WPCNR Phantom of the Arts. By John F. Bailey. November 9, 2004, Updated 2:00 A.M. E.S.T.: If WPPAC Producing Director Tony Stimac put together impromptu benefits as regular fare at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, the Little Theatre Ingenue on City Place  would soon be The Place to go and be seen. Broadway Salutes White Plains II staged to attract Mr. and Mrs. Well-Heeled White Plains, drew a great crowd of glitterati who filled the WPPAC almost to its capacity.

A financial total was not immediately available, but City Executive Officer Paul Wood estimated it made the theatre at least $80,000, and said it was better attended than the gala last year. WPCNR would agree with that. The cocktail hour was packed when your reporter arrived at 6:15 P.M. with the good taste people dining on oysters and d'oeuvres from Legal Seafood and choice cuts from Morton's Steakhouse.

THE MAYOR CAN DANCE: Kathie Lee Gifford and White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino trip the White Plains Fantastic as Rob Evan, star of Jekyll and HYde sings  White Plains, New York to the tune of New York, New York, at Monday night's gala benefitting the White Plains Performing Arts Center. The benefit saluted Mayor Delfino with a terrific parody tune "White Plains Have We Got Plans for You," and featured choice stars from Broadway belting out showstopp-as from their hit productions.  Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

WALL-TO-WALL PATRONS OF THE ARTS: Half the balcony outside White Plains Performing Arts Center was filled with a crush of White Plains rich and famous, who turned out to support the theatre on its First Anniversary, who stayed and saw a show of easy-going, high gloss entertainment paced just right. Kathie Lee Gifford and her husband Frank, (whom the Giants could use this weekend, he looks like he could still play), were genial gracious hosts lending an upbeat contemporary atmosphere. Ms. Gifford sang a song from her show Under the Bridge which opens on Broadway January 1. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

SING MY ANGEL OF MUSIC: Show Stopper of the night was Rita Harvey, left, recreating her role of Christine from Phantom duetting with Jekyll and Hyde star, Rob Evan singing a reprise of Phantom of the Opera.  The stars came out for White Plains. Megan Hilty and Flo Lacey performed their hit Popular from Wicked; William Michaels flew in from Atlanta to sing the Mayor's favorite tune, The Impossible Dream and the inspirational song, Stars. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

"I WANT TO MATTER," Kathie Lee Gifford performing a showstopper-to-be from her upcoming musical premiering in July at White Plains Performing Arts Center. If this song is an indication about the kind of score to be expected from Hurricane Aimee, Ms. Gifford's musical about the activist Aimee Semple McPherson, the evangelist of the early part of the twentieth century, White Plains is in for show in July.  

Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

GOD BLESS WHITE PLAINS: William Michals, "The Beast" from Beauty and the Beast,  "Official Resident Star" of the WPPAC, leads the stars in God Bless America to conclude Monday evening's gala. To right of Mr. Michaels are Kathy Lee and Frank Gifford, Emcees of the Evening. From left are dancers Jason Colancio, Katie Boyle,  and Robert Royston and  Nicola Royston of Swango, upcoming WPPAC production in May;  Kristy Cates and Meg Hilty of Wicked, Mr. Michaels, Ms. Gifford, Mr. Gifford,  Neil Berg, Musical Director, Rob Evans of Jekyll and Hyde, Flo Lacey (in red) of Under the Bridge (Ms. Gifford's soon-to-premier musical), Rita Harvey of Wicked, and Rupert Holmes. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

The comedy highlight of the show was Philip Cutrone(an actor in the upcoming A Christmas Carol at WPPAC), doing a dead-on impersonation of Mayor Joseph Delfino, beginning his routine with a "Sorry, I'm late, but I had to go to a funeral, actually 2 funerals and a wedding," which brought down the house. Then Mr. Cutrone sang a song written for the show, called "White Plains, Have We Got Plans for You" in which lyrics sing about Mayor Revitalization Plans 4,5,6, and 7, a stadium, an opera house, and a jetport. "Repawtas" on media row smiled with glee, while the audience yukked it up. The show was a Stimac Smash. Well thought-out, brilliantly paced, and all that a gala should be.  

A White Plains Theme

The audience was also treated to an original composition, Renaissance Concerto, composed and played by Jordan Rudess, the keyboardist of the rock band, Dream Theater.

Mr. Rudess presented a dignified, elegant, majestic piece which flowed with the orchestration of an organized plan, much like a White Plains site plan, invoking the development of White Plains, the piece gained in momentum, fury and complexity,  with growing magnificence  as the piece progressed, built, grew, one theme on top of another, a finishing with a heavy baroque flourish.

Rupert Holmes sang the Pina Colada Song he wrote twenty-five years ago.

The talent was exceptional. The combo under the musical direction of Neil Berg, worked well with the entertainers. It was a Stimac triumph of pace, humor, and talent, blended into a tasteful buffet of Broadway.

The Producer, Tony Stimac, Producing Director of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, with Emcees, Kathie Lee Gifford, Honoree Mayor Joseph Delfino, and Frank Gifford, the Giant's Giant. The Giffords graciously posed with a steady stream of White Plains celebrities for some time just before the entertainment commenced. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

Ms. Gifford and Mr. Gifford added a aura of class, concern and genuine warmth. Ms. Gifford's reminisces about her father and how he inspired her were particularly a human touch, as she explained a personal insight as to what led her to write her musical Under the Bridge.

Ms. Gifford showed her gift for comedy, with a great line.  She confided that she had lunch with the Mayor at Trotters three weeks ago, it lasted four hours. She said she could have purchased an apartment before lunch and made "a million and a half dollars by the time lunch was over." This got some good yuks from the real estate crowd in the audience.

Mayor Delfino with William Michals after the show.Afterwards coffee and dessert were enjoyed by the well-entertained patrons, while the stars mingled with the critical masses of White Plains.  Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

The Party Continues.

But, people were having so much fun, they did not want the evening to end.

Mayor Joseph Delfino was seen enjoying himself at Trotters after the gala, regaling about 20-25 persons just out of the show. Readers of WPCNR may recall there was to have been a private supper party hosted by Louis Cappelli and the Head of HRH Construction in honor of the Mayor at Trotters, but that was cancelled due to "overwhelming response."

At the Sign of The "T:" The Action Continues at Trotters, The Official Deal-Making Spot in White Plains. Photo by WPCNR News.

Your reporter encountered Paul Wood, Executive Officer for the Mayor, arriving at the "Sign of the T" for the an apparently impromptu, spontaneous, ad-hoc get-together at Trotters.

I asked Mr. Wood if the "Cancelled" party was going on even though it was cancelled.

Wood, said it was cancelled "because the Mayor didn't know anything about it."

Asked if the checks for the cancelled supper party had been held or refunded or whether patrons of the party had been promised the party would be held again, Wood said he would check with Mr. Stimac. A lady associate of Mr. Woods, volunteered that  the information that persons who had sent in checks for the "cancelled" supper party, (at $500 a person) had been offered a choice of taking an advertisement in the program, if they wished or a return of their checks.