Port Summer Show's 'My Favorite Year' Opens Thursday

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Port Summer Show presents "My
Favorite Year," a musical comedy about the golden age of live television.

Performances will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee on Sunday, at 2 p.m., in the air-conditioned auditorium.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids under 12. Seniors can attend the Thursday opening night performance for free. Summer Show alumni are invited to attend a special reception Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in the Schreiber cafeteria.

"My Favorite Year" takes everyone on a trip down memory lane with Benjy Stone, who reflects on his experience of becoming a freshman writer on "The King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade" in 1954. Benjy is assigned the daunting task of baby-sitting veteran Hollywood swashbuckler Alan Swann while he is a guest on the show.

The stars of this year’s show are 57 of Port Washington’s most talented students from seventh grade through graduating seniors. Principals include graduating seniors Chris Falcioni as Benjy, Jesse Weil as Alan, Kevin Roberts as King Kaiser and Kalia Lay as K.C., the assistant to the producer. Graduating seniors Alison Peraza and Isobel Barry are also featured in the show’s amusing scenes.

The show features a tuneful Broadway score by the Tony-winning team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and a snappy book by Joseph Dougherty. In addition to Alan Swann, played by Peter O'Toole in the original film version, the show is filled with juicy roles for comic actors, from the overbearing Belle Carroca, played in both the film and in the Lincoln Center production by Lainie Kazan, to the acerbic comedy writer Alice Miller, the role that garnered Andrea Martin a Tony Award.

"My Favorite Year" is directed by Jason Summers, an award-winning member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and a Tisch NYU graduate. Floryn Glass, a graduate of Schreiber and Skidmore, as well as a Port Summer Show alum, is back as assistant choreographer. Jean Regan will serve as musical director of the Summer Show for a fourth year. Solomon Hoffman, now studying at Columbia University, returns for his ninth summer show and will once again
conduct the 35-piece Port Summer Show orchestra.

The Port Summer Show, a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization, presents a top quality musical every summer. It provides Port students with a unique opportunity to be involved in all phases of theater production. This year’s show is made possible by the generosity of Robert and Jane Harding of , Ltd., and is produced by Susan Hoffman and Elisabeth Roberts.