Preserve the Village in a Park
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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This letter was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Fox Meadow resident Lena Crandal:
Letter to the Editor: The front-page article in last week's edition of the Scarsdale Inquirer mistakenly reported that no one spoke in favor of the proposal to amend Article IV of the Scarsdale building code entitled "Lot Area Coverage." I was the lone ranger amidst the crowd.
I also think I was the only one who read the proposed amendment in the middle of the thick packet provided at the back of Rutherford Hall. This section of the zoning chapter regarding lot coverage in residence "A" districts is all about saving some land for landscaping. It doesn't matter if blue water can seep through 6 inches of gravel in a plastic pitcher to turn paper towels blue. What does matter is that no one in his or her right mind would plant an oak tree in the middle of a stone driveway, regardless of its drainage pattern.
You've all seen the new houses built so close to one another that there's only room for a row of evergreen shrubs. What I tried to explain during my 6 minutes before the village board is that landscape architects like the Olmsted Brothers, the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, planned much of Scarsdale. The basic idea was to have lovely homes in a pastoral setting, so that those stressed out from working in the city could slowly unwind as they saw different green vistas at every curve. That's why our older housing stock generally features one or more large mature trees and other interesting plantings.
So, yes, get rid of the gravel driveway exception to lot coverage in Section 310; but also rewrite the legislative intent, so that it's clear that some unadulterated land is necessary around our homes to support a variety of trees, shrubs and maybe even some flowers. I don't want Scarsdale to look like the borough of Queens with pavement and "brick jobs" everywhere. I don't think I'm alone in my love of our "village-in-a-park." Although, I certainly was the only one who spoke in favor of the proposed amendment to Section 310.
If you agree with me that we need to preserve open spaces around our homes, then please contact the Scarsdale Village Board ASAP. It's easy; just send an email to [email protected]. If you love the big box houses the developers are convinced you want to purchase, then do nothing. That's how democracy works.
Lena Crandall
227 Fox Meadow Rd
Scarsdale, NY 10583
The Magic of Broadway is Alive and Well in Fun Home
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- Written by Stacie M. Waldman
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Who would think that a written memoir about a dysfunctional family in small-town Pennsylvania revolving around a funeral home and discovering one's sexuality could be made into a hit Broadway musical? And since the stage is surrounded by the audience on all sides, this show literally revolves.
Welcome to Fun Home, the show that is transforming traditional musical theater by creating something that is not merely enjoyable for audiences but that connects humor and heartbreak in a way that provides viewers with that post-theater feeling of needing to tell everyone you know to go see it ASAP. The story line, the music, and the talent will stick with you well after you have left the theater. In fact, the show will immediately capture your attention and hold it during its silent opening. (Note the strict "no late seating" policy.)
Fun Home is based on Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic (comic-book style) memoir of the same name and has been adapted to the stage by Lisa Kron (Tony Award winner for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score of a Musical for Fun Home). The show consists of entertaining and deeply sentimental clips of Alison's life: There's Small Alison (age 9) played by the uber-talented, 
Tony-nominee Sydney Lucas (although her understudy Gabriella Pizzolo was on that night), Middle Alison (age 19) played by Tony-nominee Emily Skeggs making her Broadway debut, and Alison (age 43) played by Tony-nominee Beth Malone. Alison's parents are Helen (Tony-nominee Judy Kuhn) and Bruce (Tony winner Michael Cerveris). You may be noticing a Tony Award and nominee theme here. Fun Home took home five Tony Awards in total in 2015.
Brilliantly directed by 2015 Tony Award winner Sam Gold, the elder Alison watches and evaluates Small and Middle Alison throughout the show and provides unique, intelligent, and often hilarious insight into the story both when she is silent and watching as well as when she makes comments using words or lyrics. We do not see Alison age chronologically, rather we see her at her three pivotal ages during the show. Bruce, Alison's father, is a funeral home director in a small-town in Pennsylvania. He is also a high school English teacher and is borderline obsessed with restoring his Victorian house to museum-like condition. Alison's relationship with her father is the centerpiece of the story and she yearns for his acceptance, at times in ways that break the heart. Bruce is a closeted gay man; Alison is discovering that she is a lesbian. Although some of the story focuses on their knowledge and recognition of each other's sexuality, Small Alison also yearns for his acceptance of her cartoon drawings. Where father and daughter truly connect is through their love of literature, bringing out the compassionate and loving side of the at-times tyrannical Bruce. This bond is most evident during Middle Alison's college years while she is discovering her first same-sex love, Joan, played by Roberta Colindrez, whose comedic timing is virtually perfect.
The title "Fun Home" is short for funeral home and also is rather ironic given the not-so-fun feel at the Bechdel house for the kids under their father's rule. Alison's brothers John (8-year-old Zell Steele Morrow) and Christian (12-year-old Oscar Williams) liven up the show with the humorous commercial for their father's funeral home, "Come to the Fun Home," complete with dancing on a casket, seventies attire and a lemon Pledge microphone as well as the fabulous opening number "Welcome to our House on Maple Avenue."
Alison struggles throughout the story with her father's death at age 44. He is hit and killed by a truck shortly after Helen, his wife, admits she knows he is gay. This is also just after Middle Alison tells him she is a lesbian and pleads for support from her family. It pains Bruce to admit he is gay; Alison on the other hand feels like her life is finally beginning. We never know if Bruce's death is suicide or not, but the agony Alison experiences with his untimely death is brought to life with the line, "I had no way of knowing my beginning would be your end."
The music by Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori is meaningful, creative, catchy, and relevant. Tesori's talent is noticeable by even the most novice theater-goer as the cast moves flawlessly from speaking to singing back to speaking all the while drawing the audience in to the intense story line and characters. The six-piece orchestra set on the stage enhances the value of the music in relation to the story. Ben Stanton certainly deserved his Tony nomination for lighting design- the lighting tells just as much of the story at times as the lyrics and music and contributes to the emotions the characters exhibit and the audience feels. David Zinn, the Tony nominated set designer, brings to life the family home, Alison's cartooning desk, the funeral home and college, a feat not easily reckoned with when audiences are seated around the entire perimeter of the stage. Furniture disappears and reappears thanks to some cleverly spaced trap doors.
"Changing My Major" sung by Middle Alison about the relief of accepting that she is a lesbian and changing her college major to Joan (her girlfriend) is a memorable number. It's sweet, funny, and well orchestrated. "Party Dress" is a truly gripping song partially sung and partly spoken with Bruce, Small Alison, and Middle Alison and is about Alison not wanting to wear a dress but pacifying her father by doing so. The most powerful song of the show has to be when Small Alison sings "Ring of Keys." Gabriella Pizzolo captured and relayed the intensity of the song- it is possible that no one in the audience blinked until it was over. The song was performed by Sydney Lucas at the Tony Awards and although they've got to be difficult shoes to fill, Pizzolo (Lucas' current understudy) is confidently and successfully moving into the role of Alison and will be performing regularly after Lucas leaves in October.
All three Alison's appear on stage together for the first time during the moving last scene, singing "Flying Away" and earning the genuine, zero-hesitation standing ovation at the end of Fun Home. The delight and satisfaction of the audience was palpable.
I had a chance to meet Oscar Williams who plays Christian in Fun Home. At 12, Christian is the oldest of five boys and hails from Vermont! His mom has learned to love NYC and all that comes with it and is managing quite well with one son on Broadway and four others at home. For Oscar, Alison's story is meaningful. "I like the truth and honesty that exists in Fun Home," he said. "It shows a person that accepted their self and a person that didn't and how their lives turned out differently. The Bechdels are a dysfunctional family that pretends to be perfect and there can be consequences to that."
And what are his thoughts about NYC versus Vermont? "Well everything is a lot closer. We just walk to the grocery store. School is just a few blocks away. Everything is huge and there are SO many people." Next on his plate? He hasn't really thought about it- he wants to stay with Fun Home as long as he can. Oscar thinks Finding Neverland, Matilda, or upcoming School of Rock could be really fun. But it will be hard to leave Fun Home. "The cast is so diverse and everyone is so talented. Michael and Judy are such amazing actors; Emily, Joel, Beth...Sydney, Zell, Roberta, Gabriella...everyone is so amazing and so connected on stage. We're really a family both on the stage and off the stage."
Fun Home is now playing at Circle in the Square, 235 W. 50th Street. Tickets can be bought on www.telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.
Narrow Escape for Pedestrian on Normandy Lane
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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On Monday September 14 around 11 am, a large tree branch broke off a very old tree lining Normandy Lane, falling directly onto a BMW that was parked on the street. A woman who was walking her dog on the street at the time, heard a loud crack and ran behind the car to avoid being hit, just before the branch fell. The car took the brunt of the fall, however the woman was badly shaken, bruised and scraped by the tree branches, but otherwise unharmed. Scarsdale Police responded immediately and sent an ambulance to examine and release the woman before she drove home with her husband. In addition, the Village sent a tree cutting crew to clear the tree branch from the street. The Department of Public Works returned the next day to cut down the tree and another tree across the street that was also deemed to be dangerous. The car was damaged.
Volunteers Provide Robes to Patients at Jansen Hospital
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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In the past year Jansen Hospice's Volunteer Coordinator, Laura Hanlon, initiated a lap robe program whereby homemade and purchased blankets sourced from Jansen volunteers are donated to hospice patients in community nursing homes. The blankets are coined "lap robes" because they are perfectly sized to keep someone warm when they are sitting down or resting in a wheelchair.
Laura started the lap robe program after Tuckahoe resident, Valerie Schneer, asked if she could donate handmade blankets to the organization. Valerie feels it's important to give back, and finds crocheting therapeutic: "I lost a close friend of mine a couple years ago. He was the love of my life. I always made stuff for him and took care of him. I miss doing that and wanted to continue the tradition. It helps me cope with my loss." The lap robe program has attracted support from several Jansen volunteers who knit and crochet blankets for the cause. Bobbe Kastner volunteered for the lap robe program as soon as she heard about it. "I've been knitting forever. I have tons of yarn lying around the house and have all sorts of colors to make the lap robes interesting and unique. It doesn't even feel like work; it's simply something I like to do."
Valerie has personal experience with a family member who passed while on hospice care and understands its importance. She said good hospice care allows family members to make meaningful gestures, like creating conversation or holding hands - the things that give hospice patients a reason to live. Valerie believes the lap robes have the same effect. "Giving lap robes to hospice patients lets them know someone is thinking about them. They're not cut off from the world; people know they exist." In fact, Valerie received a letter from a hospice patient's daughter that included a picture of her mother with her new lap robe. The daughter wanted Valerie to know what a positive impact she had on her mother's well being.
Cynthia Rouff is another lap robe volunteer who donates blankets she finds in consignment shops, and also volunteers for Jansen in other capacities, including visiting hospice patients and their families. The support she offers not only helps hospice patients, but their family members as well. "I was looking after a man on hospice care, and after he passed, I sat with his wife and daughter all afternoon. They were so sad. His wife started telling me all about her husband - how they met, and stories about their life together. Talking to me helped the wife feel better. By the time I left, I knew I had done a good deed."
The lap robe volunteers give their heart and soul to the program and represent ways Jansen supports hospice patients outside of face-to-face visitations. The beautiful lap robes the volunteers provide and hope each one offers hospice patients with warmth, color, and a reminder that they aren't alone.
If you are interested in volunteering for the lap robe program, please contact Laura Hanlon at 914-787-6158.
Back to School Photos Part 2
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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We received many more photos of your beautiful children on the first day of school and wanted to share them with you. Thanks to everyone who participated. See below for the photo gallery.
