If you went to the Westport Country Playhouse any time between 1931 and 2005, you remember certain things: The tight lobby. The bench seats. The unique smell.
And the olio curtain.
Hanging in front of the main curtain, the olio — a large canvas attached at the bottom to a long rigid tube — featured painted advertisements for local businesses.
Since the WCP renovation, theater-goers have been greeted immediately by the set on stage. There is no curtain.
Until now.
The current production — “The Understudy” — is a comedy that takes place in a theater. At this show, patrons see the red velvet main curtain, hanging from the proscenium arch.
So what did that olio curtain look like?
The Playhouse’s Pat Blaufuss sent along this photo:
She doesn’t know the date. But alert “06880” readers who remember Brooks Hirsch, Ann Marie’s Figure Forum and Davy Jones’ restaurant can help.
Pat also sent this photo, from the New York Times:
Just to compare, here’s the post-renovation view:
(Photo/Robert Benson)
FUN FACT:Pat adds that the WCP main curtain does not have “legs” (the narrow curtains on each side of the stage).
In early vaudeville days, producers booked more performers than could possibly fill the time. That way, they could pull “bad” acts before completion.
Performers were not paid unless they actually performed onstage. The phrase “break a leg” meant breaking the visual plane of the legs that lined the side of the stage.
In other words: “Hope you break a leg and get onstage, so you get paid!”
Posted onAugust 14, 2018|Comments Off on Orphenians Bring Down The (Opera) House
Last month, the Staples High School Orphenians traveled to Australia. The elite singing group performed at the Sydney Opera House.
The teenagers are home now, but they’re still talking about it in Westport. I imagine they are in Sydney too.
But you didn’t have to be Down Under to hear their remarkable voices. Here, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, is a video of the entire concert.
The Orphenians’ individual performance — directed by Luke Rosenberg — begins at 23:49.
The combined choirs’ performance, including several other schools — directed by Craig Hella Johnson, one of the most popular conductors in any hemisphere — starts around 55:00. Staples’ rising senior Georgia Wright is featured at 1:45:30.
The Orphenian girls are in the second 2 rows, on both ends. The boys are behind them, in black ties.
(Hat tip: Kerry Foley)
Comments Off on Orphenians Bring Down The (Opera) House
As previewed earlier this week, Paul Newman made a special appearance today at the Westport Farmers’ Market.
The movie star/blue-eyed idol/race car driver/food purveyor/philanthropist — and, for 50 years, our neighbor — is unfortunately no longer actually here with us.
But a life-size cutout of him stood under a tent, in the bustling market on Imperial Avenue.
Dozens of shoppers of all ages stopped by to pose for a photo. Many had stories. A camera crew from Newman’s Own Foundation — the Westport-based charity that in over 35 years has given away more than $530 million — recorded Newman-related memories.
It’s a Foundation project, for use as a video and on social media.
If you missed him today, don’t worry. Paul will be back on Thursday, August 16 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). His eyes will be as blue as ever.
BONUS STORY: I was one of the many Farmers’ Market-goers today who shared a Paul Newman story. Here’s mine:
It was the 1970s. Early one summer evening, some friends and I were playing pick-up soccer on the front field at Coleytown Middle (then Junior High) School.
Suddenly, a helicopter hovered overhead. We scattered. It landed.
Out stepped Paul Newman. He wore shorts — and carried a briefcase.
“Hi, boys!” he said cheerily.
The helicopter whirred back into the sky. And, with a wave, one of the most famous actors in the world walked around the corner to his home.
“06880” does not usually promote Levitt Pavilion concerts. There are too many good ones — rock, jazz, military bands, kids’ shows, you name it — and by now, most people know how to find the shows they like.
But the Levitt does not usually showcase Gullah music. So here’s a little promo for this Saturday’s event (August 4, 8 p.m.).
And — because “06880” is “where Westport meets the world” — there’s a great local connection.
Ranky Tanky is the group you’ll want to hear. They celebrate Gullah culture — the unique evolution of West African slaves shipped to the South Carolina coast to work the low country rice plantations.
Because they were so skillful, the slaves were kept together — not separated, like those from other parts of Africa. The culture they created continues today.
Ranky Tanky celebrates Gullah life through spirituals, poems, children’s songs and lullabies, combining them with fresh, jazz-inflected music. It’s special, unique, and well worth seeing and hearing.
Ranky Tanky, in the low country.
The band is hot. Their first album zoomed to #1 on the Billboard, Amazon and iTunes jazz charts. They’ve headlined the Spoleto Music Festival, played Carnegie Hall and been featured in Downbeat. Terry Gross interviewed them for “Fresh Air.”
But the world would not have heard about Ranky Tanky without the passion of a local couple.
Last year, Steve Ruchefsky and Rondi Charleston started Resilience Music Alliance. The goal is to empower artists and creators who explore, challenge and celebrate the human condition of (you guessed it) resilience.
At the Spoleto Music Festival, Steve Ruchefsky and Rondi Charleston presented Ranky Tanky with plaques commemorating the #1 performance of the first release on the Westporters’ label, Resilience Music Alliance
Ranky Tanky — the name comes from a Gullah phrase meaning “work it” or “get down” — has performed all over the country, and are booked well into 2019.
During a summer when — thanks to a superb Historical Society exhibit –Westport is examining its African American past, and our town’s connection to slavery, Saturday’s Levitt Pavilion show is timely and important.
And if all that is not enough to draw you to the Levitt for Ranky Tanky, try this:
Westporters of a certain age remember Paul Newman as one of the most famous movie idols of the 20th century — and our neighbor.
The man. The legend. The US postage stamp.
Younger Westporters — and their counterparts all around the country — know him as a salad dressing, popcorn and lemonade guy.
Lost in all that is the fact in 2006 that Paul Newman — who, don’t forget, was also a race car driver, and the founder of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp — teamed up with Michel Nischan to start The Dressing Room.
That superbly named restaurant next to the Westport Country Playhouse was Fairfield County’s first farm-to-table restaurant. And — thanks to the star power of its 2 owners — it helped kick-start a whole new way for local residents to look at food.
Here’s something else many folks don’t know (or forgot): The Playhouse parking lot was the original site of the Westport Farmers’ Market. The location was convenient and open. Both Newman and Nischan helped plant the seed, and watched it grow.
This September marks the 10th anniversary of Paul Newman’s death. To honor this remarkable man — one who during his 50 years gave tons of time, energy and money back to the town — the Farmers’ Market has created a special project with Newman’s Own. (The charitable foundation is one more of his legacies.)
Paul Newman often shopped at the Westport Farmer’s Market. He was a particular fan of the locally produced honey.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at this Thursday’s Farmers’ Market — and also on Thursday, August 16 — everyone is invited to share their memories of Paul Newman.
Newman’s Own will bring a life-sized cutout of their founder to the Market (now bigger than ever, at the Imperial Avenue parking lot). Video equipment will be on hand to record stories and tributes.
Clips may be shared by Newman’s Own Foundation, in a video and on social media.
Can’t make it to the market? Submissions can be emailed: social@newmansownfoundation.org.
There must be a million Paul Newman stories in Westport. Let’s start those cameras rolling.
I’m a sucker for beautiful harmonies. Meaningful lyrics. And local singer/songwriters who should be international stars, but for whatever reason never move beyond a too-small circle of loving, devoted fans.
In the 1970s it was Carlson & Gailmor — Rob and Jon, the Staples High School graduates whose “Peaceable Kingdom” album is one I’d still run into a burning building to save, but who Polydor Records never knew how to promote. They’ve both moved on to long, separate musical careers. But they should have reached a worldwide audience.
For well over a decade, it’s been the Wiggins Sisters. Like Carlson & Gailmor, their music is so much better than so much of the garbage that is (and was) out there. It’s astonishing too few people know (and love) them.
The Wiggins Sisters
Unlike duos like the Righteous Brothers, Mizzy and Casey Wiggins are actual siblings. They learned to sing harmonies from their dad, on family road trips throughout their native Midwest.
Their influences range from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell to Motown and the Rolling Stones. There are strong strains of Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, the Avett Brothers, Emmy Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt too.
In the 1980s, the sisters pursued separate careers. Casey attended the Musicians Institute and performed in Los Angeles. Mizzy went to the University of Texas, immersing herself in the Austin music scene.
In 1993 Casey and her husband Chuck moved to Westport. They embarked on a business venture with singers’ brother Steve — founder of Oxford Health Plans.
When Mizzy and her sons came to Wilton the next year, the sisters quickly picked up where they’d left off — singing and writing — as teenagers. They were part of the folk revival of the ’90s, performing at song swaps in Greenwich Village and on the Northeast coffeehouse circuit.
The Wiggins Sisters, in the studio.
They won songwriting awards, and released their debut album, “The Wiggins Sisters.”
Westport has always supported their music. Bob Hertzel gave them an early gig, at the Westport Arts Festival. They played at many First Nights, and the Levitt Pavilion — one of their favorite venues.
Their second album, “Minnesota,” was produced by Lloyd Maines, of Dixie Chicks fame. It received widespread praise, and radio airplay.
Both albums feature actual songs — not “tunes.” The sisters write and sing of their lives in Minnesota and Texas; of growing up and moving away; of meeting old friends and lovers; of living lives in America today.
The sisters traveled and performed extensively. But they never became, say, the Dixie Chicks.
Meanwhile, each woman was raising 3 children. As they became teenagers — and Casey and Mizzy’s mom suffered a stroke in 2004 — the women pulled back from writing, recording and touring.
Mizzy became a certified yoga instructor, and earned a doctor of nursing in philosophy degree. Casey tutored at Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport, and is a board member of Positive Directions.
But good music has a way of sticking around — and surprising. “Minnesota” won the Best Americana Album award at the Independent Music Awards in Nashville in 2009 — 10 years after its release.
That motivated the sisters to go back in the studio. It was time to record the many songs that had piled up over the years.
It took a while. Mizzy moved back to Austin in 2015, to be near her children and teach at her alma mater.
Casey traveled to Texas several times. The sisters recorded 16 songs at the famed Zone Recording Studio, with ace Austin musicians.
Twelve of those tracks — plus 2 from earlier demos — became their new album. Like previous efforts, the songs range from Appalachian-style ballads to blues, from country to folk to rock, from tender to tough.
It’s called “Fairfield County.” The title track was written by Mizzy about leaving this area, and ending a chapter in life.
“Many people our age relate to that,” the sisters say. “They become empty nesters, and transition into a new and different phase.”
Casey and Chuck still live in Westport. “My ties here run deep,” she says. “I’ve made lifelong friends in Westport. So have my children.”
Mizzy and her husband Jeff moved again, to Rhinebeck, New York.
The Wiggins’ father, Tony — their musical mentor — died in June. He had lived for many years in Wilton.
“Fairfield County” caught the ear of WFUV DJ John Platt, who invited them to his “Sunday Supper” radio program. The women were also part of the station’s “On Your Radar” showcase at Rockwood Music Hall this month.
The Wiggins Sisters at WFUV-FM.
The album is selling well. I think it deserves to sell really well — like, at Taylor Swift levels.
But even though “Fairfield County” is not platinum, the Wiggins Sisters continue to do what they love. They’re already working on a follow-up.
“We’re on a roll,” they say. “Once the music is out there, we just hope the songs move someone, somewhere, in some way.”
They sure do. And if you’re one of the too-many people who have not heard of the Wiggins Sisters, click here. Or go to iTunes, Spotify, Amazon or CD Baby.
Whether you’re from Fairfield County, Minnesota, Texas — or anywhere else — these 2 women deserve to be heard.
The Staples High School-to-Broadway pipeline is well-established, and longer running than any hit show.
So it was no surprise to see 2007 graduate Mia Gentile on stage yesterday at Bryant Park. The “Kinky Boots” star was part of the weekly free outdoor concert series, in the heart of Manhattan.
What made her performance special was the photographer shooting it. Jack Bowman — a Staples Players star 8 years after Mia — was on assignment for TheaterMania.
Mia Gentile performs songs from “Kinky Boots.” (Photo/Jack Bowman for TheaterMania)
I’m sure there were other Westporters in the audience — perhaps even onstage.
And I know there are many other Mias and Jacks, waiting in the middle and elementary school wings.
(For all of Jack Bowman’s Broadway in Bryant Park photos, click here.)
Westporter and 1979 Staples High School graduate Tommy Greenwald writes:
Internist, cardiologist, clarinetist, bagpiper, banjo player, guitar player, handball player and dog lover Jonathan “Pal” Greenwald died yesterday. He was 82.
A longtime resident of Westport, Dr. Greenwald was a graduate of Hamilton College and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He had a solo practice in Norwalk for nearly 50 years.
Dr. Jonathan Greenwald
His many patients loved him for his intelligence, compassion, sense of humor and willingness to accept many forms of payment, including oranges and paintings.
Dr. Greenwald also played in a myriad of musical ensembles, including the Westport Community Band, Oriskany Rhythm Kings, Norfield Wind Quintet and Fairfield Pipe and Drum Corps.
In recent years he relished teaching music to children at the Roosevelt School in Bridgeport.
But what he loved more than anything was his family: his wife of 60 years, Dr. Barbara Kellerman; his children Kenneth and Thomas; his daughters-in-law Ellen Greenwald and Cathy Utz; his grandchildren Charlie, Joe, Jack, Jessica and Jake; and his siblings, Dr. Anthony Greenwald, David Galt and Leah Greenwald.
In lieu of flowers or donations, please consider doing one of the following:
Pet a dog
Listen to Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing,” or Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”
As a musician, Matt Oestreicher was familiar with songs like “Charlie Brown,” “Love Potion #9” and “Jailhouse Rock.”
He was not, however, familiar with the names Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Oestreicher is in his mid-30s. The songwriting duo’s heyday was the mid-20th century. As in, last century.
Today, Oestreicher knows all about them. The son of longtime Westport dermatologist Mark Oestreicher, and brother of entertainer/artist/writer Amy Oestreicher, even knows Stoller personally.
The songwriter — now 85 years old — is working closely with the cast of “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.” The long-running musical revue/review of Lieber and Stoller’s career opened off-Broadway on Sunday at Stage 42.
And Oestreicher is the show’s music director and conductor.
Matt Oestreicher (Photo/copyright Joseph Gray)
Stage 42 is just an hour from Westport, where Oestreicher’s parents live. But the road there was not exactly straight and smooth.
After graduating from Hamden Hall Country Day School, Oestreicher began a 5-year Tufts University/New England Conservatory dual degree program as a pre-med and economics major.
He graduated in 2000 with a degree in philosophy and music.
He went to work for Paine Webber in Fairfield. But finance was not for him.
For the next decade or so Oestreicher performed on cruise ships in Mexico and Hawaii; studied yoga and meditation in Massachusetts; toured internationally with a Phish-like jam band and jazz artist Melvin Sparks; opened for Blink 182, Weezer and Lady Gaga; appeared on Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel’s TV shows, and did odd jobs for Ram Dass.
Then came a stint playing keyboards and guitar with the Apollo house band. He worked with Stevie Wonder, will.i.am, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Dionne Warwick, Alicia Keys and Bon Jovi.
Matt Oestreicher with the Apollo house band.
Two years ago, he was asked to work on the “Smokey Joe’s” revival. Which is how — with Jerry Leiber gone since 2011 — Mike Stoller is now collaborating with Matt Oestreicher.
“I always loved their songs,” Oestreicher says. “I knew they collaborated with artists like Elvis and the Drifters. But I didn’t really know how much great music they wrote.”
He’s getting a musical history lesson from Stoller. The songwriter tells Oestreicher — 50 years his junior — how he and his partner wrote “Hound Dog” for Big Mama Thornton. The songwriters were in Europe 3 years later. When they returned to the US, they learned it was a monster hit for a kid named Elvis Presley.
Stoller also talks about the story behind “Stand by Me.” That way, Oestreicher says, “we can bring it authentically to life.”
Matt Oestreicher and Mike Stoller.
As music director and conductor, Oestreicher’s job is liaison between “the songs and everything else.” He makes sure the tunes are translated well to and by the band, and that the actors know the music.
Of course, he also leads the band.
“Mike talks about the sincerity and the innocence of their music,” Oestreicher notes. “If we play in a way that’s not true to it, he quickly gets us back on track.”
Leiber and Stoller’s music — as conveyed through “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” — reaches older audiences familiar with it, and younger ones who are not, he says.
Matt Oestreicher’s still-short life — with all its twists and turns, from Paine Webber to off-Broadway — is quite a story.
Leiber and Stoller could probably have turned it into quite a hit song.
(Matt Oestreicher also produces the podcast “The Mindful Musician,” which explores the forces shaping the music industry, and the inner worlds of artists. Hat tip: Nadine Cherna.)
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