and will make an announcement later this week.:” Statement  issued Monday from John Ioris, right, and Jack Batman, left, (shown in April 2008) on the future of White Plains Performing Arts Center.

Phillip Carrubba, spokesperson for WPPAC, contacted by WPCNR,  and asked if Mr. Batman would be staying on with the theater as Executive Producer, perhaps on a consulting basis, told WPCNR he "believed so."

Last week the Executive Committee of White Plains Performing Arts Center, Inc., met to discuss the financial considerations the WPPAC faced if it were to remain in operation. At the time, Mr. Ioris denied that the WPPAC staff had been dismissed, and said that Mr. Batman's role with the theater had not ended, saying "he's still with us."