The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 31

09 COMICS DEAR ABBY MOVIE TIMES TELEVISION" .0 TELEVISION Woman of mystery Elizabeth Mitchell is the crafty actress behind the enigmatic Dr. Juliet Burke on "Lost," 4D i For more things to do, check out the calendar LoHud.com She Journal NCUIS Thursday, March 6, 2008 MUSICALS '08 mm Ill IX -f iff1 White Plains Performing Arts Center The cast of the White Plains Performing Arts Center's production of "Ain't Misbehavin'." him I i tauisA ImtHfiniy Mtnirt f. a a-, tnni um 1 mm i i i fv i y-i -Vfifi -y REVIEW AINT MISBEHAVIN' 'Fats' gets fit tribute Show puts Waller's music, personality in glowing spotlight Peter D. Kramer The Journal News "Ain't Misbehavin" looks deceptively simple: Thirty songs associated with piano great Thomas "Fats" Waller strung together by a cast of five and a band of six. But there's more than just songs, as youU find in a high-octane revival of the 1978 Tony Award-winning best musical at the White Plains Performing Arts Center through March 16.

There's heart and soul it Photos by Tania SavayanThe Journal News Miguel Gallardo, left, as Bud Frump and Torrey Rodriguez as J. Pierrepont Finch rehearse for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at Salesian High School in New Rochelle. SALESIAN HIGH SCHOOL AND WHITE PLAINS HIGH SCHOOL 'How to Succeed' on 2 stages Building Character Finches and Frumps find fun and fulfillment as dueling corporate sharks Peter D. Kramer The Journal News I Watch video interviews with Salesian's Torrey Rodriguez as Finch and Peter Calamari as Biggley, and LoHud.com White Plains' Zach Sorrow as Finch and Danny Alfonzo as Bud at www.lohud.comlocaltheater. ven as economic indicators seem to be headed south, this appears to be the season of "How to Succeed in Business and an irrepressible love of life.

Director Jerry Dixon who gave an outstanding performance as Coalhouse Walker in WPPAC's recent concert version of "Ragtime" assembles a talented team of singers and instrumentalists who deliver a loving tribute to Waller, a Harlem Renaissance man as at home behind the piano as he was behind the microphone. "Ain't Misbehavin'" presents two dozen Waller compositions from "Honeysuckle Rose" to The Joint is Jumpin'" to the infectious title tune and a handful of songs Waller didn't write but made famous in performance. Act 1 features more group numbers, while Act 2 offers each performer a chance to have the spotlight to himself or herself. There's a quick third act, billed as a finale, which features songs that Waller made popular, such as "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," "Two Sleepy People" and "I Give You Anything But Love." The two hours fly by, as Dixon Co. keep things moving along at a toe-tapping good clip.

You'll likely leave the theater humming, with more spring in your step than you had when you entered. As a revue, there's no book to speak of, just wall-to-wall Waller, but the talented cast Aisha de Haas, Eugene Fleming, Danielle Lee Greaves, Anastacia Mc-Clesky, Wayne W. Pretlow are able to create characters within Please see "AIN'T," 3D Really Trying" opened on Broadway on Oct 12, 1961, and ran 1,417 performances, closing on March 6, 1965 43 years ago tonight It's about J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who dreams of corporate stardom and, who with the help of a tiny self-help book and, where appropriate, a little back-stabbing is catapulted into the upper echelons of Park Avenue's World Wide Wicket Co. Please see "SUCCEED," 3D -ri without Really Trying." Tonight, the Frank Loesser show, about a window washer who dreams of corporate stardom, plays at Salesian High School in New Rochelle.

Next weekend, White Plains High School has its own production. And starting April 24, the White Plains Performing Arts Center will stage a professional production of the show that won a Pulitzer Prize and seven Tony Awards in 1962. "How to Succeed in Business Without Danny Alfonso as Bud Frump sings during a rehearsal for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at White Plains High School. PLEASANTVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 'Fiddler' star has other role as teen folk singer UK: i 1. I He popped in at open mikes in coffeehouses across Westchester and in New York, found a musical kindred spirit in Cro-ton-based singer and producer Fred Gillen and now plays showcases, theaters and festivals as far away as Texas and Tennessee.

When "Fiddler" rehearsals took a break for the recent winter recess, da Costa was off to play his music at a folk conference in Memphis. Closer to home, he's been opening for the Lower Hudson Valley's Red Molly on regional dates. (Red Molly's Abbie Gardner plays on his latest CD.) He also has opened for Livingston Taylor and Susan Werner, Please see "FIDDLER," 3D Peter D. Kramer The Journal News hen Pleasantville High School's production of "Fiddler on the Roof opens tomorrow night, the musical based on Sholom Aleichem's Russian folk stories will star a bona fide American folk singer Anthony da Costa who, at 17, has just released his fourth full-length CD of original songs, "Typical American Tragedy." After playing in a middle school band called Us and Him "doing mainly Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beatles covers" da Costa began writing and playing his own music. He was 13.

I fife-" Iffr i 7 if "iV" 1 vPkww-J Mr rid Pleasantville High School students rehearse the "Fiddler on the Roof opening song, "Tradition." Anthony DeCosta, second from right, plays Tevye. Westchester Film Festival offers a movie-lover's feast Wine of the day A look at wines you can sample at the Greater New York Wine Food Festival, which will be held April 4-6 at the Doubletree Hotel Tarrytown. Visit for tickets and information. Today's pick: Malson Chanson Bourgogne Plnot Nolr 2006. It may not be what you're used to, if you came to pinot noir from its Californian or Oregonian origins, but there's no denying the purity and freshness of a young, entry-level Burgundy.

Chanson has had a huge turnaround since be-' ing purchased by Bollinger (of Champagne fame) in 1999; the subsequent investment in quality is clear in the fresh, clean red fruit and subtle mineral flavors in this smooth but crisp bodied wine. A lovely accompaniment to weeknight dinners and lighter fare. From Lisa Granik, Master of Wine, a title conferred to only 265 people in the world by the the Institute of Masters of Wine in London. With those Westchester connections, it's also natural that "The Dukes" directed by veteran movie and TV character actor Robert Davi Frank D'Amico would close the at 1 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, and from noon on Sunday.

Now in its ninth year, the festival has become a home for big Hollywood films as well as locally-grown pictures. This year's schedule includes "Black 47: Live at Connolly's," a concert film about the well-known local Irish rock band, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," the Philip Seymour HoffmanMarisa TomeiEthan Hawke drama directed by Oscar nominee Sidney Luniet. That's a real coup on our part," said festival director Iris Stevens, noting that "Before the Devil" can Please see FESTIVAL, 3D Kevin Canfield The Journal News Frank D'Amico has been a working stand-up comedian for half of his adult life, so when he was asked to play a comic in the new movie "The Dukes" it wasn't really acting at all. "This was a natural," said D'Amico, a Mount Vernon native. Natural, too, was D'Amico's pairing on the film with "Dukes" co-star Chazz Palminteri, a Bedford resident who has starred in Hollywood films like "A Bronx Tale," and with the movie's associate producer, Pat Reale, who was born in White Plains and is D'Amico's longtime manager.

ninth Westchester I Film Festival on Sunday. The festival includes almost 30 movies, but its greatest selling point is its user-friendliness an $8 daily admission gets you into see as many movies as you'd like. Films will run back to back at City Center 15 in White Plains, starting THINKFilm Philip Seymour Hoffman, left, and Ethan Hawke in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," which will be screened tomorrow night as part of the ninth Westchester Rim Festival. 90-SECOND WEEKEND Mitch Broder has the details on a concert in Peekskill starring the Jazz legend McCoy Tyner and the tap-dance legend Savion Glover. He also briefs you on the Tarrytown stop for Jose Gonzalez' Green Tour.

Westchester Channel 19, 6 Rockland Channel 19 Putnam Channel 20 DIRECTV Channel 62.