50.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Sticking to the script in Far Rockaway
Bayswater Players theater company performs the classic story of ‘Peter Pan’
There wasn’t much, if any, complaining at the Bayswater Players final dress rehearsal last Thursday as the theater company waited for producer Michael Gliner to return with some of the cast’s costumes.
Instead, the performers took it open themselves to rehearse as choreographer Nicole Bianco showed Captain Hook (Noah Morris who also plays George Darling) and his band of pirates how to fall after being shot and how to vocalize a hearty aargh!
In existence for 65 years, the entertainment troupe started out as an acting ensemble of members only from the Bayswater Jewish Center in Far Rockaway and has morphed into the only community theater company in the Five Towns and Rockaway area and includes children and adults from those and surrounding communities.
“I love it,” Ariana Wolfson said emphatically prior to the final dress rehearsal on July 7. “Being up there you get really nervous, but then you go to work and then it’s over and it’s an actual accomplishment,” said the Woodmere resident who teaches social studies at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway Middle School. “It’s the greatest experience of my life.”
Wolfson, a theater company member for nearly two years, is also co-directing the play with Nicole King and has directed and acted in a few Bayswater Players productions.
Founded by Jerome Miller, the theater company mostly performed dramas until congregation member Michael Gliner, a Far Rockaway resident and Inwood business owner got involved. Now, more musicals are performed.
“I was nominated at a temple meeting for vice president of fundraising and without telling no one I was also made producer,” said Gliner, who owns PIP Printing on Doughty Boulevard. “I was a jock in high school and knew nothing about the theater and I learned as I went.”
Gliner picks the plays based on what is available and the rights fees for the selected play, holds open auditions for roles and ensures that the entire production runs smoothly from costumes to concessions. “This is a legit community theater company,” he said more than once.
Proceeds pay for the rights fees, the directors and the musical accompaniment, which for “Peter Pan” includes musical director and pianist Gary Eisele, George Cortez on bass and flutiest Bonnie McAlvin. Elana Deluise is Eisele’s musical assistant. In addition, money is donated to organizations including the Israel Defense Forces and the Richard Brodsky Foundation. A portion of the proceeds from “Peter Pan” will benefit the fight against breast cancer, Gliner said.
Magneto, a 170-pound Leonberger dog plays the part of Nana, the canine who watches the Darling children. A first-place winner at the Westminster Dog Show, Magneto was also was in the Denzel Washington movie “The Equalizer.”
Lynbrook resident and South Middle School sixth-grader Alexi Deninno plays Michael Darling. The 11-year-old played a cheerleader in the Bayswayer production of “Grease” and Tevye’s youngest daughter in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“I do like it and it’s nice to work with adults and real props than doing the junior versions at school,” said Deninno, an All-County soprano vocalist. “It’s not very hard to learn your lines, it just sticks to you.”
The first Peter Pan performance was last Sunday, but shows are on Thursday, July 14 at 6 p.m.; Sunday, July 17 at 2 and 6 p.m. and Thursday, July 21 at 6 p.m. To purchase tickets $18 for children, $23 for adults, go to thebayswaterplayers.org/peter-pan. The Bayswater Jewish Center is at 2355 Healy Ave. in Far Rockaway. Auditions for “Into the Woods” begin July 19.
