Theater Review - "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels"

THEATER REVIEW

“Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels”

Presented by: Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts thru May 19

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

There are several reasons why you should hurry to see “Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels,” but the main one is best summed-up in two words—Missy Dowse!

I’ve been attending SCPA productions since founder Ken Washington first brought them to Smithtown’s landmark theater, and I’ve never seen a singer, actor, dancer—and all-around endearing ingénue—as impressive as the statuesque girl with the big voice who’s starring as ‘Christine Colegate’ in this tuneful comedy romp.

Thanks largely (but by no means exclusively) to Dowse, this is the slickest Ken Washington musical to date, and that’s saying something, because the impresario produces more hits in a season than the average producer cranks out in a lifetime. Nor has Washington merely been standing in the boat pointing the way throughout the molding of this rapid-fire show, he’s obviously been cracking the whip during rehearsal. How else could the snappy dialogue in this presentation be delivered with such spot-on timing? It’s incredible!

Of course, it helps when a cast is made up of talented professionals. And this play contains a total of twenty-two such performers—sixteen in the energetic ensemble alone! As for the six named players, they work hand-in-glove with the young men and women of the chorus—and just as harmoniously with a spectrum of soup-to-nuts musicians behind the scenes. The whole thing comes off without a hitch.

It may seem that the more players there are on stage, the easier it is to sneak a miscue past an otherwise distracted audience—not so! The opposite is true. Picture a single member of Radio City’s famed ‘Rockettes’ blowing one of those highly synchronized dance steps; the result would be devastating to the entire troupe. No such error ever happened during Saturday’s showing of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Not a fumbled line, not a missed dance step, or a bungled cue! The only thing even approaching a slip-up was an incident when a wayward curtain inadvertently knocked over an ice bucket, and even then the clever Michael Bertolini playing ‘Lawrence Jamieson’ stayed right in character rendering a wisecrack that could easily have been part of the script. That’s stage presence!

Bertolini’s fellow ‘Scoundrel’ Jeremy Hudson is every bit as inventive during this long, single-intermission show, and like his conniving partner, Hudson fires off dozens of risque lines, grimaces, and devilish asides—keeping them just this side of tawdry. Delicious!

I suppose even the most accomplished performers would be hard-pressed to maintain the machine-gun pace of this musical (based on the 1988 film of the same name and introduced to the Broadway stage just eight years ago), were it not for the delightful semi-changes-of-pace provided by Melanie Lipton and Alyson Clancy playing naughty ‘Muriel’ and brassy ‘Jolene’ respectively. They convince us that they’re having great fun throughout the proceedings, and boyoboy do they ever deliver gusto to the proceedings. If it’s possible for anyone to match the vocal range of the marvelous Missy Dowse, they manage to do so.

In short, there’s no saying enough about this film comedy turned musical, except to say, “Do yourself a serious favor—discover Missy Dowse and her retinue on the south side of Main Street in center-Smithtown—and the earlier you do it between now and May 19, the sooner you’ll be able to take in a second helping of this thoroughly satisfying production.”

Jeb LadouceurAward-winning Smithtown author Jeb Ladouceur has published seven novels. His theater reviews appear in dozens of L. I. newspapers. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “The Dealer” due this summer, Israeli extortionists threaten to destroy Hoover Dam demolishing the Las Vegas Strip - if casino operators don’t pay millions.

Update on Monday, May 6, 2013 at 1:42PM by .

**Added a link at the top of the page.

The Sisterhood of Smithtown Super Moms

What’s Cookin’? – Smithtown

By Nancy Vallarella

The Sisterhood of Smithtown Super Moms

Smithtown is full of talented women. They take care of their families, many have careers, some have their own business and several share their talents for the benefit of the community. What they do best is network to help each other achieve goals.  Here is an example of how this works in our town. Please bear in mind that this example names just a few of the many Super Moms of Smithtown and of course; food is involved too.

Flash back to August, 2012 – Yogurtini opens on Middle Country Road in the heart of Smithtown. The town embraces a new business opening its doors but naysayers are doubtful that yet another self-serve yogurt store will succeed.

Enter super mom owner of Yogurtini and Town of Smithtown resident Ellen Bedziner. Her plan from the beginning has always been to bring a high quality product with a variety of unique flavors to the marketplace. Right from the start, Ellen introduced Yogurtini to Smithtown with a grand opening that raised money to benefit breast cancer research. Over the following eight months Yogurtini has served 16 yogurt flavors per month (that always include one no sugar added and one gluten free) accompanied by over 70 delicious toppings. Throughout those months, in addition to breast cancer research Ellen helped raise funds for Smithown High School West DECA, Hope for Youth, The Smithtown/St. James Little League and most recently, Mike’s Hike Scholarship Fund overseen by The Smithown Children’s Foundation in memory of science teacher Mike Denaro of Accompsett Elementary. 

 Ellen has become so rooted in her business and the community she has become known in town as thee “Yogurt Lady” of Smithtown. Fully aware that a business cannot run by hosting fundraisers alone, Ellen has recently launched a line of Yogurtini frozen yogurt pies. Now the Yogurtini experience can conveniently be brought home and shared with family, friends and neighbors. This cool and delectable melt-in-your-mouth treat is a perfect complement to warm weather dining - a BBQ homerun!

Currently, Yogurtini Smithtown self-serve has six yogurt pie flavor combinations ready to grab and go:

Oreo Crunch, Birthday Cake Surprise, Sea Salt Caramel Treasure, M&M Crunch, Cookie Dough Decadence and New York Cheese Cake are made with a graham cracker crust and serve six to eight for $20. Custom pies with your choice of Yogurtini yogurt filling and two premium toppings are available for $24 with orders placed at least 1 day in advance. In addition, grab and go mini cones are also available -perfect for outdoor entertaining events.

Lending a hand to the Yogurt Lady of Smithtown is Maureen’s Kitchen. Maureen’s Kitchen is one of the Grand Super Mom businesses of Smithtown. For those of you that have been living under the Smithtown Bull – yes there is a Maureen.  Maureen Durnbach and her daughters have been serving breakfast to the Smithtown community for over 27 years.  It was Maureen’s Kitchen manager/daughter Christine who opened the door there for Ellen Bedziner’s other new creation, the Yorgurtini tart. Flavor combinations are the same as the yogurt pies but this individual serving item has a shortbread crust. Yogurtini tarts are currently making special appearances on Maureen’s Kitchen Lunch Special Menu but are also available upon request there and at the Yogurtini store on 44 East Main Street in Smithtown.

Another offering on the horizon at Yogurtini - Birthday Parties! 

As a special thank you to all of Smithtown and Smithtown moms, Ellen is giving away one Yogurtini pie per week for the next four weeks throughout May.  “Like” Yogurtini Smithtown Self-Serve’s facebook page and you will be entered to win a voucher for a Yogurtini yogurt pie to be used anytime between May 1^st, 2013 and September 30^th 2013. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yogurtini-Smithtown-Self-Serve/533155033367545 

What’s Cookin’? -  Smithtown would like to give a shout out to the Angel Super Moms of the Smithtown Children’s Foundation. On June 6^th they will be awarding a scholarship to a Smithtown High School senior attending culinary school in honor of the support, hard work and generosity Maureen’s Kitchen has given to the foundation over the past several years. 

Go have some Yogurtini yogurt and say, “hi” to Ellen the Yogurt Lady of Smithtown.

Take mom out for a nice breakfast or lunch at Maureen’s Kitchen.

Walk it off by joining the Smithtown Children’s Foundation for the 3^rd annual Mike’s Hike 4K at Smithtown High School West on Sunday, June 2, 2013 

Registration and details can be found at www.smithtownchildrensfoundation.com

Happy Mother’s Day!

Village Of The Branch Makes Changes After Audit

By Pat Biancaniello

New York State’s Office of the Comptroller recently completed an audit of Village of The Branch for the period June 1, 2011 – October 31, 2012. The audit, addressed the issue “Has the Board delegated discretionary functions to independent contractors?”

The answer turned out to be yes.

Village of the Branch used an independent contractor, Mr. Gerard Harris, as Village Building Inspector. Compensation included an $8,000 base salary and as much as 50 percent of certain inspection fees.  This resulted in compensation of $84,197 with approximately $73,000 coming from fees during the audit period. 

According to the report, a village may retain professionals as independent contractors to advise and assist and to perform functions that are ministerial. A village may not, “unless expressly authorized by statute, a village may not contract with a private party to perform village functions that involve their performance of police powers or other discretionary functions.”

A building inspector has responsibility for issuing permits, examining premises, enforcing laws that deal with building construction and issuing notices and orders to enforce compliance. Building Inspectors also collect permit fees. 

Auditor’s made the following recommendation:  The Board should ensure that anyone performing discretionary functions, such as fee collections, police powers and building inspections on behalf of the Village meets all the requirements for holding Village office, including being properly appointed to the office, taking and filing an oath of office, meeting residency requirements and being compensated by salary through payroll with appropriate deductions. No one who performs these functions should be engaged as an independent contractor. See report Village of Village of the Branch.

Trustees of Village of the Branch agreed with the report. Mayor Thomas Keon, in a letter to Mr. McCracken Office of the State Comptroller wrote, “We agree with the findings therein and will implement the recommendation.  Beginning with fiscal year 2013 -2014 the building inspector will become and employee of the village and be compensated by salary through payroll with appropriate deductions. A local law will be enacted allowing residence in Suffolk County.” 

According to Newsday, on April 9th Harris was hired by Village of the Branch at an annual part-time salary of $30,000.

Dix Hills Man Arrested And Indicted For Tax Fraud

Owner of Multiple New York Construction Companies Indicted for Tax Fraud

Eric Anderson, of Dix Hills, N.Y., was arrested today following his indictment on April 25, 2013, on numerous tax crimes, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

According to the indictment, Anderson owned three construction companies in Dix Hills: Anderson Framing, Anderson Enterprise and Anderson Trim Specialty. As alleged, Anderson corruptly endeavored to obstruct the IRS between 2006 and 2008 by using a check cashing service to cash over $10.5 million of gross receipts checks paid to his construction companies. He concealed his check cashing activities from his tax return preparer so that the income was not included on the companies’ tax returns. Anderson paid his employees in cash while failing to collect and pay over to the IRS employment taxes. He also diverted cash receipts earned by his companies for his own personal use. Finally, after learning of the criminal investigation, Anderson shredded business records and lied to IRS investigators about his use of the check cashing service.

The indictment also alleges that Anderson filed a false 2006 corporate income tax return for Anderson Trim and failed to file multiple years of employment tax returns, corporate income tax returns, and individual income tax returns. Anderson faces a potential maximum sentence of 94 years in prison and a potential fine of up to $5,300,000.

A trial date has not been scheduled. An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated by IRS - Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Mark Kotila and Jeffrey Bender of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. 

Town Board Meeting Was A Blast

By Pat Biancaniello

Speakers from the Old Northport - Lawrence Road Task Force  waited hours for their turn to address the town board at the April 25th meeting. When the time came for them to speak they praised, pleaded, and blasted the board.  Speaker after speaker spoke with passion about health concerns, declining home values and deplorable conditions caused by illegal activities by businesses on Lawrence Rd.  

Members of the task force came out to seek assurances from board members that they would not change zoning for the area. A change in zoning, they articulated, would be rewarding those who have violated the laws of the town with disregard to the health and well-being of residents.

The town is working to create a zoning ordinance for the area that would prohibit the obnoxious and illegal operations that currently exist.  “Give us time” - Supervisor Vecchio, Town Attorney, John Zollo, Planning Director Frank DeRubeis called on the residents to be patient.  Board members explained that they have been developing a strategy that would have the best chance for success in the courts. There was praise on both sides of the argument for Zollo’s recent success at the KPE site where a temporary restraining order (TRO) has been in place and has been effective.  Audience members remained skeptical. 

Zollo explained that his approach is to have a zoning ordinance plan in place to offer to the court, thereby increasing the likelihood of closing down the illegal operations.  He asked that the residents give him time. “This area has been neglected for 20,30, 40 years.” 

The residents were not happy. There is not a lot of trust by members of the task force that a new proposal, which board members have yet to review, which calls for an “industrial” zone, will be more effective than the current plan.  Resident Larry Shaw was one of the many speakers who opposed any new zoning  ordinance, “This board is not here to figure out what should be done with that land, this board is here to enforce the current zoning.” 

Residents pressed board members for answers.  Why would anyone consider a new zoning ordinance and believe that business owners who violate current laws will not violate a new code? Again, Zollo urged residents to give them time, reminding them that these illegal activities have been going on for many years. Resident’s frustration grew palpable.”Enforce what you have in place” was the most common expression of the night. The odors that are emanating from these sites are a recent development, according to one speaker. Again, the request was made to enforce current zoning code and not to reward illegal business activity.

 “Who’s going to be affected by this? it’s us” said Mr. Shaw….