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Take a Bow!
Our (almost) quarterly newsletter for patrons and supporters of
Bergen County Players
Bergen County Players, Inc.
Little Firehouse Theatre
298 Kinderkamack Road
Oradell, NJ 07649
(201) 261-4200
www.bcplayers.org
August, 2025
Volume 2, Issue #1
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It’s time to buy tickets for our first show of our 93rd Season!
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September 13 through October 11, 2025
Music & Lyrics by Carole King, Gerry Goffin,
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
Book by Douglas McGrath
Directed by Alyson Cohn
Musical Direction by Steve Bell
Choreography by Dominique Alvarado
Shows on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm
Matinees on Sundays at 2:00 pm
ALL PERFORMANCES $35
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical opened on January 12, 2014 and enjoyed a nearly seven-year run on Broadway. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The musical portrays King’s journey through the music industry, highlighting her creative development and the challenges she faced as a songwriter. The score includes hits such as “So Far Away,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “Beautiful,” along with hits made famous by other artists, including “Up on the Roof,” “One Fine Day,” and “Take Good Care of My Baby”. Broadway audiences were amazed by Ms. King’s deep musical catalog, and captivated by her life story. The show became the hit of the season and won a GRAMMY® for Best Musical Theater Album and two Tony® awards. The musical continues to tour across America. |
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| More than 75% of Available Seats are Already Sold. Don’t delay! |
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Keeping the Carole King Music Playing…
Director: Alyson Cohn
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A BCP Life Member and current President of Bergen County Players, Alyson Cohn is a highly accomplished director and performer. Her extensive directing credits include acclaimed productions, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Play That Goes Wrong, The Laramie Project, The Heidi Chronicles, Six Degrees of Separation, Marvin’s Room, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Angels in America. She was recognized with Perry Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play for both Proof and God of Carnage.
On stage, audiences at the Bergen County Players have enjoyed her performances in productions such as How to Succeed…, Little Shop of Horrors (receiving a Perry Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical), as Emma Goldman in Ragtime: The Musical (earning a Perry Award Nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical), and most recently as Harriet in last season’s POTUS. Alyson is a graduate of the “famed” High School of Performing Arts in NYC, and graduated from Syracuse University, having earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting/Directing as well as a Bachelor of Music degree. Offstage, Alyson is the Director of Music Together of Northern NJ, an early childhood music and movement program. She is also the proud mother of adult children, Jared and Heather, and grandmother to 2 ½ year old granddaughter, Sefira.
Note: Your Take a Bow editor asked Alyson some questions about how she felt about her experience with Beautiful: The Carole King Story. Here are her answers:
1. What drew you to directing the musical?
Carole’s story holds deep personal meaning for me. Like her, I was raised in Brooklyn, the product of a broken home, to parents who never realized their artistic dreams, while pursuing my own career in the arts. I was raised on and loved this music. At the age of 10, the first album I purchased with my own money, saved up from my allowance, was Tapestry (on vinyl, of course). I’ve attended countless Carole King concerts, both her solo shows and her collaborations with James Taylor. Beautiful is not your typical jukebox musical. Yes, it has those incredible Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil songs, but it also has passion, drama, comedy, and most importantly, heart. Throughout the rehearsal process I find myself bopping to the music, brought to peals of laughter, and moved to tears.
2. What do you like best about directing this musical?
That is such a difficult question, because there are so many things I love about directing this show. Being a musician myself, I love being able to sink my directorial teeth into a musical. Although the basics of directing are the same as with a non-musical play, beats and timing sometimes need to be strictly adhered to. I LOVE collaborating with our musical director, Steve Bell and our choreographer, Dominique Alvarado. Because this musical in particular isn’t just a lighthearted romp in the park, it allowed me the opportunity to guide the actors into making very real dramatic choices and watching them grow with each rehearsal. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a lighthearted romp, but as a director I am always drawn to deeper, more character driven material. And we can’t forget about the songs. The music in this show is not only gorgeous, it is the music so many of us grew up on.
3. Is there something special you want the audience to know when they watch? What special messages do you want the audience to receive when they view this play?
Carole King’s journey is truly inspiring. Her sheer talent and passion pushed her to keep moving forward against all odds. She rose to the top of the music industry at a time when women were often overlooked or ignored, while dealing with the personal challenges of teen parenthood, her spouse’s mental illness, single motherhood, heartbreak, and self-doubt, that threatened to derail her dreams. Carole King paved the way for pretty much every female singer/songwriter who came after her. Many of them credit her as their inspiration. Beautiful celebrates not only Carole’s legacy, but also the universal struggles and triumphs of finding one’s own path in life. It is more than just a show. It’s a celebration of resilience, creativity, love, and the enduring power of music.
4. What are the special challenges of directing this big a musical?
When I was asked to direct this production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I didn’t immediately jump at the chance, although I do love the show on a personal as well as professional level. The show is HUGE! Research was needed for me to decide if I could do it justice here at BCP. So, what did my research uncover? Beautiful requires at least 10 onstage musicians, over 200 costumes, dozens of wigs, and a set that represents 27 different locations! Add to that some very specific casting requirements. Where could we possibly find our Drifters, Shirelles, and Righteous Brothers, and how were we ever going to find our Carole King?
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Meet the real Carole King
Since writing her first number one hit “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” at the tender age of 17, Carole King is considered one of the most celebrated and iconic singers/songwriters of all time. Carole wrote “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” for The Shirelles with then-husband Gerry Goffin. The dozens of chart hits Goffin & King wrote during this period have become part of music legend, including “Take Good Care Of My Baby” (Bobby Vee, 1961), “The Loco-Motion” (Little Eva, 1962), “Up On The Roof” (The Drifters, 1962), “Chains” (The Cookies, 1962; The Beatles, 1963), “One Fine Day” (The Chiffons, 1963), “Hey Girl” (Freddie Scott, 1963), “I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits, 1964), “Just Once In My Life” (with Phil Spector for The Righteous Brothers, 1965), and “Don’t Bring Me Down” (The Animals, 1966).
In 1960, Carole made her solo debut with a song called “Baby Sittin’” and, two years later, her demo of “It Might As Well Rain Until September” made the Top 25 in the United States, climbing all the way to No. 3 on the British charts. In 1967, Goffin and King’s “Natural Woman” was immortalized by Aretha Franklin. To date, more than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles.
Carole’s 1971 solo album, Tapestry, took her to the pinnacle. While she was recording Tapestry, James Taylor recorded King’s “You’ve Got A Friend,” taking the song all the way to number one. In a first for a female writer/artist, Tapestry spawned four GRAMMY Awards® — Record, Song and Album of the Year as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female honors for Carole. With more than 30 million units sold worldwide, Tapestry remained the best-selling album by a female artist for a quarter century, and Carole went on to amass three other platinum and eight gold albums. Tapestry was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame® in 1998. |
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In 1987, Carole was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and, a year later, Goffin and King were awarded the National Academy of Songwriters’ Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1990 the duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2002, Carole was honored with the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Two years later, Goffin and King received the Trustees Award from The Recording Academy®.
In 2012, Carole received the BMI Icon Award and an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music. The following year brought her The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, and she became the first woman to be awarded The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, presented by President Barack Obama at an all-star White House gala. Carole published her memoir, A Natural Woman, in 2012, which debuted on The New York Times bestseller list at number six and prompted Vanity Fair to say, “America is having a Carole King moment.”
In January 2014, Carole was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year, and a special gala was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in which several of today’s most popular artists, including Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, and Kacey Musgraves, performed many of her classics. To end the night, Carole herself came out to perform “Home Again,” “Jazzman,” and “Sweet Seasons”/”Hey Girl” with James Taylor; after all these years, she proved that she could still captivate an entire audience.
On December 6, 2015, Carole was introduced as a Kennedy Center Honoree for her lifetime contributions to American culture through her music. Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Sara Bareilles and Janelle Monae performed Carole’s music at the ceremony to pay tribute to her indelible music. The following February, PBS premiered “American Masters: Carole King: Natural Woman,” a documentary about her life and work. On July 3, 2016, Carole returned to the UK stage for the first time in 27 years to perform Tapestry in full at a sold-out performance at London’s Hyde Park during the BST Festival. The 65,000+ audience spanned multiple generations and showed the power and timelessness of Carole’s music.
Information and photos in this article were taken from Carole King’s official website at https://www.caroleking.com/bio
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And Now Meet BCP’s
Carole King — Hadar Baron
Hadar Baron is an NYC-based trained singer, actress, songwriter, and musician who feels truly at home on the stage. After moving to the U.S. at 9 years old, Hadar immediately jumped into the local American performance scene. With international experience in both musical theater and pop/rock performances, Hadar is excited to be taking the stage, and the theater and music scenes by storm.
Of course, Hadar is now in rehearsals for her dream role playing Carole King. Her past credits include: Erin in The Shomer Play (New York Theatre Festival World Premiere), Rockers on Broadway, Joanne Jefferson in Rent, Doria Hudson in Smile! The Musical, Enid Hoops in Legally Blonde, and more. Hadar’s artistry is rooted in authentic storytelling – utilizing music and acting to bring audiences in, in the same way that this attracted her when she was first introduced to the arts. In her music/acting career, Hadar earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Ramapo College, released “GOLD” – an EP of original songs, and has performed with an array of shows and events ranging from musicals, plays, cover bands, original music, a cruise, choirs, song cycles, showcases, cabarets, and more. When she’s not on stage, Hadar can be found following the latest social media trends, hanging out with her dog Joey, or traveling the world! (Her most recent trip was to South Africa).
Listen to Hadar Baron singing two songs from Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Montclair Theater Festival recorded on July 12 by clicking on the links below:
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Carole King fans will love THIS!
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CALLING ALL SLEUTHS!
The Game’s Afoot
(our second show of this season)
Written by Ken Ludwig
Directed by Glenn Woertz
October 25 – November 15, 2025
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| It is December 1936, and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is murdered, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous.
Ken Ludwig, creator of Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo, “provides everything you love about live theatre: extravagant characters with underlying motives, a mystery thriller with many characters who could “have done it”, superb comic timing, an eerie atmosphere conveyed through creative lighting and sound, authentic costumes, dramatic irony, and a clearly articulated Sherlock Holmes style.” (Broadway World) |
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Learn more about William Gillette…
William Gillette was an American actor, playwright, and stage director most famous for his stage portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and for the extraordinary stone castle he built on a promontory above the Connecticut River in East Haddam. Gillette set his sights on acting, although he did attend, among other schools, both Harvard and Yale universities.
Gillette’s first professional role, in 1874, was a small speaking part in his neighbor Mark Twain’s theatrical adaptation of The Gilded Age, a novel Twain co-wrote with newspaper editor Charles Dudley Warner. By 1881, theatrical producers Gustave and Daniel Frohman hired Gillette as an actor, director, and playwright; the first play he wrote for them, The Professor, enjoyed a 151-performance run in New York and a national tour. |
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Gillette continued to work in American theater, eventually crossing the Atlantic to appear in London in 1897, where his play Secret Service was both a critical and commercial success. At that time, Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famously eccentric and well-educated detective Sherlock Holmes, found himself in need of money. Having concluded his original Sherlock Holmes stories in 1893, Doyle decided to raise funds by adapting Sherlock Holmes for the stage.
In bringing Sherlock Holmes to life on the stage, Gillette introduced three elements that became synonymous with the famous detective: his deerstalker cap, his long traveling cloak, and his curved briar pipe. Doyle’s Holmes was a Victorian fashion plate who would have worn the first two garments only while in the country; while some illustrations had shown Holmes smoking a straight pipe, Gillette felt that the curved pipe was a better stage prop which, along with the cap and cloak, became distinctive trademarks for the detective. Additionally, Gillette played Holmes as a more arrogant character, often impatient with his colleagues’ inability to keep up with his deductions. Gillette wrote the phrase, “Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow,” which Clive Brook, the first film Holmes, later edited to “Elementary, my dear Watson.” (Neither phrase ever appeared in any of Doyle’s works.)
Sherlock Holmes premiered at the Star Theater in Buffalo, New York, on October 23, 1899, and moved to Manhattan’s Garrick Theater on November 6, 1899. While not popular with the critics, audiences loved Gillette’s play and his interpretation of the popular detective. Until Gillette’s final appearance as Holmes on March 19, 1932, nearly 33 years after his first, Gillette appeared as Holmes approximately 1,300 times. Beyond his theatrical performances, illustrations and photographs of Gillette as Holmes circulated widely, and Doyle used Gillette’s Holmes as the model for illustrations of Holmes stories when he began writing new adventures for the detective in 1901.
Millions of mystery lovers around the world who never heard of William Gillette can recognize Sherlock Holmes on sight, largely because of the distinctive wardrobe and mannerisms Gillette created when he interpreted Holmes. Gillette died on April 29, 1937, in Hartford, Connecticut.
The pictures and information in this article were taken from
https://www.gillettecastlefriends.org/history-of-the-castle
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Now Meet BCP’s William Gillette,
played by Rob Eigenbrod
BCP’s Rob Eigenbrod was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Texas. He got his undergraduate degree in Theater/Television at Texas Christian University (TCU), and earned a Master’s degree in Acting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He worked with the Russian State Theater Koleso, performing three shows in repertoire, partially in Russian.
Rob has performed in Shakespeare Festivals in Kansas City, MO, and Winona, MN. After moving to New York, he was in the world premiere of Celadine, starring Amy Irving, at the George Street Playhouse. He took a break from the stage to get married and start a family, but he joined BCP in 2022 when he played Wadsworth in Clue. Since then, he has produced eight video commercials for BCP productions.
Eigenbrod is a great fan of the mystery genre. “Who doesn’t like a good whodunnit?” he says (although Rob usually can’t figure out who is the culprit). He is grateful for the opportunity to play with this great cast. Although old recordings of William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes can be seen, he will work with director Glenn Woertz to determine how much of the real Gillette he’ll bring to the play. His portrayal of the famous actor will not necessarily be the same as the way Gillette presented himself.
When people come to see this play, Rob feels the combination of spooky moments and big laughs will create a thrilling atmosphere – after all, it is a comedy thriller. It’s also a good mystery that the audience will really enjoy figuring out. |
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Win Free Tickets to Gillette Castle!
Buy tickets for The Game’s Afoot before September 30 and be entered into a special drawing to win two tickets for a tour of Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Built in 1914 by William Hooker Gillette, the actor, director, and playwright most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, the ornate, 14,000-square-foot stone fortress sits 200 feet over the Connecticut River atop the most southerly hill in a chain known as the Seven Sisters and is surrounded by 184-acres of gorgeous Connecticut woodlands. After his passing, the State of Connecticut purchased the castle and adjoining acreage to create a state park.
And while in East Haddam, consider catching Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at the famous Godspeed Opera House, just down the hill from the Castle. (Sorry, the free tickets are for the castle tour only.)
Check it out here! https://ctparks.com/parks/gillette-castle-state-park
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Proceeds from this year’s productions of Bergen County Players will benefit the Joan’s Joy Foundation of Hillsdale, NJ
Each year, Bergen County Players donates a portion of the season’s proceeds to a local charity or service organization. This year, the recipient is Joan’s Joy Foundation of Hillsdale, New Jersey. The Foundation honors the memory of 7-year old Girl Scout Joan Angela D’Alessandro. The Foundation promotes child safety via programs and provides fun experiences for at-risk children. Joan’s story has brought hope through awareness and prevention.
More info can be found at https://www.joansjoy.org |
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Take a “Tour” of the
Little Firehouse Theatre
with BCP Member Barbara Mintz
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Hi. My name is Barbara Mintz, and I have been an active member of the Bergen County Players for 32 years. I’m a Life Member, a former First Vice President, a committee chairperson, a photographer, and a member of the Box Office Committee. I am going to take you on a “tour” of the Little Firehouse Theatre using photos taken by our Take a Bow newsletter editor Bonnie Sirower. I will explain the function of each of the very important areas in the theatre that help make our BCP productions so special.
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“The Dungeon”
Our downstairs rehearsal room, affectionately known as “the dungeon”, was recently renovated. These actors are rehearsing their choreography for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. |
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Furniture and Large
Item Storage
Right outside the dungeon, we have storage for furniture and other large items such as carts and wheelchairs. Directly opposite this storage area is the “lighting cage” where we store lighting equipment that we use for our shows. |
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Workshop
We have a large workshop downstairs with saws and other types of equipment, a huge selection of hardware, and enough wood to build a small house. |
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Decor Room
Opposite the workshop is our decor room where we store many of the decorative items that adorn our sets for each show (such as vases of flowers, curtains and rugs.)
And that’s not a person — it’s a mannequin! |
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Prop Alley
Some of our props are kept in a prop room downstairs. Props are generally specific items that cast members utilize during the show, such as a book, a knife or a sandwich. Many other items are stored in “prop alley,” the hallway leading from the decor room towards the lounge. |
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The Lounge
Downstairs from the entrance to the theatre, the lounge is where our audiences go to enjoy snacks during intermissions and where rehearsals may be held if extra space is needed. There are many items of interest on the walls, and a different art exhibit during the run of each of our productions. |
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Retrospective Photo Display
Going up the stairs from the lounge to the main level, you will find a retrospective display of dress rehearsal photos from many different productions. As Chairman of the Lobby Display Committee, I update the display a few times a year. |
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Paintings of Each Show
We have a long-standing tradition in which the propmasters for each show paint a tile to commemorate their time working on that specific show. The tiles were originally painted inside and outside of the prop closet doors, but when space ran out, they carried on the tradition to the cinderblock wall opposite the prop closet. |
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Dressing Room
The area all the way in the back behind the stage is known as “the green room.” It’s a combination of storage for the flats we use to create sets onstage and a place for the cast and crew to hang out. At one end of the green room we have a ladies’ dressing room and a men’s dressing room where the actors put on their costumes and do their hair and makeup. |
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Costume Room
There’s a stairway opposite the entrance to the box office that leads to our upstairs rehearsal room. In addition to being used for rehearsals, it is used to store pictures and mirrors, which hang on the walls, and other items including costumes for which we just don’t have enough space in our costume room. Our costume room has double rows of clothing for both women and men, and also shoes. |
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Hats, Pictures and More!
We have hats, wigs, pocketbooks, long gowns, fur coats, as well as framed pictures. So many different items! |
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Lighting Board
At the far end of the costume room we have the lighting board used during our productions. There are removable panels in the wall so that lighting and sound operators can actually see the actors onstage. |
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Sound Board
Our sound operators, usually working upstairs with our lighting operators, use this special equipment which provides the sound effects for our productions and also the music that is not provided by live musicians. For musicals, this panel is moved downstairs to the back of the auditorium. |
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Box Office
Our box office is located just a few steps up from the front door of the theater. There is just enough room for two members of our Box Office Committee to staff the box office. |
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Auditorium
Our auditorium has 210 seats, and we are pleased to offer reserved seats for our productions. Between productions, our members are always hard at work preparing the stage, the lighting, the sound, the props, and the costumes for the next show, as well as rehearsing! |
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Want to laugh?
Come to our free improvmocital!
(Improv/demo/recital)
Sunday, October 5 at 7:30PM
Admission is free!
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Our zany BCP improvisers at the August in-person session
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People who have been participating in our improv sessions will showcase games and exercises they
showcase games and exercises that they have learned. We need your suggestions, so be part of the audience for an hour of fun!
If you would like information on how you can take part in our playful, creative, supportive classes, whether on Zoom or in-person, please contact facilitator Staci Beth Block at Improv@BCPlayers.org. |
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| Do you long to act or to take part in
behind-the-scenes work?
Join the Bergen County Players family and
take center stage in your Community! 🎭
When you’re enjoying a production at Bergen County Players, do you imagine yourself onstage or working in the background on lighting, sound, or perhaps scenery design? Are you passionate about live theater? Do you believe in the power of the arts to inspire, entertain, and bring people together? Then why just watch from the audience when you can be a part of the magic? Bergen County Players (BCP) is more than just a theater—we’re a thriving, welcoming community of volunteers, artists, and theater lovers who come together to create unforgettable experiences. And we want you to be a part of it!
Member Perks: Members receive free admission to every show at a special Players’ Night the night before each show’s regular performances begin. Members also have the right to purchase one half-price ticket to each Players Night performance. Member meetings (usually held monthly) are followed by workshops in which other BCP members share their own craft or talents; friends and relatives are allowed to attend those workshops, too. Plus, BCP offers special social events such as restaurant dinners, hikes, bowling nights, etc. that BCP members and their family members can attend. Perhaps, most importantly, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping keep live theater vibrant and thriving!
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Donate to Bergen County Players
The great work of the Bergen County Players depends on the dedication of brilliant actors, directors, backstage volunteers and YOU, our patrons. With your support, you help us bring theater to life. Thank you again for your generous contribution! |
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