Theater Review – ‘Annie’

Theater Review – ‘Annie’

Produced by The John W. Engeman Theater - Northport

Reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur

One can hardly believe it’s been forty years since ‘Annie’ opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) on West 52^nd Street in Manhattan. What was even more improbable, was viewing Andrea McArdle (creator of 11-year-old Annie in 1977) as she starred in the Gateway (Bellport) revival of ‘Anything Goes’ last year. How stunning that McArdle, now an all-grown-up 53 years of age, still prances about the stage like a teenager! Andrea is one of those legends who, like 2016’s Encore-winning show, ‘Anything Goes,’ just doesn’t age. 

And now, courtesy of Northport’s plush Engeman Theater, we get to see first-hand that ‘Annie’ too, is as fresh and vibrant as ever. Which is saying something … because the 1977 boffo hit was nominated for an eye-popping eleven Tony Awards—and won seven—including Best Musical!

Is it any wonder that the show ran for 2,377 performances? That translates to nearly six continuous years … at the time, a record for the 1500-seat Alvin Theatre. Figure about a million seatings, and close to a hundred million bucks at the box office (if my calculations add up). Not even ‘Snoopy’ … ‘L’il Abner’ … or the irrepressible ‘Spider Man’ … could come close to ‘Little Orphan Annie’ as a comic strip-based Broadway attraction.

The story line in this gem of a Depression Era musical (lyrics by Martin Charnin, music by Charles Strouse) has pre-teen Annie escaping from the orphanage where she lives, in a laundry bag thrown over the shoulder of a deliveryman. She winds up in the home of wealthy … and well-connected … Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks, who reluctantly warms to her. From there on, the thin plot becomes improbably political, but this is a musical, after all, and the tale provides ample opportunities for appropriately uplifting ballads … especially the number that has become the international anthem of optimism, ‘Tomorrow.’ 

This production is directed and choreographed by Engeman veteran Antoinette Dipietropolo (better choreographed than directed, it seems), and it features a sterling performance by George Dvorsky as ‘Daddy’ Warbucks. Someone once implied that it’s theatrical suicide to compete with kids or dogs on stage. But in ‘Annie’ Dvorsky takes on both … and holds his own quite well indeed. This multi-talented actor proves to be the flat-out chairman of the boards in what has become one of the most widely esteemed musicals ever staged … the New York Times estimates that ‘Annie’ is produced around 800 times in this country … every year! That’s popularity, folks.

The kudos for Dvorsky aside, it should not be concluded that Presley Ryan in any way takes a back seat with her interpretation of Annie in the demanding title role. To the contrary, the young lady fills the bill of the perky little redhead convincingly and then some. The same is true for Lynn Andrews, who plays the deliciously mean antagonist, ‘Miss Hannigan,’ and gives us someone to hiss at. Without Andrews’ Dickensian presence to balance the several loveable characters on this show’s endearing roster, the plot would suffer greatly.

Significantly, ‘Annie’ runs right thru Christmas, and the production’s festive lighting, period costumes, choreography (and that elevating score) make it a good choice for presentation over the holidays. Combined with ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Star Playhouse in Commack (thru November 19) … and the perennial fixture ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Theatre Three (which, as always, will play to packed houses thru December 30^th), local audiences once again can expect to be treated to the very best in Broadway-caliber entertainment.

In short, ‘Annie’ helps make this a wonderful time to experience legitimate theater on Long Island.

Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s newest thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

Responders Remembered 9/11 Park Veterans Day Ceremony

John FealNesconset’s Responders Remembered 9/11 Park board members held their first Annual Veterans Day Candlelight Vigil. The park located at 316 Smithtown Blvd, Nesconset has granite walls containing the names of people who responded to the tragic events of 9/11 and who died as a result of their service. Cancer has prematurely taken the lives of responders and John Feal, the creator of the park and president of the FealGood Foundation, has made it his mission in life to make sure that their lives and sacrifice is not forgotten.

On this night, with the granite walls behind him and a huge pine tree decorated with red, white and blue lights in front of him, John Feal had another message he felt compelled to share. That message was that in this troubled world we need to remember and to focus on the many things that unite us. Mr. Feal’s Veterans Day message was regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, political affiliation, religion, economic circumstances, whether you are fat or skinny, we are Americans and we share American values.

Mr. Feal’s words were echoed by Martin Aponte, President of the Responders Remembered 9/11 Park and the speakers who followed. Before making brief comments Legislator Leslie Kennedy and husband John Kennedy, Suffolk County Comptroller stood in the crowd with their candles, freezing with everyone else. Their day started hours before when they attended the St. James Veterans Day Ceremony at 10 am followed by attending almost every other Veterans ceremony in the Town of Smithtown. Their day was long but their respect and support for Veterans was apparent. Town Clerk Vincent Puleo also spoke acknowedging our Veterans and giving thanks for their efforts to keep Americans safe.

The brief ceremony ended one-half hour after it started but John Feal’s message, that we are all Americans who can benefit by listening to each other and by speaking respectfully to each other, seemed to make the light from the candles a little brighter. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - H.Lee Dennison "Too Much Local Government"

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Election Day this week in Suffolk County was dominated by contests for county and town offices including district attorney, sheriff, all 18 seats on the Suffolk Legislature and various posts in the county’s 10 towns.

After all the political mailings, ads and campaign signs (that now line much of the landscape) and charges and counter-charges, I thought it might be instructive to highlight the last interview I did, forty years ago, with among the most remarkable Suffolk County officials I’ve known—H. Lee Dennison—and some of the advice he gave. Mr. Dennison was Suffolk’s first and still longest-serving county executive.

Most people in Suffolk probably now only associate the name H. Lee Dennison with the office tower in Hauppauge named after him after he left office in 1973. The building houses the county executive and staff and other county government components.

Mr. Dennison was the quintessence of political independence. An engineer, he was born upstate, near Hornell, and came to Suffolk in 1927 to work in the then county Highway Department. But he was ousted after writing a a report saying Suffolk government was so mired in partisan politics that it was “doing nothing to encourage adequate county planning.” He retreated to running a private engineering practice. 

In the 1950s a series of special state prosecutors were sent to Suffolk, unearthed corruption and brought charges against and gained convictions of Suffolk Republican figures. What was called the “Suffolk Scandals” led to establishment of the position of Suffolk County executive. The Suffolk Democratic Party in 1960 ran Mr. Dennison, although an enrolled Republican, for the new position as a reformer. 

A key problem for Suffolk, said Mr. Dennison in that 1977 interview, was population. Steps need to be taken to “strongly limit” the county’s population through upzoning and clustering of residences to 1.5 million people, some 200,000 more than in Suffolk then. That’s the county’s population now. More would be “too many people for the resources we have…fresh water, air and space.”

He charged “the towns never did any planning at all, until we forced them to.” Much local zoning had provided for quarter-acre house lots and “five million people could have moved into the county.” He said of the population increase already where he lived and his engineering practice had been located: “Just look at Port Jefferson. You can’t even cross the street.”

About Suffolk County government 40 years ago, then far smaller than it is today, he said there was “no question, too much bureaucracy” in county government. “You can’t make efficient government by adding up numbers or piling up money. It takes leadership.”

There is “too much local government” as well. “There are 550 “separate, independent tax-imposing and tax-spending agencies of local home rule government.” He called for “streamlining” government.

Of the Nassau-Suffolk “Master Plan” designed to set orderly growth, its formulation coming under an initial Dennison appointment, Lee Koppelman, as Suffolk planning director, he said it wan’t being well-implemented. “The towns use it when it’s to their advantage; they haven’t really snagged on to it and pushed it.”

Of the Democratic Party, he said “I fully support its principles when the party does. I regard it as the party of the people.” The Republican Party is “in serious trouble. It’s always been a party of the status quo, do things as they are, don’t upset the boat, don’t disturb anything, patronage, power, perpetuity.”

He said he thought it too late to stop the then Long Island Lighting Company’s half-completed Shoreham nuclear power plant but said the county could use its powers of condemnation to acquire as a park the square-mile of land at Jamesport on which LILCO wanted to build four more nuclear plants—and thus “stop” them. A decade later, New York State created the Long Island Power Authority with the clout to use the state’s condemnation powers to seize LILCO’s assets or stock if it persisted with Shoreham. And Shoreham was blocked from operating. The Jamesport nuclear project was subsequently cancelled and the land along the Long Island Sound became state parkland. 

Mr. Dennison called Suffolk “the most exciting county in the world, the greatest place on earth.” He spoke of “the exciting four seasons of the year, the blessings of an island status, an endless supply of fresh water as long as we can save it, our wonderful location and marvelous shorefront…the potential we have for educational, cultural, recreational and economic development. We have everything we can ask for. It takes a little planning and cooperative effort and creative thinking.”

Six years later, Mr. Dennison died of a heart attack. He was 79.

His successor as county executive, Smithtown’s John V. N. Klein, said: “Politically, he rushed in where angels feared to tread. He was his own man.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.

Theater Review - 'Beauty And The Beast'

Theater Review – ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Produced by Star Playhouse – Commack

Reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur

‘Beauty and the Beast’ is one of those phenomena that Broadway producers usually only dream about. This Walt Disney musical adaptation of an old French fairy tale, first gave audiences a look-see in Houston, and after a generally favorable reception there, the show opened on Broadway in 1994 … with Susan Egan and Terrence Mann in the title roles.

Reviews in sophisticated New York were disappointingly mixed at best, but audiences obviously liked the production more than did the critics (though Frank Rich’s raves in the New York Times probably saved the show from a premature demise) because the musical became the tenth-longest running hit in the history of the Great White way! That translates into 5,500 performances in thirteen years. ‘Beauty’ has now grossed one and a half billion dollars, having played in thirty or more countries … and cities ranging from New York, to Moscow, to Shanghai and Melbourne, Australia.

So much for the influence of tepid critiques.

The story, upon which Linda Woolverton’s adaptation is based, is a familiar one: A cold and selfish Prince is punished for his offenses by being magically transformed into an ugly creature. One of the Prince’s misdeeds is the imprisoning of a beautiful young woman in his castle, and the only way the Prince can become his handsome self once again, is to win the heart of the lovely girl.

Michael Eisner had taken over the reins of Disney Studios ten years before, and while he required considerable persuading, Eisner finally agreed to launch ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as Disney’s first Broadway venture. Clearly, Eisner had not been ill-advised.

This show, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, is a feel-good production that is well-staged by the cast and crew of Commack’s exceedingly impressive Star Playhouse. In particular, the lead characters are ideally cast (Kelsey Kyle is Belle, and Kevin Callaghan plays the homely Beast who is the Prince) in a musical that is appropriate to the forthcoming holiday season. 

The stars of ‘Beauty’ (directed by Michael McAuliffe) will thrill children and please adults … after all, it was more than a kiddie show that earned its way into the rarified company of such plays as ‘Cats’, ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ That said, I can think of no better way to introduce youngsters to legitimate theater than to take them to see this highly professional production. The message will be clear to them … it’s this … what’s really important about a person, is that which is on the inside; one should never be judged by one’s appearance alone.

But there’s a caveat that parents of youngsters would do well to consider. The Star Playhouse is so lush … the seating is so commodious … even the parking is so ample and convenient to the well-appointed lobby … that kids should be advised immediately on their arrival, that the building they are entering is far more than your average theater. Additionally, ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ as staged by this repertory company, is a special show which, like the magnificent venue itself, they are unlikely to see surpassed … even on Broadway.

Indeed, this musical is characteristic of the quality which has come to define Long Island theater.

 Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s newly completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

November 7 Election Results

Election Results: Unofficial

Town Supervisor

William G Holst  - 10,047

***Edward R Wehrheim - 16,268

Kristen Slevin - 2,250

Write-In - 79

Town Clerk

Justin W Smiloff 9,933

***Vincent A Puleo 16,125

Conrad A Chayes Sr 1,643

Write-In 8

Superintendent of Highways

***Robert J Murphy 23,024

Write-In 86

Town Council - Two Positions

Amy L Fortunato 9,755

Patricia Stoddard 9,101

***Thomas J McCarthy 12,429

***Lynne C Nowick 13,532

Robert P Doyle 5,424

Thomas Lohmann 5,086

Write-In 18

Suffolk County Legislature

12th Legislative District

Kevin L Hyms 5,886

***Leslie A Kennedy 12,188

Write-In

13th Legislative District

Colleen T Maher 6,601

***Robert Trotta 13,808

Write-In 10

District Attorney

***Timothy D Sini 180,421

Raymond G Perini 106,228

Christopher Garvey 4,283

Write-In 100

Suffolk County Sherrif

***Errol D Toulon Jr 141,006

Lawrence M Zacarese 139,652

Peter J Krauss 4,613

Write-In 95

Proposal Results are for Suffolk County only. These are statewide proposals.

Proposal One - Question Constitutional Convention -  Yes 40,820 - No 264, 035

Proposal Two - Amendment Allowing the complete or partial forfeiture of a public officer’s pension -

Yes 206,455  - No 91,904

Proposal Three - Amendment Authorizing the Use of Forest Preserve Land for Specified Purposes -

Yes - 142,769 -  No 150,805