Damn Yankees at the Rockaway Theatre Co - Photos

As always, a great show. Music/dance numbers were a smash. Either I didn't catch Katherine Robinson in previous plays or I must have been dead. She was terrific as Lola. "Better than Gwen Verdon" said my friend.... David Bellel

It was great seeing David Bellel last night.
We were sold out last night and are this afternoon and not many tickets left for the 4 shows next weekend (Fri night, Sat. matinee (3PM) and eve (8PM) and Sunday matinee closing. So come on down. I have a miniscule role with one line. We stand in line outside the theater saying goodbye to the audience and one guy told me, "you big ham." So I must have made the most of it.

Here are some photos I took Friday night from the booth where I was taping the show between running down for my walkons.

 The wives complain about husbands distracted by baseball

The devil - John Panepinto and (old) Joe - David Risley

The shower scene - all hands above the wall, please

Dana Panepinto (red blouse) blows us away - here in Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo.

The always awesome Katherine Robinson

More

And more

Still some tickets left

Norm in The Wave: Memo From the RTC: Gypsy Update – Why Do They Do It?

Gypsy high school gals having fun before going on

Tonight is the next to last performance as the show closes with the Sunday matinee. All sold out. Monday we strike the set and start putting up Godspell.

Published Friday, August 1, 2014 www.rockawave.com

Memo From the RTC: Gypsy Update – Why Do They Do It?

By Norm Scott

After a 2nd sold-out weekend, Gypsy heads into the final stretch this weekend at the Post Theatre at Fort Tilden. (See the 2-minute highlight reel –http://vimeo.com/101617641). Last Sunday was the annual Carol Jasper Memorial Matinee. Proceeds went to the North Shore Animal League, the largest No Kill animal shelter on the East Coast. A trailer with animals for adoption was parked outside the theater throughout the afternoon. (Photo- Caroline the cow made an appearance during intermission with her look-alike dog.)

Caroline the cow and twin

Luisa Boyaggi as Mama Rose kept topping herself, getting standing ovations. I was in the lighting booth as the show ended and even the pros up there erupted in applause. Luisa’s performance is so strong I want to make sure we don’t lose sight of the amazing job Kim Simek does as the abused older mousy-like daughter Louise, who transforms into Gypsy Rose Lee, the most famous stripper in history. Kim’s acting and singing and dancing rises to the heights. I was often backstage as Kim raced in for costume changes, often assisted by the jack of all trades Matt Smilardi, whose joy in doing whatever he does is a tension-buster.

Being backstage during a show with a cast of 50 is a learning experience for anyone who wants to get the full theater experience. Think of it. Kids from age 7-12, teens aged 13-17, a gaggle of twenty and thirty-somethings, and all age ranges right up to late 60s-early 70s – like me. People racing in and out over a period of 3 hours – the actors also have a schedule of cues to follow for the set changes. I was challenged just to remember when I had to bring out and then remove a small table with a phone on it. I almost walked out by mistake in front of the audience. That a show this complicated goes off with barely (a noticeable hitch) is a tribute to the remarkable training and timing enforced by Director Susan Corning and Stage Manager Nora Meyers.

I love the back-stage banter from the age mix, often about movies, TV shows, music and the theater. The knowledge and interest about the theater expressed by even the teens is astounding. I often feel like a cultural alien. People were pouring over a book brought in by Frank Verderame (stage crew hand and playwright) on the show’s history. I learned a lot about the real story behind Gypsy and discussions took place about the show business mother verging on abuse.

Open an RTC program and see the list of behind the scenes volunteers who make this operation so professional. Almost every performer has a job and in essence have few or no days off. (Many in the large group of teachers in the show at least have the summer free.) Why do they all do it? “Love of the theater” is often the response. I think it is more than that. It is love of the sense of the community. That sense is almost a form of addiction. A 2nd home to many people. I was chatting with the remarkable Danielle Fisher, who has been doing backstage work with the RTC since she was a 15-year old teenager, a decade ago. Danielle is now an artist and graphic designer and now uses her professional skills at the RTC. It took her a decade to actually appear onstage – her first show was “How to Succeed…” Working with the RTC over 10 years has had a major impact on her life.

The same has been true with many of the “kids” now in their twenties who got their start as teens or even younger children and keep coming back for more. This is due to the wonderful Young People’s Theatre Workshops run by the RTC, which begins on Sept. 13 (in sections – ages 6-11 and 12-17) run by Peggy Page. Frank Caiati and Susan Corning will be handing the acting end, with Richard Louis-Pierre and Jodee Timpone as musical directors. Gabrielle Mangano will be teaching dance. All offering professional level instruction, but most of all, bringing the sense of community to a new generation, many of whom we will be seeing on stage for the next decade.

After last Sunday’s show, Suzanne Riggs, who does everything and anything necessary at the RTC, invited the cast to her beautiful home for a pool party. When I went home about 10PM, a good chunk of the cast were frolicking in the pool, including John Panepinto and Matt Smilardi, the front and back end of Caroline the cow, unfortunately, not in costume.

(There may still be a few tickets available for the Friday night and Sunday matinee performances.)

Norm blogs on education and other issues at ednotesonline.com, often while wearing a cow costume.

The Wave: The Amazing Susan Corning

When I saw Susan play the lead in Steel Magnolias back in 2006 - her first show in 30 years - I was blown away by her talent. A few years later I found myself in an RTC acting class - my first time when I was over 60 - with Susan. I was absolutely intimidated at the very idea of being on the same stage with Susan. But she made me feel - and makes everyone - feel so comfortable. She does anything and everything at the RTC. I can't think of many people I admire more than Susan Corning. And it was she who asked me if I wanted to be in Gypsy - and cast me in the perfect part as Mr. Goldstone. Oh how I look forward to the cast party Sunday night - there better be some pigs in the blanket.

Who’s Who

Susan Corning Rockaway Theatre Company 

http://www.rockawave.com/node/194240

By Dan Guarino

 
Susan Corning Tell us about yourself.
 
I was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1955. My mother was a registered nurse and my father was an aerospace engineer. I was an only child.
I would say my love of the theatre was a gift from my parents. They were very involved with a growing community theatre company, doing a little bit of everything; from acting, painting, costuming and producing productions. I was brought to most rehearsals and shows, and watched over and over how a show was put up, run, and broken down.

Rockaway Theatre Company's Gypsy: Weekend Sellout - Some Photos

It's tough to have to spend less than 5 minutes on stage with no lines and basically nothing to do other than have the actors move you around and then spend the next 2 hours backstage until the curtain call trying to get out of everyone's way. When I'm done I'll share the column for The Wave I'm working on the total experience of observing and participating (even as a sliver) in a massive undertaking. We have 4 shows this weekend with a rare Thursday at 8PM performance - probably the only one that won't sell out. So if anyone is inclined to see a show where the lead, Louisa Boyaggi, playing Mama Rose, is being talked about by people who have seen them all as being better than Tyne Daly, Pattie Lupone and even the legendary Ethel Merman. Oh, and Louisa is a UFT member - a guidance counselor in a NYC high school.

NYC teacher Kim Simek as a blossoming Louise turned Gypsy Rose Lee

The strippers

Gypsy Opens Tonight at Rockaway Theatre Company in Fort Tilden

Last night was the final dress rehearsal and I put on my suit for my 5 minute stint as Mr. Goldstone where I end up standing on a chair. Don't tell me to break a leg - because I probably will.

Tonight begins the first of 10 performances. Tickets are selling out, so come on down to the theater at the very hot Fort Tilden. 

And there are scads of NYC teachers in the show. Maybe we can start a MORE chapter?

Did you know the beach there is a nude beach? A little naked sun and theater - but get dressed first.

Leon Goldstein HS teacher Steve Ryan, hoofing it as Tulsa

Steve is one of Mike Schirtzer's best friends - which he admits to only when being water boarded.

The Wave - Memo From the RTC: Gypsy Update - They Call me Mr. Goldstone

Published in The Wave, Friday, June 20, 2014
(www.rockawave.com).

Memo From the RTC: Gypsy Update - They Call me Mr. Goldstone

By Norm Scott

I’m a process person – fascinated by the nuts and bolts that go into just about anything. I have a “how is it made” mentality. So getting beyond the surface of the dynamic productions at the RTC is quite a treat. At that rehearsal they were blocking a long scene and I don’t come in until the end, so I saw how the sausage is made when I attended a rehearsal last week of the Rockaway Theatre Company’s production of “Gypsy” opening July 18 and running for three weekends (plus a Thursday). Not being much of a theater person, but having seen “Gypsy” revivals on Broadway, I am still surprised when a song pops up at rehearsal that I’m familiar with. The most famous is "Everything's Coming up Roses" – with the memorable and overwhelming Ethel Merman voice belting it out. So I’m sitting at rehearsal when up pops this famous song to close Act 1. And Louisa Boyaggi, playing the lead – Rose - the Ethel Merman role - just lets it all go and we’re all sitting there in awe,  just wowed. And everyone suddenly breaks into spontaneous applause when she is done. And this is freak’n rehearsal in front of about 20 people – who have been involved in the play. Jeez, Louise(a), I got goose bumps. Still do when I think about it.

I’m learning lots of new theater words, like, “blocking.” I have a tiny part but had to be there to be “blocked” – how I enter the scene, where I stand in relation to others, etc. This process takes a lot of time and thought and working out kinks. When we see a play as a finished product we don’t appreciate the “choreography” that goes into making sure people don’t end up crashing into each other as they enter or exit a scene or as they careen around the stage. My turn came. Director Susan Corning gave me instructions. I play Mr. Goldstone, a booking agent for a chain of theaters. My job is to be led in, put into a chair and sit and look stone-faced while people sing, dance and hand me stuff. I don’t have to say a thing. My wife wants me to play Mr. Goldstone at home.

Wikipedia says: “Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them Ben Brantley ("what may be the greatest of all American musicals...") and Frank Rich. Rich wrote that " Gypsy is nothing if not Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to 'King Lear.'" Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that " 'Gypsy' is one of the best of musicals..." and described the character of Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical.... It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "book musical".

The 1959 play, starring Ethel Merman as “Rose”, the penultimate stage mom (with revivals starring amongst others, Angela Landsbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, Patti Lupone with Rosalind Russell in the film version) is based on the memoirs of her daughter, Gypsy Rose Lee, who turned striptease into an art form (played in the RTC production by one if our faves, Kim Simek – I can’t wait to attend the striptease rehearsals). Just look at that list above of actresses playing Rose, one of the giant female leads in Broadway history. There were even rumors that Streisand was going to star in another film version, but that never came about. And here in Rockaway we have our own Louisa Boyaggi who can stand toe to toe with many of them.

Gypsy Preview at Fort Tilden Art Fair, June 29

The Wave reported there will be previews of Gypsy plus more RTC activities as part of this gala event, maybe some even outdoors.  I’ll leave it to our fearless leader, Susan Jasper, to elaborate in an email she sent: “The National Park Service has decided to make Fort Tilden more accessible to the public. They, along with the Rockaway Artists Alliance have secured a grant from the Museum of Modern Art for a big fair and Arts show on the grounds of Fort Tilden where our Theater is located and we have been invited to participate. There will be food vendors, entertainment, etc. for the public to enjoy. We will be doing mini- shows in our theater that day. We would like to present the “Brotherhood of Man” number from “How to Succeed…”.  I need to know who can join us for this very important gig. If you have plans – BREAK THEM.  You are all essential!  If you are … in a foreign country or foreign state…COME HOME IMMEDIATELY.”  Susan wouldn’t hesitate to call an astronaut down from space. And he would come. Or wouldn’t dare not to.

-NOTE - We will be reprising some of our performances at the theater in Fort Tilden on Sunday, June 29th throughout the day as that day is the opening of a major summer arts initiative at Fort Tilden with a free concert by Pattie Smith, who owns a home in Rockaway.

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Hey, wanna come see a play?