WPCNR ON THE AISLE. By John F. Bailey. August 18, 2005: Tony Stimac, Executive Producer of the Helen Hayes Theatre Company and Artistic Director of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, said I should see it.  A highly placed and powerful White Plains City Official said I should see it to see the new production facilities of the WPPAC. Both said I should stop by and check out the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre production of Sweeney Todd, the old 1970s Sondheim bloody shock musical at the WPPAC last weekend, telling me the kids had done a fantastic job.  I am so glad I did.

In the third night of a one-weekend only performance, the  fourteen high school and college students who staffed the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre Summer Stock program, put on Sweeney Todd – a show they chose to do that Helen Hayes Youth Theatre Director Danielle Rudess warned them was too hard to do.

Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, they absolutely nailed this, one of the most difficult of musicals, bringing down the house of about 250 – one of the better attended WPPAC events.

Danielle Rudess, right, Producer, with Christina Farruggia, "Mrs. Lovett" far left,  Musical Director Charles Czarnecki, and Danny Gordon as "Sweeney," in the afterglow of the triumph. Photo, WPCNR Stage Cam

Danny Gordon as Sweeney and Cristina Farruggia, as the practical baker of “meat pies,” Mrs. Lovett, are seasoned performers, delivered a most entertaining duo in the dark lead roles.

Danny’s range and dark demeanor delivered menace and power and commanded the stage. His pathos at the conclusion when he slays the beggar woman, only to find she was his former wife was spellbinding.  Gordon never let you forget Sweeney was mad, and conveyed the anguish that motivated his revenge. Cristina was a neat foil with excellent timing who got her cockney across. I particularly liked her By the Sea duet with Mr. Gordon.

Rudess, left, with Director Jeremy Quinn, Lael O'Conner, and far right, the character actress-in-the-making, Danielle Roth, who played the Beggar for great laughs. Photo, WPCNR StageCam

Lael O’Conner as Johanna, a sweet soprano, lofted over the audience like a young Sarah Brightman on her touching  Green Finch and Linnet Bird, and duetted hauntingly with Robert Farrugia’s lovesick sailor on “Kiss Me,” easily the show's best song.

Colleen Mooney, who played Pirrelli. Photo, WPCNR StageCam

Honorable mention for work well done go to the charismatic Colleen Mooney as the Italian barber Pirelli, Sweeney’s rival, and first murder he would commit, articulated the Italian accent required with great humor and flare. Her stylistic portrayal commanded attention singing The Contest.

Michael Mittman did a splendid Tobias Ragg as Pirelli’s foil, ,drawing out great pity and drama at the conclusion. And last, but not least, the comic relief of Danielle Roth brought great laughter from the audience by her exaggerated playing of the Beggar. Jordan Gilbert as Judge Turpin, Johanna’s lecherous guardian, deserves particular kudos for his duet with Sweeney on Pretty Woman – that ode to older men everywhere.

I got to tell you the sets were terrific. The grisly asylum where Johanna was imprisoned was spendidly created by the revolving set and populated by a pathetic group of harpies.

The moving staircases, use of all the stage, the revolving set, and acoustics gave White Plains audiences insight as to what the White Plains Performing Arts Center is capable of staging.

More to Come: Danielle Rudess. Director of Helen Hayes Youth Theatre, plans more for WPPAC. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

Director Rudess, in the program notes, describes Summer Stock Senior as “an inaugural production of a new program developed for graduates of our youth theater who are preparing for professional careers.”  Rudess is so energized by the job her protégés did that she plans to bring the concept  back next year. Called  “Summer Stock Senior” for which each member chosen for the cast paid $500, it was conceived as the next step for the high school and college students who staff the Youth Theatre, and for previous graduates of Youth Theatre productions. Rudess said her older actors had long wanted to do a show of their own, but the cramped movie theatre facility at Helen Hayes was limited in what they could stage.

She said she decided to do the program when she was offered the White Plains Performing Arts Center superior production facilities and stage for the full-blown musical. Some of the actors and actresses in Sweeney worked for the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre Summer Stock program in White Plains and Nyack,  earning back the cost of their participation in the Sweeney production based on their hours of work.

The Helen Hayes Youth Theatre Program, staged the Prince and the Pauper, Oklahoma and The Sound of Music with young performers in Nyack at The Helen Hayes, and The Sound of Music and Oklahoma at the WPPAC. Participation in those programs costs $650.

Take a Bow! Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

 From “Attend the Tale” to the last,  Sweeney rolled on with crispness and pace. Cues were tight, the lighting by Paul Carbone outstanding in creating the dark moods, the scenery of Sweeney’s “chop shop” technically visually detailed – by far the most intricate and ambitious set use seen on the new WPPAC stage since it has opened. The stage showed off some great young voices and talent, at no time did they let the pace lag, and the beauty of it was the kids created their Sweeney  in little more than 5 weeks of rehearsals at night, rehearsing from 5:30 to 10 Monday through Friday after working full days rehearsing younger kids in the Youth Theatres summer productions.

They gave you  the accents, the voices, the lighting and the energy as only committed, dedicated striving youth can do.

Danielle Rudess interviewed after the show by WPCNR said that new Managing Director of both the Helen Hayes Theatre and the White Plains Performing Arts Center, Ray Cullom is very high on youth theatre and its potential for energizing the community behind the theatre and revenue potential. She said he is very enthusiastic and will be working hard to bring more youth acting opportunities into the WPPAC. Rudess noted that the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre Program is responsible for half of the revenues earned from Helen Hayes Theatre Company productions.

Rudess said that young White Plains actors and actresses will have the opportunity to act in a Youth Theatre production of Aladdin in January, details about Aladdin are available from Ms. Rudess.

Now if we can just get White Plains High School and Stepinac shows into the WPPAC and out of the high school!