607 stories by "Peter D. Kramer"
Not a lot of musicals begin without knowing how they’re going to end. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” the unfinished Charles Dickens story that Rockland native Rupert Holmes …
Another weekend, another East Ramapo school district high school presenting “In the Heights.” This weekend, it’s Spring Valley, following in the footsteps of crosstown coun…
Devon James knows what it’s like to carry a show. He was a standout at Harrison High School. Now, he’s directing at Port Chester High School, which presents the wickedly funny sa…
Anthony DeMarte was underdressed, but suitably so. There he was, as Don Lockwood, bidding farewell to his girlfriend, Kathy (Gabbie Sansone), in a downpour, wearing a tanktop and swim trunks…
“You’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back … a star!” It’s one of my favorite lines, a charmingly cornball expression of moxie perfe…
The day I dropped in at Brewster High School, they were working on high-energy number called “Ugg-a-Wugg,” in which the native princess Tiger Lily joins forces with Peter Pan and…
After touring four musicals on Monday—and intending to get to four more Tuesday—I was felled by the flu. I’m now able to lift my head enough to try to post all the Running …
There’s something exciting about opening night, but things at Ossining High School were a bit extra special tonight, as “Legally Blonde: The Musical” marks the opening of a…
This year, Ramapo and Spring Valley high schools, which are in the East Ramapo School district and sit three miles apart, present the same musical on consecutive weekends. In a cool arrangem…
When two schools are three miles apart, you might expect a rivalry when it comes to their high-school musicals But this year, East Ramapo School District’s two high schools — Ram…
Sometimes, you make a musical fit your cast. When director Edie Ann Reidy chose “Legally Blonde” as The Ursuline School’s spring musical, she knew that the piece’s he…
Producer Rob Jacoby measures the success of Alexander Hamilton High School’s theater program in one very tangible way. He doesn’t have to go out and drag kids off the practice fi…
I wish Studs Terkel had met the three teachers who have breathed life into the musicals at Hendrick Hudson High School for the past seven years. They might have made it into a loving tribute…
Some kids you can pick out of a lineup as “theater kids.” They’ve got a twinkle in their eye. Or maybe all those bright lights have left a glow on their cheek. Whatever its…
“The Drowsy Chaperone” is chockfull of over-the-top and memorable characters, from a showstopping star to a “blue” man in a comfy chair, to a Latin lover and a couple…
Zach Reiter has played his share of roles at Tappan Zee High School. Last fall, the TZ senior played the title role in “Candide,” innocent and wide-eyed. Harold Hill is neither i…
The costumes are so bright in Westlake High School’s production of “Guys and Dolls” they seem to be electrified. For example, senior Jake Frisbie plays Nicely Nicely Johnso…
The kids at Carmel have been working hard to ready “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” the story of a Malibu blonde who follows her love to Harvard Law, only to discover she’s s…
Bare stage? Check. Orchestra? Check. Kids who can dance and act their faces off? Check and check. Harrison has everything it needs for tonight’s opening of “A Chorus Line,”…
The folks in Suffern are probably tired of hearing me go on and on about Dan McCarter’s incredible pit orchestra. I seem to do it every year, but McCarter and his massive band are real…
Sometimes, I arrive at a rehearsal and the cast just doesn’t seem to be ready. Kids are talking when they should be listening. The director is pulling his hair out. The CD won’t …
Warmups can take many forms. Some pre-rehearsal warmups call for actors to shake things out, counting down from 5. Shake out your left arm, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1…” Shake out your …
The stage is set and director Julie Colangelo is putting the cast of “Bye Bye Birdie” through the paces of “The Telephone Hour” at Sleepy Hollow High School. It’…
I cover a lot of high-school musicals and, sometimes, it’s easy to forget that those singing-dancing-acting kids are still just kids, with essays to write and stat homework to do. That…
Tuckahoe Middle/High School director Cathy Gmoser has a lot on her hands these days, readying the wacky and irreverent “Hairspray” to the stage starting tonight. There’s a …
