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Beck Center for the Arts
Music by Leonard Bernstein
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Colin Cook as “Chip,” Amiee Collier as “Hildy,” Sean Szaller as “Gabey,” |
| Excerpts from The Cleveland Jewish News review
“a celebration … which director Fred Sternfeld and a dedicated ensemble bring to vivid life” “much to praise” “an ensemble of some 40 actors who sing and dance their hearts out” “nonstop entertainment” ”an affectionate valentine to New York City” “bold, brash and raw” “what does a 60-year-old musical have to say to contemporary audiences? Plenty! Despite its frothiness, there is an undercurrent of sadness that is all too real. Wartime hangs like an invisible cloud over the youthful protagonists trying to squeeze a lifetime of fun into just one day” Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News |
 Sean Szaller as “Gabey” and Katelyn Blockinger as “Ivy” |
| Excerpts from The Cleveland Jewish News review
“The show jumps into high gear early on with a rousing rendition of ‘New York, New York’ by the three principal sailors: Gabey (Sean Szaller), Chip (Colin Cook), and Ozzie (Joe Fornadel). All are first-rate singers, dancers and actors who set a highly professional tone for the rest of the production” “New York teems with people whom director Sternfeld uses to creative advantage, as cast members crisscross the stage as sailors, tourists, urban dwellers, nightclub patrons, and the like in a constant flow of human traffic. It’s a lovely touch” “Alison Hernan’s costumes embrace the entire spectrum of 1940s New York denizens, from dockworkers and cops to bobby-soxers and Coney Island-style Turkish belly dancers” “Martin Cespedes’s inventive musical staging and choreography sparkles throughout” “In New York, celebrity is as evanescent as youth. ‘The Presentation of Miss Turnstiles,’ which introduces Ivy Smith as this month’s Miss Turnstiles, emphasizes the fleetingness of fame. At the end of the month, a new hopeful is chosen” Amiee Collier is a bundle of personality and talent as the aggressive cab driver Hildy Esterhazy. Hildy and Chip’s comic duo, ‘Come Up to My Place,’ in which a persistent Hildy tries to convince the reluctant Chip to set his sights on her rather than the Hippodrome, is a highlight. The seesawing cab is sensational” Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News |
 Sean Szaller as “Gabey,” Colin Cook as “Chip” and Joe Fornadel as “Ozzie” |
| Excerpts from The Cleveland Plain Dealer review
“…There are several tasty performances, including one from the silk-throated and take-charge Aimee Collier as a playfully randy Hildy Esterhazy” ” … a number of performers prove worth writing home from the Big Apple about. Joe Fornadel, Colin Cook and Sean Szaller add up to a happy threesome as sailors Ozzie, Chip and Gabey, particularly in their ‘New York, New York’ trio” ” Maggie Stahl has zanily toothsome allure as Claire De Loone and Katelyn Blockinger killer gams as the subway’s ‘Miss Turnstiles,’ Ivy Smith” “Several dancers in the ensemble turn heads…Collier’s rarin’-to-go, taxi-driving Hildy has the vocal prowess and bubbly presence” “It’s lovely hearing all those fetching Bernstein tunes…” Tony Brown, The Plain Dealer |
 Colin Cook as “Chip,” Sean Szaller as “Gabey” and Joe Fornadel as “Ozzie” |
| Excerpts from The Cleveland Jewish News review
“Maggie Stahl is terrific as the anthropologist Claire De Loone who gets ‘Carried Away’ with Ozzie (another great number) despite being engaged to another man. Paul Floriano is suitably droll as the long-suffering fiancé Pitkin W. Bridgework, who understands Claire’s obsession with men, up to a point” “But New York can be a lonely, hostile and indifferent place without love, as Gabey (the excellent Szaller) discovers in the haunting song ‘Lonely Town.’ ” “Pamela LaForce is suitably over the top as the boozy voice coach Madame Dilly. Katelyn Blockinger is a bundle of charm as sweet Ivy Smith. Remarkably, Blockinger, who sings a perfect ‘do-re-me’ while standing on her head, is only a junior in high school” “In ‘The Imaginary Coney Island Dream Ballet,’ fantasy yields to the gritty reality of the place with a brief image of ominous-looking Brown Shirts in a jarring reminder that this is wartime” ”The poignant song ‘Some Other Time’ beckons the end of the sailors’ 24-hour odyssey as they return to the Navy Yard and the women utter a reluctant goodbye” “Thanks to Beck’s artistic director, Scott Spence, and director Fred Sternfeld for bringing this effervescent classic to the forefront” “something to celebrate” Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News |
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Cast of Characters Ozzie — Joe Fornadel Chip — Colin Cook Gabey — Sean Szaller Ivy Smith — Katelyn Blockinger Hildy Esterhazy — Amiee Collier Claire De Loone — Maggie Stahl Pitkin W. Bridgework — Paul Floriano* First Workman, Subway Bill Poster — Marvin L. Mallory Miss Turnstiles Announcer — Joe Milan Rajah Bimmy — Assadulla Khaishgi Madame Dilly, Dolores Dolores, Diana Dream — Pamela LaForce Waldo Figment — Jim McCormack Flossie — Nikki LoPresti Flossie’s girl friend, Lucy Schmeeler — Suzanne Dieteman Mr S. Uperman, Master of Ceremonies — Donald N. Krosin Little Old Lady — Judy Norton Ensemble (Policemen, Dancers, Sailors, Dock Workmen, Waiters, Passersby, Prehistoric Men, Bird Girls, Singing Teachers, Diamond Eddie’s Girls, Nightclub Patrons) — Abram Hegewald, Assadullah Khaishgi, Bettina Steinmetz, Bill Reichert, Cameran Wareham, Corey Joseph Mach, Cory Zukoski, Don Pedley, Donald N. Krosin, Emily Grodzik, Eric Bartkowski, Eric Oswald, Jasmen Woodson, John-Paul G. Makowski, Jim McCormack, Joe Milan, Jolene McPherson, Joshua Bond, Kristen O’Connor, Lesley Dohrn, Linda Mementowski, Marvin L. Mallory, Melissa E. Smith, Michael J. Santora, Nikki LoPresti, Pamela LaForce, Paul Floriano, Rachel Galambos, Stuart Landes & Suzanne Dieteman *member – Actors Equity Association |
| Excerpts from the Times Newspapers review
“The opening night audience was … enthralled”
“Fred Sternfeld is one of the area’s best musical theatre directors“ “Colin Cook sparkles as Chip, the sailor who only wants to see the sights. The scene (“Come Up to My Place”) in which he is seduced by a female cab driver (Amiee Collier) was delightful. He sings well and has a clear concept of his role.” “S ean Szaller is properly gawky as Gabey, complete with farm boy charm””Katelyn Blockinger dances and sings well” “Paul Floriano, the production’s only Actors Equity performer, is fine” “Abram Hegewald and Linda Mementowski are wonderful in a classical ballet segment” “These are two talented kids!” ”The two high school kids sitting next to me applauded and laughed consistently and were amazed by “the awesome dancing” and the “unbelievable talent of my friends in the cast” Roy Berko, Times Newspapers |
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Production Staff
Director — Fred Sternfeld Music Director — Larry Goodpaster Musical Staging & Choreography — Martín Céspedes Set Designer — Richard Gould Costume Designer — Alison Hernan Lighting Designer — Colleen Dowling Sound Designer — Casey Jones Technical Director — Erik Seidel Stage Manager — Josh Morgan Assistant Stage Managers — Pam Grodzik, Mo Feldman Dance Captain — Katelyn Blockinger |
| Excerpts from The Cleveland Free Times review
” …song and dance still appropriately supply the work’s central charms” “Sternfeld deftly employs a company of nearly 40 to carry out a string of his patented, admirably detailed crowd scenes, and he’s engaged several attractive lead performers” “choreographer Martin Cespedes has devised several gracefully retro recreations that are always stylish and occasionally radiant.” James D’Amico, Cleveland Free Times |
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ABOUT THE PLAY: THREE American sailors come to Manhattan on a twenty-four hourt shore-leave. They are Chip, Ozzie and Gabey. New York is a wonderful town (“New York, New York”), and the three sailors are hell-bent for a good time. But each has his own idea of fun, since Chip is serious-minded, Ozzie is happy-go-lucky and Gabey is an incurable romantic. They argue about what to do and where to go, and finally agree to begin their adventures by taking the subway. There Gabey sees a photograph of Ivy Smith, selected that month as subway’s “Miss Turnstiles”. Gabey insists that this is the girl he wants to date. When Chip and Ozzie realize they cannot dissuade Gabey they help him hunt out the girl. Each sets out in a different direction to find her. During the search, Chip meets a woman taxi-driver who has many talents (“I Can Cook, Too”) and goes wild for him. Ozzie proceeds to the Museum of Natural History, where he comes upon Claire, an anthropology student, and a girl of excessive enthusiasms (“I Get Carried Away”). Gabey, during his wanderings about town, comes to Carnegie Hall. There, in one of the studios, he finds Ivy, taking singing lessons. On the Town was a musical-comedy extension of Fancy-Free, a ballet with choreography by Jerome Robbins and music by Leonard Bernstein, successfully introduced in New York on April 18, 1944. “One of the freshest musicals to come into town in a long time,” as Lewis Nichols of the New York Times described it, On the Townhad freshness, exuberance and youth. But its value as entertainment, great though it was, is not all that has made this musical comedy such an important event in American theatre. As Leonard Bernstein’s first Broadway score and Jerome Robbins’ first assignment as choreographer in musical comedy, On the Town helped introduce two creative figures to the American musical theatre who would henceforth make to it a formidable contribution. |
