A Show that Floats my Boat

Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater
BY BRUCE APAR
When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act

Michael James Leslie (as Joe, center) and Ensemble perform “Ol’ Man River.”

Westchester Broadway Theatre calls its current production of Showboat, a landmark Broadway musical stuffed with tuneful standards, “Our most spectacular production in years!

The only thing that bothers me about that boast is they beat me to it!

I’ve seen a lot of the mainstage productions at this regional dinner-theatre and I couldn’t agree more. This impeccably staged two-plus hours of top-deck entertainment knows how to float your boat, as the admiring audience made clear at curtain call with waves of cheers.

No sooner does this Showboat pull into dock than you are buoyed by the energy, talent and high-stepping professionalism that washes across the stage with every exquisitely-penned and expertly-delivered number. There are more of those in this historic musical than in any 10 lesser Broadway shows combined.

The large cast of ‘Showboat.’

As long ago as Showboat was written and premiered — early 20th Century — part of its brilliant simplicity is that it feels fresh and full of life as ever.

From the poignant torch song “Bill” to the soaring romantic ballad “You Are Love” to the upbeat comic relief of “Life Upon the Wicked Stage,” the unforgettable score by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II has legs longer than the bevy of Ziegfeld showgirls.

Julie (Sarah Hanlon) center and Ensemble perform “Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man of Mine.”

Showboat enjoys a unique place in musical theater history. It is the first musical of note — produced by no less a legend than Florenz Ziegfeld himself — to depart from the lighter-than-air plots that defined musicals of the day.

Until Showboat paddled into town — to widespread acclaim from critics and theater-goers alike — the books (stories) written for musicals were as mind-numbing as “boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl.” (Think 42nd Street or Anything Goes.)

Sarah Hanlon (as Julie Laverne) and Eric Briarley (as Steven Baker).

Showboat changed all that. Based on a novel by celebrated writer Edna Ferber (who also wrote “Giant” — movie starring James Dean — and “So Big”), it spans five decades and three generations of family, from the late 19th Century to the 1920s. Under the firm hand of director Richard Stafford, the staging is smart and dramatic at every turn, with the passage of years smoothly and clearly conveyed to the audience.

Subject matter previously considered out of bounds for a musical comedy– namely racial intolerance — is what anchors Showboat. We learn of mixed-race marriage, broken dreams, and abandonment, all handled tastefully, and with just enough gravitas to make a point and move swiftly ahead.

From the shores of the MIssissippi River to Chicago to Broadway, we see show folk, dock workers and others struggling, falling in and out of love, and staying one step ahead of the law.

Amanda Pulcini (as Ellie May Chipley) and Daniel Scott Walton (as Frank Schultz) perform “Goodbye My Lady Love.”

There’s no heavy-handed preaching or self-righteous moralizing here. There’s also never a dull moment. Ultimate credit for striking a perfect balance of story, song and acting goes to Mr. Stafford, whose mounting of this classic is as accomplished as anything we’ve seen at this venue.

As rakish Gaylord Ravenal, a riverboat gambler who weds the daughter of the showboat’s Captain Andy, John Preator brings strong acting and a rapturous tenor.

John Preator (as Gaylord Ravenal) and Bonnie Fraser (as Magnolia Hawks) Perform “Only Make Believe.”

The goosebumps come out when bass baritone Michael James Leslie (as dock worker Joe) stands center stage to sing “Ol’ Man River,” and bring down the house. It is a bravura performance that rings in your head long after the show ends.

Also deserving special mention is Jamie Ross as Cap’n Andy Hawks and Karen Murphy as his wife Parthy; Bonnie Fraser as their songstress daughter Magnolia; Amanda Pulcini and Daniel Scott Walton as vaudevillian duo Ellie May and Frank Schultz; Inga Ballard as Joe’s wife Queenie; and Sarah Hanlon and Eric Briarley as showboat headliners Julie LaVerne and Steven Baker.

The ensemble performs the Charleston

Media and marketing specialist Bruce Apar, also known as Bruce The Blog, is Chief Content Officer of Pinpoint Marketing & Design, a Google Partner agency. He also owns APAR All-Media, a Hudson Valley marketing agency that works with The Winery at St. George, Yorktown Feast of San Gennaro, Jefferson Valley Mall, Yorktown Stage, Axial Theatre, Armonk Players and others. Follow him on Hudson Valley WXYZ on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube. Reach him at bapar@pinpointmarketingdesign.com or (914) 275-6887.

Facts & Figures from Westchester Broadway Theatre

Reservations Call (914)-592-2222 Also at www.BroadwayTheatre.com

Group Reservations Discounts for Groups of 20 or More: Call 592-2225.

Luxury Boxes Call 592-8730, for private parties of 6 to 22. Enjoy dining and theatre in an elegant private box. Additional features include an expanded dinner menu, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, private powder room, and Luxury Box reserved parking. Additional cost, call for details.

Ticket Prices Dinner & Show range between $56 and $84 PLUS TAX depending on the performances chosen. Beverage Service & Gratuities are not included in the ticket price. Discounts are available for children, students, and senior citizens at selected performances. Also check the website for on-going Special Offers! More news at: www.BroadwayTheatre.com

WBT Mainstage Schedule

Showboat – Sept 24 to Nov 29 2015 and returns Dec 30 to Jan 31, 2016

Tim and Scrooge– Dec 3 to Dec 27

Always Patsy Cline – Feb 4 to Feb 28

Man Of La Mancha– Mar 3 to May 1

Happy Days – May 5 to July 17

The Million Dollar Quartet –July 21 to Sept 11

Saturday Night Fever – Sept 15 to Nov 2

Life Upon the Wicked Stage

Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater
BY BRUCE APAR
When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act

Show business deals in fables, and Theresa Rebeck deals in its foibles. The wise-cracking playwright has a sharp eye, and sharper ear, for the immature nonsense that makes the profession both frolicsome and infuriating for those in its clutches. (She created NBC series Smash.)

In “The Understudy,” now enjoying a fun and briskly-paced production at Lyndhurst under the auspices of M & M Performing Arts Company, the author posits Art and Commerce at opposite ends of the food chain. Guess which is the predator that feasts and which the easily-replaced plant life that gets eaten alive?

(From left) Michael Muldoon as Jake, Peter Lillo as Harry, Carly Jayne Lillo as Roxanne, with a baleful Franz Kafka auditing the rehearsal, in Theresa Rebeck’s “The Understudy.”

Directed crisply by Larry Schneider, the show runs Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday through July 26 in the Lyndhurst Carriage House Theater. The charming historic space (fully air-conditioned) benefits theatrically from a newly-installed stage at one end of what had been simply a large, open room. The so-called “black-box theater” dimensions afford a physical closeness between audience and actors you don’t experience in full-scale venues. (For tickets, call 1-888-71-TICKETS or visit http://www.lyndhurst.org.)

‘Bargain Basement Star’

In the course of a fitful rehearsal for a Broadway play, insecure actors Harry (Peter Lillo) and Jake (Michael Muldoon) lock horns — and lips — with jaded female stage manager Roxanne (Carly Jayne Lillo).

B-list movie actor Jake is both co-star with, and understudy for, the play’s headliner, whom we never see, but we hear a lot about him, none of it good. He is a Hollywood action-movie superstar pulling down a cool $22 million per film even though he’s “terrible.”

Talented but obscure Harry is the new understudy for Jake, a self-described “bargain basement star” coming off a blockbuster action movie for which he was paid $2.3 million for mouthing inspired dialogue like, “Get in the truck!”

Harry has a history with Roxanne she’s trying to forget and he’s trying to renew. He pulls neurotic Jake’s chain by insincerely praising his performance in the movie and in the play. In truth, Harry both resents and envies what he calls “talent-free” stars like Jake.

Hollywood Reputations Die Hard

Ms. Rebeck leaves little doubt what real-life celebrity she has in mind — and has an oh-so-low opinion of — by transparently naming the superstar simply Bruce, who is the target of takedowns about his insufferable egocentricity.

Those attuned to show biz gossip will appreciate her choice of name because Hollywood actors’ reputations for being difficult and unlikable tend to, you might say, die hard. “Bruce is a big star,” says Roxanne, “which means there’s always a problem… “

(Coincidentally, in a plausible case of life imitating art, Bruce Willis is due to star on Broadway this November in a stage version of Stephen King’s “Misery,” which was a hit 1990 movie. That makes the conceit at play in “The Understudy” uncannily timely.)

The play within the play a work of unspecified title by literary giant Franz Kafka. Ms. Rebeck uses his trademark themes of alienation and dehumanization to weave in handy metaphors about actors being treated like bugs (“Metamorphosis”) and being mocked psychologically and financially (“The Trial”).

Rest assured all of this is played out with her very light but blunt touch, in her entertainingly velvet-hammer style.

‘They Pay You Not to Act’

“You have no rights, you’re an actor,” is typical of how she drives home the life of the typical performer, who couldn’t earn $22 million in several lifetimes, let alone for a single movie. Here she is on the hapless plight of an understudy: “No one will see you, you don’t exist. They pay you not to act.”

The trio of actors bring plenty of energy and stage presence to their respective roles.

Peter Lillo once again displays his consistent knack for smooth and easily relatable portrayals. He opens the show solo on stage, pulling us in to the story by both addressing the audience and half-muttering to himself about the frustrations of his current station in life.

Tall and handsome Michael Muldoon — who is half of M & M with wife Melinda O’Brien — cuts a sleek figure on stage as self-absorbed and preening Jake, coolly attired in all black, neurotically checking his cellphone to see if he was “booked” for the big movie role he covets to climb out of his second-rank rut.

Mr. Muldoon is a polished performer who makes strong choices about his character that keep the audience engaged and entertained.

(from left) Michael Muldoon (Jake), Peter Lillo (Harry), Carly Jayne Lillo (Roxanne) star in “The Understudy” by Theresa Rebeck at Lyndhurst Carriage House.

Forceful Feline of a Stage Manager

Roxanne is the foil and the compass for both of the frustrated men in her backstage life. Carly Jayne Lillo (Peter Lillo’s real-life spouse) is a forceful feline of a stage manager whose job it is to make sure even the most hapless actors always land on their feet.

When Roxanne lets down her hair in a poignant moment of vulnerability and emotional distress, Mr. Lillo’s acting chops are fully evident as she tugs at our heartstrings using art rather than artifice.

Theresa Rebeck does not spare in her cross-hairs the kind of theater-goer star-struck by seeing Hollywood names of mediocre talent on stage, yet less appreciative of great theater performed by gifted, no-name actors. One character bemoans the fact that “We care more about people coming in buses from New Jersey.”

And the zingers aimed at Bruce (who personifies crass Commerce) zip by with regularity: “Three hours of Kafka and they love it. Not because of Bruce. Bruce sucks in this play.” By the demanding yardstick of Theresa Rebeck, presumably her version of high praise for Bruce Willis in his upcoming “Misery” star turn on Broadway would be to proclaim that his performance “does not suck.” Neither will his paycheck.

The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck. With Carly Jayne Lillo Peter Lillo, Michael Muldoon*. Lyndhurst Carriage House Theater. Director, Larry Schneider. Stage Managers, Emmy Schwartz, Nan Weiss. Set Design & Construction, Floyd Gumble, Steve Aigner. Choreography, Jenn Haltmenn. Producers, Melinda O’Brien, Michael Muldoon. *Member of Actors Equity Association

For information about upcoming shows by M & M Performing Arts Company, visit http://www.MMPACI.com.

Media and marketing specialist Bruce Apar, also known by his nom de blog Bruce The Blog, owns and operates APAR All-Media, a Hudson Valley agency for advertising, content, marketing and public relations. His professional affiliations include The Armonk Players, Axial Theater/Howard Meyer Acting, Burbio.com, Jefferson Valley Mall, New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, PinPoint Marketing & Design, Solo Sun Beatles & Jazz Instrumentals, The Winery at St. George, Yorktown Stage, Yorktown Organizations United. Follow APAR All-Media’s Hudson Valley WXYZ on Facebook and Twitter. Reach him at bapar@me.com.

‘Follow the Future,’ Coogle Gallahan Tells Caregivers

Bruce the Blog
By Bruce Apar
When Bruce The Blog Listens, People Talk

Boy Genius + Internet Illionaire Coogle Gallahan

News Item: Boy Genius + Internet Illionaire Coogle Gallahan became the first 11-year-old commencement speaker in the Milky Way when he addressed graduates of YouTube Youniversity. Master Callahan’s remarks were live-streamed in a private feed from his bunk bed directly to the device of choice watched by graduates, families and Hackers Anonymous! (HA!). Following are highlights of the historic happening…

“Graduates, Parents, Relatives, Other Viewers, Honorable Voyeurs… As I lay before you today, milk and cookies bedside, I am reminded of the immortal word of that great non-American, Justin Bieber, may he rest a piece: “Believe”… what I am about to say.

“For, truly, what choice have you? My generation is the future, and yours, whatever your inappropriate age, is either the present or (spoiler alert: here comes the shade) is clip-clopping like a tired nag into the sadly setting sun. Oh, you still have some skin in the game, to be sure, but it is rapidly being dappled to death by liver spots. C’est la mort.

Heroin Is Not a Fact of Life

Bruce the Blog
By Bruce Apar
When Bruce The Blog Listens, People Talk

As a teenager, I lay awake in bed, listening with dread to the vague, cold clanging of apparatus being prepared in the bathroom I shared with my two older brothers, Stephen, the eldest, and Robert, our middle sibling.

Like the popular ’60s TV situation comedy with Fred MacMurray as paterfamilias, we were our dad’s “My Three Sons.”

But, on the eve of the 1960s, our family life was about to become situation tragedy.

The Art of Staging Turf Wars

Bruce the Blog By Bruce Apar When Bruce The Blog Listens, People Talk

Turf is turf, whether it’s auld sod in the Emerald Isle or pavement in Manhattan; whether it’s an in-your-mug Irish lass sparring over a patch of land with the feisty farmer next door or American hooligans pounding the pavement to protect their territory from an Hispanic street gang.

Two such scenarios are playing out to magical effect on a couple of the finest stages of entertainment in the Hudson Valley.

The insiders behind the outstanding “Outside Mullingar” are (from left) actor Davis Hall (Tony Reilly); producers Denise Bessette, Olivia Sklar, Dan Foster (who directed), actors Susan Pellegrino (Aoife Muldoon), Sean Hayden (Anthony Reilly), Susannah Schulman Rogers (Rosemary Muldoon). Photo by Bruce Apar

John Patrick Shanley, the supremely gifted dramatist who has spun contemporary classics like Oscar winner Moonstruck and Tony- and Pulitzer-honored Doubt, is very well served by Hudson Stage’s gloriously performed Outside Mullingar at Whippoorwill Theater, part of Armonk’s North Castle Library.

A few miles (or minutes) west, at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, the Jets and Sharks are having at each other in the towering West Side Story, miraculously scored by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with a veritable hit parade of hummable and infectious standards.

Setting Your Watch to Post, Pin, Tweet

[INFOGRAPHIC] The Best (and Worst) Times to Post, Pin, and Tweet http://t.co/VMkeNDonRg pic.twitter.com/c5CldiETAO

— HubSpot (@HubSpot) March 29, 2015

Chillin’ at Chili’s

Bruce the Blog
By Bruce Apar

When Bruce The Blog Listens, People Talk

When I saw today on the Ziosk mini-screen atop the Chili’s bar that happy hour ended 6 p.m., panic was not far behind. It’s 5:45 already! Hurry up and take my order. But the bartender calmly informed me 6 p.m. applied solely to food. For 2-for-1 drinks, happy hour is “every day, all day.” Thinking earwax was clogging my canal, I said, “Wait just one minute, Missy. You mean to say your happy hour is 24/7?” Missy gently affirmed. Oh… my… guacamole! I thought I died and went to cielo.

Two-for-one beers, wine, “well” mixed drinks (as in not premium brands), and classic margaritas are served at Chili’s round-the-clock.

Chili’s
Somers Commons Shopping Center
80 US-6, Baldwin Place 10505
(914) 621-0216

Since my mucho better half, Elyse, only goes one round at happy hour — though she lasts a lot longer when sparring with me — I commandeered one of her two classic margaritas, for starters; like Vegas used to do in its showrooms when you ordered a drink before the show began, Chili’s brings both drinks at once (for the price of one; $7.29 for a classic margarita). That refreshment didn’t last very long, and for a chaser, I ordered a Sam Adams summer ale (think positive!), and Bruce got two brews. That was $5.29. Not bad for a night’s work.

On the food side, we ordered the classic nachos, which we quickly noticed were prepared differently from the past in this establishment, much to our taste buds’ delight. Instead of the typical mountain of chips slathered in melted Velveeta cheese, these were separate triangles closer to quesadillas in texture and appearance. They are “Topped with 3-cheese blend, black beans, jalapeños & our Skillet Queso. Served with house-made pico de gallo & sour cream.”

We added beef and guacamole, both slightly extra. Cost for a regular size: $7.19. Bodily damages: a mere 1020 calories.

Classic nachos are a welcome departure from the all-too-common Mount Velveeta that other places shove in front of you.

That should have been enough, but my eyes outsized my stomach, so I prevailed on my lady friend to also order the southwestern eggrolls. $8.49. Per the menu, they are… “Crispy flour tortillas stuffed with juicy smoked chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeño Jack cheese, chopped red peppers & spinach.

Southwestern egg rolls do NOT have an MSG option. Nobody’s complaining.

Served with avocado-ranch sauce.” And only 800 calories, positively dietetic by Chili’s standards. After I ate one, with a dab of sour cream, we asked for a doggie styrofoam to take the rest home for weekend snacks in between sets at the gym.

Chili’s horseshoe bar is abuzz with a wide range of customers, which makes for constant people watching, if that’s your thing. We spotted our friend Robin Newhook across the bar, and she came over to catch up. Makes for a friendly, casual ambience, with plenty of room to move around. Or you can gaze at the array of flat screens above the din, tuned to sports and newsd.

Array of flat screens are served free.

Part of the new Chili’s menu, we quickly discovered, is that none of the drinks are accompanied by prices. I get it. It lets them change the pricing at will, pegged no doubt to fluctuating barley futures and such.

About those hours: for food, happy hour pricing is 3-6 Monday-Friday, and also 9-close Monday-Thursday, plus all day Sunday. For drinks, happy hour is round-the-clock. Enjoy, but don’t overdo. That way, you’ll enjoy the morning after too.

SAFETY NOTE: Remember, if you intend to drive afterwards, keep any alcohol in your bloodstream safely below 0.08%, the legal limit above which you will be charged with Driving Under the Influence, or DUI, for both your own protection and that of others on the road. When in doubt what your blood alcohol level may be, err on the side of caution and stick to being a passenger.

Bruce Apar owns and operates APAR All-Media, a Hudson Valley agency for advertising, content, marketing and public relations. Follow both APAR All-Media and Hudson Valley WXYZ on Facebook. Reach him at bapar@me.com.

March Gladness

BRUCE THE BLOG
BY BRUCE APAR

For our family, this is the historic week that was.

It is the week everybody welcomes spring, a date that marks my first day on earth.

The next day marks our son’s last.

This is the week a dozen years ago when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

In his 2003 NCAA picks, Harrison correctly picked Texas and my alma mater Syracuse in the Final Four, but predicted Kentucky — this year’s even-money favorite to take it all — as the champion instead of winner Syracuse.

It is the week a dozen years ago when my alma mater, Syracuse, began its triumphant march to giddy madness, winning the NCAA basketball tournament (OK, so our son the sports whiz picked Kentucky, but he did put ‘Cuse in his Final Four).

This is the week in 2003 Harrison entered Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for his third open-heart surgery.

It is the same city where, in 1987, Harrison sprang to life from Elyse in Pennsylvania Hospital, the place Rocky Balboa’s son was born, in the movies. (Harrison literally came out fighting, with superficial bruises under his eyes that looked like shiners.)

Fifteen years later, we sensed serendipity in returning to the city of Harrison’s birth for a life-saving operation, scheduled, no less, on my birthday of March 20.

This is the week Harrison — whose dwarfism stopped his stature at 37 inches, 37 pounds and caused heart-and-lung disease — started a secret diary on the eve of his surgery, writing in it, we later learned, that he optimistically envisioned an outcome that would, in his words, “… give my dad a refreshing birthday gift wrapped in flesh — a son’s healthy heart.”

Indeed, he exited the operating room with my birthday gift pulsing like new, but the brief relief was a mean tease. A day later, notwithstanding the best efforts of six puzzled doctors huddled over him in the intensive care unit, Harrison’s 15-year-old heart halted.

Our son was no more, and we were lost in lonely despair. The surgeon, his face ashen, his voice numb, sorrowfully told us our son’s rare condition put him beyond the reach of medical salvation. “I’m so sorry,” chimed in Harrison’s nurse, then broke down sobbing. We lay awake all night, doing the same, while staring into the darkest, deepest emptiness a parent can know.

Elyse and Elissa on Norwegian Dawn-Dec. 2003

In December 2003, when Elissa was 13 (pictured with mom Elyse), nine months after Harrison passed, we went on a Caribbean cruise with other families to “get away from it all,” at least for a week.

“Will daddy ever be happy again?” 12-year-old Elissa asked Elyse, as family and friends embraced a once-happy home suddenly awash in tears.

Five years later, at Yorktown High’s Senior Awards Night, from the podium, where each year we present a scholarship in her brother’s name, I proudly told our daughter, for all to hear, “The answer to your question starts with a “Y,” because You have made me happy.”

The annual fall charity golf outing hosted by Harrison Apar Field of Dreams Foundation raises money for recreation and education for the betterment of families and youth in our community.

It makes me happy to give back to the community through the Harrison Apar Field of Dreams Foundation, which we started in 2003 with the generous support of Yorktown Athletic Club (YAC) and Yorktown Police Benevolent Association.

It has taught me that when you lose a child, what you gain is the privege and duty of helping others in your child’s name.

Harrison strived hard to be just one of the guys, and pushed himself beyond his physical limits to show good things come in small packages. On the 7th grade weekend retreat at Frost Valley, he proved his true grit by stepping it up on the rappelling wall.

Harrison played and officiated baseball and basketball for YAC, to which I forever will be indebted for lifting my son’s self-esteem to where he felt 10-feet tall on the field, court, or stage.

Thanks to Harrison’s passion for sports — he competed against peers virtually twice his size — I learned the inner resolve it takes to hold your head high even when closer to the ground than everyone else.

Shaquille O’Neal (l) and Hakeem Olajuwon had a “pick-up” game with 8-year-old Harrison Apar at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Despite knowing he never would sink a basket or hit a ball past the pitcher, nobody had more fun being out there than did Harrison. Because of his severe physical limitation, he took nothing for granted; he made the most of the least.

TIme cannot heal this mortal wound, but it can help you learn to cope with the gushing gash of grief. Celebrating Harrison’s life gives us strength. If he made the most of every inch of his being, how dare those of us blessed with decent health come up short.

Within days of Harrison’s passing, 7th grader Brendan Frail (since deceased) took it upon himself to rally the town of Yorktown to rename a public park Harrison Apar Field of Dreams. Fittingly, the field has a bench in memory of Brendan.

At the foot of the field’s flagpole, a memorial plaque is posted three-feet from the ground, by design the same height as Harrison, as a reminder to kids and adults alike that the true measure of a person is not a matter of inches, but a matter of character.

Joey DiPanfilo reading plaque at Field of Dreams

Each spring on opening day of Harrison Apar Field of Dreams in Yorktown, a player for Yorktown Athletic Club reads the memorial plaque dedicating the field in Harrison’s name. The pedestal is three-feet high to symbolize Harrison’s actual height. It’s a reminder that stature is not a matter of inches but a matter of character.

Such is the legacy of a little person who continues to inspire those who knew him, and to influence those who never met him.

This is the week of the long-awaited vernal equinox, when the rites of spring are renewed in all of nature’s many-splendored glories.

March makes me glad to revel in the return of kids like Harrison to the great outdoors, hearing the joyful noise of bat on ball, seeing them cheer on teammates.

When he no longer could play basketball or baseball for Yorktown Athletic Club after heart surgery, Harrison refereed and umpired those sports. Here he officiates on Pinetree Field, which would be renamed for him, thanks to 7th grader Brendan Frail, who also passed. A bench at the field fittingly is dedicated to Brendan.

I can hear that tiny umpire voice right now on the field that bears his name, uttering two of Harrison’s favorite words: Play ball!

For all my March 20s, it will gladden my heart to know that Harrison kept the birthday promise he made 12 years ago. He gave his dad nothing less than the gift of a lifetime: His.

__________________________________________________

Bruce Apar owns and operates APAR All-Media, a Hudson Valley agency for advertising, content, marketing and public relations. Follow it on Facebook. Reach him at bapar@me.com.

Harrison’s dad was privileged to share with his son historic sports moments (Yankees winning ’96 World Series against Atlanta Braves; David Wells’ perfect game in 1998) and events (1996 Atlanta Olympics).

Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater BY BRUCE APAR When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act

Facts & Figures from Westchester Broadway Theatre

Share Bono

Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater BY BRUCE APAR When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act

Show business deals in fables, and Theresa Rebeck deals in its foibles. The wise-cracking playwright has a sharp eye, and sharper ear, for the immature nonsense that makes the profession both frolicsome and infuriating for those in its clutches. (She created NBC series Smash.)

Share Bono

“Graduates, Parents, Relatives, Other Viewers, Honorable Voyeurs… As I lay before you today, milk and cookies bedside, I am reminded of the immortal word of that great non-American, Justin Bieber, may he rest a piece: “Believe”… what I am about to say.

Share Bono

As a teenager, I lay awake in bed, listening with dread to the vague, cold clanging of apparatus being prepared in the bathroom I shared with my two older brothers, Stephen, the eldest, and Robert, our middle sibling.

Like the popular ’60s TV situation comedy with Fred MacMurray as paterfamilias, we were our dad’s “My Three Sons.”

But, on the eve of the 1960s, our family life was about to become situation tragedy.

Share Bono

Turf is turf, whether it’s auld sod in the Emerald Isle or pavement in Manhattan; whether it’s an in-your-mug Irish lass sparring over a patch of land with the feisty farmer next door or American hooligans pounding the pavement to protect their territory from an Hispanic street gang.

Two such scenarios are playing out to magical effect on a couple of the finest stages of entertainment in the Hudson Valley.

John Patrick Shanley, the supremely gifted dramatist who has spun contemporary classics like Oscar winner Moonstruck and Tony- and Pulitzer-honored Doubt, is very well served by Hudson Stage’s gloriously performed Outside Mullingar at Whippoorwill Theater, part of Armonk’s North Castle Library.

A few miles (or minutes) west, at Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, the Jets and Sharks are having at each other in the towering West Side Story, miraculously scored by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with a veritable hit parade of hummable and infectious standards.

Share Bono

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Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater
BY BRUCE APAR
When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act

Bruce the Blog Reviews Theater
BY BRUCE APAR
When Bruce The Blog Watches… People Act