Congratulations to Oyster Bay High School for its merry production of Little Shop of Horrors. They did a superb job of bringing the story to life. We especially loved to see Audrey II in her many incarnations.

It was fun to see Steven Wessel, as Seymour, introduce Audrey II to the audience, when she was just an armful. [His hand fit inside the plant-puppet to give it life and movement.]

Tom Gould, Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District press officer, and a musician in his own right, said of the performance of Steven Wessel, a 10th-grader, "I was very impressed in how he hit all those pitches, especially the high notes he had to get." And, he is only a tenth-grader. We have two more years to watch him perform!

Kayvon Mesbah, senior, was grand in the role of the sadistic dentist. "He was playing Orin Scrivello, DDS - dentist. You've got to say that or he'll hit you," said Mr. Gould, explaining the plot of the sadistic dentist who hit his girlfriend, the lovely Audrey, but who got his just desserts. He became "dessert" for Audrey II.

Kayvon's credits include being treasurer of the senior class; president of the Chorus; Homecoming King and the Interact Club vice president.

Arielle Chernoff was thoroughly at home on the stage as she portrayed Audrey. A senior, she is going to Emerson College in Boston, to study theater arts. "She was tremendous," said Mr. Gould. She also designed the T-shirt for the show.

Not in the picture is Joshua Lieber who played Mr. Mushnik, the owner of the "Little Shop of Horrors." Kudos also go to Phillip Ha who played the voice of Audrey II and to Ben Selman, who played the part of the full-sized plant.

One of the fun events of the performance was seeing Dan Friedman, OB-EN Schools director of fine and performing arts department, playing the role of one of Dr. Scrivello's patients. He performed the walk-on/run-off role on Friday and Saturday and OBHS Principal Dr. Dennis O'Hara played the role on Sunday.

At each performance, in the OBHS foyer, they were selling raffle tickets to win a naming opportunity for a seat in the auditorium. Amazingly, when the raffle winners were announced, Lou Kaplan and Dagmar Fors Karppi won seat dedications! Raffle tickets were sold for $25 each. I am thrilled to have won the honor along with Lou Kaplan who truly deserves the honor since he is a former school board member and one of the founders of the auditorium restoration committee. It is an honor to share the honor with him.

It is good to note that more seats are available at $250 each for naming. It's for a good cause: funding the continued work being done on the facility. It was announced that there were lighting improvements just added to the stage.

Watching a theatrical performance is a very unique event. One's life, for those precious minutes, is on hold. You live "in the moment" that is happening on stage. Afterward, scenes come back to your mind to continue to enrich your life. Something for which we thank the performers.

On Sunday, we attended the Lions Club benefit at the Seawanhaka Yacht Club and we bought raffle tickets for the Chinese auction and won a DVD player!

It was quite a weekend. We thank all the wonderful people who made everything come together so enchantingly. It is a surprisingly wonderful world. - DFK