607 stories by "Peter D. Kramer"
Zoe Kaplan’s character in Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” was once an evangelist. Now she’s a nightclub singer. She’s Reno Sweeney, and “she’s a…
Westlake High School opens a two-week run of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” the Stephen Sondheim-Larry Gelbart musical about a slave Pseudolus (senior Joey Tag…
The kids at Clarkstown High School South are turning themselves into the hand-jiving students of Rydell High this week, with a production of “Grease.” They’ve got the moves…
Eastchester is chock full of fairytale creatures this week, as director John Gwardyak brings “Shrek: The Musical” to the Eastchester High School stage. The irreverent and wickedl…
In the middle of a season of high-school musicals across the Lower Hudson Valley comes “A Chorus Line,” presented by Hastings-based Broadway Training Center of Westchester this w…
For years, people have asked Spring Valley director-choreographer Stacey Tirro when she was going to do “West Side Story.” The dance teacher had an answer. “I would tell th…
Matthew Quinones loves baseball. And he loves singing. This weekend, the Albertus Magnus High School sophomore gets to combine the two, as he makes his theatrical debut in “Damn Yankee…
Doesn’t it look like Tappan Zee’s Quiana Iacobellis is saying “Nooooooooo!”? Who could blame her, after snow canceled Friday’s opening night of “Annie Get…
“Shrek the Musical,” which opens at Brewster High School this week, is essentially a buddy musical with the unlikeliest of buddies. There’s Shrek the green ogre, played by …
The kids at Ramapo High School knew they wanted to break out this year, to follow last year’s ground-breaking production of “In the Heights” with another milestone producti…
For a decade, Ed Steele has chosen out-of-the-ordinary musicals for Fox Lane. Think “Hot Mikado,” “Smile,” “The Boyfriend.” This year, his last as directo…
Mama Rose had a fever of 102. But there she was, in the theater, talking about the role of a lifetime that came along so early in her lifetime. Where else would you expect to find the stage …
At long last, Friday is the first day of spring. There will be robins and crocuses and daffodils soon enough, but first, there will be Yankees: “Damn Yankees,” at North Salem Mid…
Craig Long has to be honest. Ask the Suffern High School senior how he likes playing J. Pierrepont Finch—that’s F-I-N-C-H—the lovably over-ambitious window-washer at the ce…
In middle school, Liam Herbert ran the lighting board for “Seussical” and was a stagehand for Port Chester Council for the Arts’ summer productions. Liam was a tech kid. Un…
They had her at the bright blue wigs. Quiana Iacobellis (inset) knew she was in the right place when, as a freshman, she was cast in Tappan Zee High School’s fall play, “The Bird…
This weekend, some Lower Hudson Valley high schools will take audiences back the 1990’s with “Rent.” Or the ‘80s in “Footloose.” Or the late ‘50s wi…
There’s a great scene at the end of the musical “42nd Street,” when newcomer Peggy Sawyer is drafted to replace the over-the-title artist. Director Julian Marsh sends her o…
After weeks of the high-school musicals in the Lower Hudson Valley being staged in Westchester or Putnam counties, it’s Rockland’s turn, with four of the week’s six new hig…
Joe Egan has created a theatrical maverick in Nyack, staging memorable productions of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Parade,” “Big River” and “Aida.&#…
I dropped by a rehearsal of “Babes in Arms” at Clarkstown High School North in New City, not really knowing what to expect. I knew it was a musical about kids who love theater an…
Jessie Shaw laughs when it’s pointed out that, as a 17-year-old brunette, she is neither legal nor blonde. But there she’ll be this weekend, playing Elle Woods, the star of ̶…
Carlos Prats is about to make a comparison that could make your head spin, but stay with him. Please. Prats, a 15-year-old sophomore at Nanuet High School plays Horton the Elephant in “…
Lucy Austin doesn’t want people to get the wrong idea about Haldane High School’s musical this weekend. Yes, “Pirates of Penzance” is a Gilbert & Sullivan operett…
When “Aida: School Edition,” the Elton John musical about a love triangle amid the pyramids, comes to North Rockland High School this week and next, the title role will be played…
