By MIKE BARON

The shareholders of Rumson-Fair Haven Bank & Trust have spoken, and they apparently aren’t all that worried that hedge fund honcho George Hall is going to turn the their well-heeled area into a Pottersville.

Hall is the founder of investment firm Clinton Group, which has more than $2.5 billion in assets under management, according to its website. On May 11, he won his battle to remove William Barrett as chairman of of the five-branch bank after an independent judge finalized the results of the bank’s annual shareholder vote. Hall is replacing Barrett on the board, and a new chairman is set to be chosen when the bank’s directors meet on Monday.

While the area is undoubtedly a far cry from Bedford Falls, the fictional setting of the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Barrett had reportedly likened Hall to Henry Potter, the film’s villain, amid criticism by Hall that the bank wasn’t doing enough local lending.

In a letter to shareholders, Dennis Flanagan, Rumson-Fair Haven Bank & Trust CEO, said that Barrett “continues as a significant shareholder and has indicated that he will remain supportive of the bank.”

Greg Taxin, a Clinton Group managing director, said Hall is looking to help both Rumson-Fair Haven shareholders and the community. Hall and entities controlled by Hall currently have a 7.2 percent stake in the bank and, according to an April 12 proxy statement , those holdings could be bumped up as high as 9.9 percent now that Hall is on the board.

Taxin doesn’t expect Hall to replace Barrett as chairman and is optimistic the other directors won’t be at odds with Hall.

“We hope it’s not contentious,” he said. “Our interests are aligned with shareholders, as the rest of the board’s should be.”

Flanagan is also confident that the bank and Hall will be able to turn the page and move forward together.

“The vote is done, it’s finalized, and Mr. Hall is on the board,” he said. “The board and I are looking forward to working together. We have basically the same goals. Loan production has been growing since last year, and we’re highly optimistic that can continue.”

Taxin said that Rumson-Fair Haven’s stock, which trades on the Pink Sheets, has been flat for more than a decade, mainly because the bank’s leadership has been “incredibly conservative.”

“They’ve basically taken in deposits and bought Treasuries and high-quality bonds but done very little lending,” Taxin explained. “This [the Rumson-Fair Haven area] isn’t some troubled backwater. The real estate here is solid collateral. There have been plenty of good loans out there to make and they haven’t. Those are missed opportunities.”

That sentiment is similar to what was put forth in Hall’s proxy statement, which said:

“We believe the company has a duty to serve the community by providing loans to qualified borrowers. The bank is located in a vibrant area, and there should be ample opportunity to make quality loans to local residents and business. Instead, the current approach of the company appears to be to emphasize using its cash and deposits to purchase government bonds and securities; we do not believe this should a major endeavor of a community bank.”

The bank is already moving in this direction. Flanagan also announced in the May letter to shareholders that Rumson-Fair Haven is “re-entering the residential mortgage market” and hiring Scott Keller, an experienced mortgage banker, to lead the charge.

The clash between Hall and Barrett has received attention in the New York tabloids, in part because Hall is a high-profile name in horse racing, having bred Ruler on Ice, the winner of Belmont Stakes in 2011.

Last year, Hall paid $12 million for Long Point, a sprawling estate fronting on the Navesink River in Rumson, from Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins.

Hall’s link to the area goes back nearly two decades. According to property records, Hall purchased a home at 23 North Ward Avenue in Rumson in May 1995 for $1.45 million. In April 2004, he paid $6.79 million for a home at 2 Brown’s Dock Road in Middletown.

By JOHN T. WARD

Can a Jersey Girl whose work as a 22-year-old prostitute helped derail a political career in spectacular fashion return home and remake herself as a small-town retailer?

Four years after her high-priced hotel romps with Eliot Spitzer dynamited his tenure as governor of New York and made her infamous, Ashley Dupré says she turned a page Monday with the opening of Femme by Ashley, a lingerie and swimwear boutique on the choicest block in downtown Red Bank.

The shop, Dupré told redbankgreen in an exclusive interview, “is almost like the beginning of the rest of my life.

“I made a bunch of mistakes when I was younger, and I feel like, for the first time in my life, I’m growing into an adult, and I’m really excited about that,” she said.

The Broad Street boutique features lingerie, swimsuits and Victoria  Beckham sunglasses. (Click to enlarge)

Petite and wearing eyeglasses that made her appear somewhat more studious than she did in Girls Gone Wild videos made a decade ago, 27-year-old Dupré said she agreed to redbankgreen‘s request for a sit-down only at the urging of her boyfriend, TJ Earle, who thought it was important in establishing community roots. She said it would likely be her only interview on the topic.

Off-limits were questions about the events that made her a household name. Dupré also refused to allow redbankgreen to videotape the interview or even take her photo, saying she’d been “burned” in the past by the unauthorized release of images. Instead, she supplied a commissioned portrait.

“I’m just done with it,” Dupré said of her scandal-based persona. “I’m very private. People don’t believe that, but I’m a very private person. I don’t want that life. I’m not looking to be in the press. I’m just looking to get on with my life.”

Her focus, she said, is on becoming a business owner and “me doing what I enjoy for the first time, and not caring what anyone else has to say about it.”

Dupré’s image rehab effort might be traced to her hire two years ago as a sex -and-relationship advice columnist for the New York Post, which had previously reveled in labeling her a “ho” and “trollop” at every opportunity. In bringing her on board, the newspaper wrote:

She didn’t ask for fame, but, “Now that I have it, it’s up to me to take advantage,” she said.

Under the tag “Ask Ashley,” Dupré fielded questions that at first overtly traded on her notoriety. “How do I know if my daughter may be getting into trouble?” asked “Meredith, 40, Queens,” in the debut.

But the column later morphed into questions about keeping relationships fresh and exciting, Dupré said. “I think I have moved away from how I’m viewed to ‘how do I save my relationship?’ and ‘how do I make this work?’” she said.

The Broad Street store represents a continuation of that evolution, she said – and the likely end of the column, which she said has “run it’s course.”

Other than a confessional interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20, a raunchy one with Howard Stern and a nude spread in Playboy, what else has Dupré been up to since the Spitzer scandal broke in March, 2008?

“I’ve been in a relationship,” she said. “I’ve just started my life over.” She and Earle, a paving industry exec, have lived in the Navesink section of Middletown for the past two months. She said she considers him her best friend, and his young daughters her family.

Growing up in Wall Township, Dupré said she was a frequent visitor to Red Bank. Moving back to the Shore after seven years in Manhattan and again visiting the town, “I just fell in love with the community as a whole,” she said. “It is like a little mini SoHo, and the people here are great.”

In creating Femme by Ashley, Dupré hired Amy Manor of West Front Street to design the space. Borough-based Frame to Please supplied oversized mirror frames and Solari Creative, also of Red Bank, did the website.

“We really kept it in the community. It’s like our own little networking circle here,” Dupré said. “It’s very important to me to have that.”

The resulting shop features white walls, ceilings and flooring. Long, silver velvet drapes form a pair of dressing rooms, each equipped with a plush purple chair so shoppers and their significant others can have some intimate time during a bikini or teddy try-on.

Dupré said the boutique’s merchandise, including labels Agua Bandita, Pily Q and Jenna Leigh, reflects her own evolving fashion sense.

“I’m  a girl, and I think every girl likes to shop and explore their tastes,” she said. “Getting into this business, I kind of explored all of these designers and fell in love with them.”

The shop offers swimsuits in the $180 to $200 range as well as some “special” underthings, Dupré said.

“I really wanted this to be a place where anybody could come in and get something and be able to afford it, but also to have the luxurious items, too,” she said.

Dupré said she plans to be in the store daily, and is braced for curiosity seekers.

“Well, I’m sure I’m going to see everybody,” she says with a laugh. “I’m sure a lot of interesting people are going to walk through those doors.”

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna met recently with Dupré and Earle at their request, and said he came away impressed by their vision for the store and their enthusiasm about the town. Only one person, the wife of a retailer, had complained to him about Dupré’s arrival, he said. “I reminded her that none of us are exemplary in every aspect of our lives.” he said.

“We are a very diverse town,” Menna said. “We welcome everyone.”

Dupré, though, doesn’t expect everyone to be welcoming. She says she’s learned to shrug off whispers, which she finds prevalent “whether you’ve been involved in a scandal or not. People always talk about other people. And it’s sad that you don’t have anything more important to talk about in your life, but that’s just the way of life. Not everybody can like you, and it’s OK. I’m OK with that.

“What am I going to do, live in the past, regretting every mistake I’ve ever made?” she said. “That’s the sign of a weak person. You need to get over it and move on.”

Susan Heyward stars as Winnie, the “nearly nine year old” central character in the comedy MY WONDERFUL DAY, by Alan Ayckbourn, below.

By TOM CHESEK

As the author of nearly 80 produced plays, he’s been a magnet for gleaming trophies, plaques and medallions that include the Tony, the Olivier and the Moliere Award, not to mention five honorary doctorates and — what was that other one? Oh yeah, a knighthood.

You’d think then with all of that precious metal clanking about, Sir Alan Ayckbourn might make a healthy amount of noise on this side of the Atlantic. But regrettably, the works of the dramatist best known for the Norman Conquests trilogy and Absurd Person Singular are apparently in no danger of challenging the likes of Nunsense for dominance outside of America’s biggest cities and universities.

Beginning Tuesday, May 15, Two River Theater Company endeavors to change all that — as indeed they’ve worked to change the standard set of expectations for a “suburban” stage operation — when the professional troupe caps its 2011-2012 mainstage season with a new production of the 2009 comedy My Wonderful Day.

Set in the home of TV personality Kevin Tate (Marc Vietor), Ayckbourn’s farcical look at “the foibles, failed hopes and dreams of the British middle class” unfolds as a series of keenly observed seen through the eyes of “nearly nine year old” Winnie (Susan Heyward), daughter of the Tate household’s Anglo-Caribbean cleaning woman, Laverne (Kimberly Hébert Gregory).

It’s young Winnie’s school assignment to take in and record the things that occur around her throughout the day — and take it all in she does, much to the eventual  dismay of the vindictive Mrs. Tate (Danielle Skraastad), Tate’s mistress Tiffany (Alison Cimmet) and Tate’s mate Josh (Kevin Isola).

When My Wonderful Day made its world premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, North Yorkshire (where Ayckbourn served as artistic director for nearly 40 years), it featured a quirky bit of casting, in that the vigilant child Winnie was played by then 28-year-old Ayesha Antoine. The actress reprised the role when the show jumped the puddle for its Off Broadway run — and, with the casting of the grownup Heyward, TRTC and director Nicholas Martin maintain the recently minted (and entirely unofficial) tradition.

“It’s a fun challenge to play someone that young,” says Heyward of the character, who’s onstage throughout the show, gets to read portions of the classic book The Secret Garden, and who delivers some of her dialogue in French (giving some of the other characters the mistaken belief that the child doesn’t understand English).

“You have to let go of your adult opinions, and get rid of all your life experience,” says Heyward.

Describing the nonjudgmental, apparently innocent Winnie as “a bit of a fish out of water” in a houseful of liars, philanderers, backstabbers and the just generally clueless, the actress observes that “people tend to talk over her head as if she’s not there. They let down their guard, divulge their secrets, thinking that she won’t really understand. They think they have a Get Out of Jail Free card.”

This is Heyward’s first Ayckbourn project, which is also the case for most of the young cast, the director and the Two River team itself — although the company has called in some pretty serious reinforcement for its “BeforePlay” series of presentations in the lobby of TRTC’s branded Bridge Avenue arts center.

Author, playwright, director (and member of the administrative staff at New Jersey landmark Paper Mill Playhouse), Michael T. Mooney brings a level of Ayckbourn expertise to the table that includes his having founded the 4A’s (Alan Ayckbourn Aficionados of America), and staging the American premieres of no less than four Ayckbourn plays. Last year, he very nearly presented a local production of the master’s somewhat daunting diptych House and Garden — a pair of full-length plays designed to play simultaneously on two neighboring stages, with both the audience and the characters shuttling from one to the other.

“I don’t want to suggest that Ayckbourn’s plays are Too British,” says the Asbury Park resident, who traveled overseas to study with Ayckbourn for several summers (and who’s been so bold as to perform in front of the playwright, in a role that Ayckbourn had written for himself).

“The characters in his plays are often well read, cosmopolitan, snd the best of his plays are character driven,” says Mooney. “The least of his plays are better than most of other people’s best.”

The sought-after authority on all things Ayckbourn calls the relatively recent and lesser known My Wonderful Day a good choice for TRTC’s maiden voyage, noting that the show boasts “a multicultural cast, easy scenery, and it has a very young character at its center. She’s our eyes, our point of view.”

My Wonderful Day previews May 15 through 18; opens on Saturday, May 19 (SOLD OUT), and continues with a schedule of evening and matinee performances, Wednesdays through Sundays until June 3. Tickets are $37 – $57 (with a discounted price of $24 for anyone 30 years and younger) and are available by calling the TRTC Box Office at 732.345.1400, or visiting the TRTC website for schedule details and availability — as well as info on dinner/show packages and other special-event performances.

This pencil-on-paper self portrait is among the “new and unknown” works by lifelong Red Banker Evelyn Leavens on display in a solo show that opens Friday evening at McKay Imaging Gallery.

During a 2010 visit to the Red Bank house that she’s lived in since before the Great Depression, Evelyn Leavens told redbankgreen: “I’m still painting; I’m always working… I wouldn’t give it up any more than I would move out of my home.”

That particular article (which can be read here in its entirety) advanced a solo show drawn from the remarkable artist’s 60-year career, a display that we viewed as not so much a retrospective, but “a chance for Leavens to pause for one moment — a moment in which the rest of us can struggle to catch up — before sprinting ahead to the next challenge.”

Sure enough, here in 2012 there’s still much that is new, even much that’s yet to be discovered, in the world of Evelyn Leavens. On Friday evening, April 27, McKay Imaging Gallery brings us up to speed on her recent endeavors, with the opening reception of an exhibit that the octogenarian artist has described as being her “last show” (although, as she told the Two River Times, she’s “never convinced about that”).

UNTITLED 4, a 16 x 20 watercolor on paper from the Evelyn Leavens show opening April 27. (Click to enlarge)

Entitled Linear Configurations: New and Unknown Works by Evelyn Leavens, the gallery installation assembles a collection of small watercolors that the painter, photographer and instructor created just within the past year — having put aside the larger oil paintings that she had done for decades in favor of a medium that “enabled me to strive for an ever-increasing looseness, fluidity and spontaneity, completely free of any preconceptions.”

“My first pencil marks, made when I was around two or three years old, were followed by pencil marks on absolutely everything, indiscriminately, from then on,” the artist states in her bio. “I still make these marks, still indiscriminately, on everything from canvas to paper.”

While Leavens has lived in the same Red Bank home since the age of five — on a street where, as she puts it, “fine memories remain” — the words “New and Unknown” make it clear that the artist resides very much in the present and future tenses, letting her passionately produced art take her where it will.

This Friday, her work will take her up the stairs at 12 Monmouth Street, to the second-story space maintained by photographers and curators Robert and Elisabeth McKay. Since presenting the first of their public installations in 2005, the McKays have spotlighted just as many painters and sculptors as they have shutterbugs, with talked-about shows centered around the works of multimedia maestro John Kochansky, Brookdale College professor Dan Schroll, spraypaint master Doug Z and many others.

“As some of you may have noticed, our last photography show was… well, a couple of years ago!” say the McKays in their gallery statement for the new show. “Frankly, we’ve been a bit distracted by the vast pool of local talent in other mediums, particularly painters.”

Bob and Liz also don’t mind sharing the fact that they were “floored” by the opportunity to host the first appearance of this new body of work by Leavens. Visiting the artist’s home studio frequently and watching the exhibit take shape over a few short months was “a lovely experience [with] an intense result,” they write.

Leavens, a self-taught artist who’s tutored generations of young creatives in Monmouth County (and who pooh-poohs the notion that she’s a “living legend”), simply states that “I go on producing work that pleases and inspires me and will continue to do so, here in my studio, for as long as time permits.”

The free opening reception at McKay Imaging’s walk-up gallery space — always an amazing place for a little wine, conversation and great views indoors and out — runs from 7 to 10 pm on April 27, with the exhibit continuing through May 17, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 7 pm or by appointment.

Joe Ronga, Dan Peterson, Madelyn Monaghan and Joseph York are off to see THE WIZARD OF OZ, in the stage adaptation of the ultimate “road picture” going up this weekend from Phoenix Productions.

It’s a winning strategy that’s served very well indeed: open in April with a family-friendly favorite; follow up in July with a dance-oriented show that draws on all the youthful energy available in the summer season. Return in September with a “golden age” classic for longtime audiences. Then, after you’ve made the nut for the year, close things out in November with something a little newer, edgier, more artistic.

When Red Bank’s own Phoenix Productions kicks off its milestone 25th season of lavish musical entertainments this weekend, they’ll be kicking it in style at the landmark venue that’s been their home stage for 23 of those 25 years — the Count Basie Theatre. And, they’ll be filling the seats of the Count’s castle with the friends and family members of a cast of some 40 players, as The Wizard of Oz becomes the latest upholder of the community theater company’s yellow-brick gold standard.

Madelyn Monaghan is NOT in Little Silver anymore, as she and Toto share the stage of the legendary Count Basie Theatre for six shows starting April 20.

Beginning on Friday night, April 20, and running 8 pm performances Fridays and Saturdays (with Sunday matinees on April 22 and 29), producer Lindsay Wood brings The Wizard of Oz to the Basie boards in a staging that was first done by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 — and with a legendary local actor-director (Paul Chalakani, who’s probably played Ebenezer Scrooge more times than anyone else in New Jersey) wrangling those dozens of principal actors, Munchkins and Citizens of Oz.

L. Frank Baum’s circa-1900 flagship in the long-running series of novels for young readers has been adapted scores of times for the stage and screen— several of them the work of the author himself — and spawned its share of hit retellings (The Wiz) and riffs (Wicked) in between various versions which, well-meaning though they may have been, are probably best left out in the poppy field.

When modern audiences think about the Wizard, however, they think about the awesome and inspirational 1939 MGM movie musical — the only “road” picture you’ll ever need to bring with you to that desert island — a Technicolor dream infused with essential characters, indelible images and, best of all, that smart and savvy score by Tin Pan Alley cats Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg. What distinguishes it above all pretenders to the throne is the fact that those instantly familiar songs — from “Over the Rainbow” and “If I Only Had a Brain” to “March of the Winkies” and “Optimistic Voices” — are present and accounted for under the music direction of Beth Moore and Andre Badassarini.

In the Phoenix take, Madelyn Monaghan of Little Silver stars as Dorothy, with Phoenix veterans Dan Peterson, Joseph York and Joe Ronga as, respectively, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Lauren J. Cooke costars as the Wicked Witch, with Bruce McKillip as the great and powerful Oz and Marybeth Jacobson portraying both Auntie Em and good witch Glinda (a full rundown of cast and crew can be found here).

Opening Friday at 8pm, The Wizard of Oz continues with five more performances at the Count Basie through April 29 — followed by an additional weekend of matinee performances (May 5 and 6) at The Strand in Lakewood. Tickets are priced between $22 – $29, and can be reserved right here. Phoenix Productions returns to the Basie stage later this year with Legally Blonde: The Musical (July 13-22), My Fair Lady (September 14-23), and Ragtime (November 9-18).

Jazz scholar/ WBGO disc jockey Gary Walker and guitarist Vic Juris are among the special guests TALKIN’ JAZZ with Joe Muccioli, in the series that returns to the Count Basie’s Carlton Lounge for three Mondays beginning tonight. 

Start Joe Muccioli to talking and he’ll tell you that “Jazz…grew up with America. It symbolizes American democracy.”

“You put several people into a place, a situation, and you honor all of their abilities, but at the same time you have rules, an underlying structure…a constitution,” he says.

A Red Bank resident and the artistic director of the borough-based nonprofit  Jazz Arts Project, the man they call “Mooche” has done a lot of talking, studying, teaching and listening on the topic of jazz — and he’s walked the walk as well, having traveled the world conducting, arranging and working with everyone from Joe Piscopo to the London Philharmonic.

Here in the borough that birthed William “Count” Basie, we know Muccioli as the maestro behind the annual Sinatra Birthday Bash events at the  Count Basie Theatre; as the co-founder of the Jazz Arts Academy program; as the host of the way-cool Summer Jazz series at Two River Theater — and as leader of the Red Bank Jazz Orchestra, the 17-piece organization that issued its maiden recording Strike Up the Band in 2011.

Author and photographer Tad Hershorn (left) joins Joe “Mooche” for a tribute to the late impresario Norman Granz (right) on Monday, April 23.

Add to that the fact that each and every April — a little bend in the calendar they call National Jazz Appreciation Month — Mooche hauls out his formidable “little black book” of Who’s Who contacts, commandeers the Basie Theatre building’s street-level Carlton Lounge, and offers music lovers access to a treasure trove of history, performance, sight, sound and scintillating conversation that could only be called Talkin’ Jazz. It’s a sophisticated series so cool that you’d be tempted to tell them “Joe sent me” at the door, were it not for the fact that it’s entirely free of charge and open to the public. It’s also a Monday evening affair that returns tonight, April 16, with a visit from one of the New York metro area’s most sought-after authorities on all things jazz.

As the “morning man” on Newark-based public radio station WBGO Jazz 88.3FM, Gary Walker has spent some 25 years doing something that theoretically goes against the grain of the nocturnally-spawned music called jazz — sending thousands of jazz aficionados blinking into the freshly risen sun with a dose of “America’s classical music” to keynote the day. The award winning broadcaster has himself met and interviewed everyone who’s anyone in jazz circles, and he joins Muccioli in the Carlton Lounge at 7pm to share the stories and the skinny on the greatest musicians of the millennium-spanning era.

On April 23, the topic will be Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice — and Mooche’s guest will be Tad Hershorn, music historian, photographer and author of an acclaimed new biography of Granz, the “iconoclastic, independent, immensely influential, often thoroughly unpleasant” promoter, producer and personal manager who boosted the careers of Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson; founded the awesome Verve record label and started the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. Hershorn, who interviewed Granz extensively before his subject’s death in 2001, will offer some rare insights on the man who told him, “Any book on my life would start with my basic philosophy of fighting racial prejudice. I loved jazz, and jazz was my way of doing that.”

The Talkin’ Jazz series goes out on a high note the following Monday, April 30, with a whistle-stop by Jersey’s own Vic Juris, a go-to guitar ace and a “musical conversationalist” who’s performed with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme, to Larry Coryell, Lee Konitz and his own quartet. Equally well known as an educator and author of instructional books, the skilled stylist of the six strings is sure to bring along his guitar as he joins Muccioli for a look back at his long and still-evolving career.

Admission to all of the events in the Talkin’ Jazz series is free, but seating is limited — and registration is both recommended, and as easy as taking it right here.

Chart-topping vocalist, stage actress and “Stradivarius Voice” Maureen McGovern begins a three-week stand at the Two River Theater.

By TOM CHESEK 

Any performer who’s been in (and sometimes out of) the game for more than 40 years could be forgiven for treating some of those years like baggage best left at the dock. In the case of Maureen McGovern, however, not only does she bring it with her when she travels — she prefers to Carry It On.

The pop singer and stage actress, who hit the ground running in 1973 with the Number One hit “The Morning After,” will be unpacking her bags for an extended stay in Red Bank, where she brings her solo show to the stage of Two River Theater beginning with a first preview on Tuesday, April 3.

Clockwise from top left: as the singing nun in AIRPLANE!, as Marmee in Broadway’s LITTLE WOMEN, as a twentysomething singer at the top of the charts, at a Muscular Dystrophy Association gala, as a singer reborn in classic style.

If you remember the “disaster film” craze of the 1970s, you’ll know McGovern as the crisp and clear voice of the aforementioned theme song from The Poseidon Adventure — a record that went gold, topped the Billboards, won an Academy Award and garnered a Best New Artist Grammy nomination for the hitherto unknown singer.

It’s an opening act that she followed up with “We May Never Love Like This Again” from 1974′s The Towering Inferno — and thus was branded the Disaster Theme Queen, a status she spoofed with her memorable role in 1980′s genre-killer Airplane!

There’ve been many more acts to Maureen McGovern’s career, of course — including a Broadway career that began when she was picked to succeed Linda Ronstadt in the smash 1980 production of The Pirates of Penzance. The neophyte actress would go on to co-star with Raul Julia (Nine) and Sting (in The Threepenny Opera) in addition to originating the role of Marmee in the musical adaptation of Little Women.

A run of acclaimed albums interpreting signature tunes from the likes of George Gershwin and Harold Arlen gained Maureen McGovern a couple more Grammy nods, and a landmark salute to Gershwin at Carnegie Hall gained her a whole new career as a sought-after concert performer. It was her most recent release, the 2008 Sixties songbook A Long and Winding Road, that led to the development of Carry It On — a musical exploration (co-authored with director Philip Himberg) that “brings her story to life with extraordinary interpretations of the songs of her generation.” That means everything from a very singerly take on Bob Dylan, to Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Lennon-McCartney, Stephen Sondheim and the title tune, a Civil Rights anthem from folk artist Gil Turner.

Of course, you can’t have multiple acts without a few intermissions — including, in McGovern’s case, a curious stretch in which the financially strapped headliner took a secretarial job under the name Glenda Schwartz. The whole story of Maureen McGovern and her times is all in a night’s work for the singer that composer David Shire dubbed “The Stradivarius Voice” — a story told through words, music and vivd images in Carry It On.

The Drama Desk at redbankgreen spoke to this representative of the Top 100 Irish Americans back in March, as the green cardboard shamrocks of the Muscular Dystrophy Association‘s Shamrocks Against Dystrophy (a campaign that McGovern chaired for many years) bloomed at supermarkets and convenience stores coast to coast.

redbankgreen: So what can we expect to see when CARRY IT ON makes its stand at the Two River Theater? 

I perform it on a minimal set,  with my music director Jeffrey Harris. There are rear projections; archival images of my family, my career — and of the markers in our lives, things like Vietnam, JFK, Martin Luther King, Kent State.

I understand that you touch upon the various aspects of your career over the course of the show, and one of the more interesting little intervals, which you haven’t been shy about mentioning, is that brief interlude when you quit music to work a regular job under an assumed name in California…

I had been pigeonholed as the Disaster Theme Queen; I had two Oscar gold records to my name, and yes, I moved to Marina Del Rey and went back to working as a secretary, for an oral surgeon and then the chairman of a trucking firm. I was able to take off from work every now and then to perform somewhere, to go from Glenda Schwartz back to Maureen McGovern and travel to the south of France or the Philippines. I was very lucky that way, and I was lucky in that I had practical experience in working regular jobs, so I didn’t have to wait tables.

Well, it probably wouldn’t be going out on a limb to guess that you accentuate the positive, as they say. But I do know that it wasn’t the last time that you took a hiatus from being a singer.

When I did Airplane! things started happening for me again, but I still wasn’t making the records that I wanted to make. On my first records, my producer picked the material; the instrumental tracks were usually pre-recorded by the time I came in to cut the vocal. I was told to shut up and sing; be glad you have a record deal…I got to thinking ‘I’m doing what I love, but…when is it going to be my turn?’

So I walked away from music again. I made a choice not to record again until I could do it on my own terms.

But you weren’t out of show business, correct?

I explored theater, cabaret, radio commercials..and I went back to my roots as  folk singer. With Pirates of Penzance, Joe Papp hired me on the spot. I discovered that Broadway people are strange birds, who do eight shows a week and then go off and do a midnight cabaret for fun.

I had fun doing things like Brownstone and the shows on Broadway, and then in 1986 I made the album Another Woman in Love, which I consider to be my first ‘real’ album.

So when you were finally able to release those Great American Songbook type albums, were you of the mindset that it was “your turn” at last, especially given the fact that you had dispensed with the overripe arrangements and let your projects stand or fall on your own voice?  

One of my favorite albums is (the George Gershwin tribute) Naughty Baby, which we recorded live in the studio; just put out some wine and cheese and let the tapes roll. We had members of the Gershwin family present.

Well, that had to add an extra little edge to the proceedings. 

I do take liberties here and there, as so many singers do when they take on the body of work of a composer, so I do get nervous if I know someone like that is in the audience.

I was happy to be doing that sort of music professionally, after having done so many different types of music over the years. When I was in school I sang folk; my ex-husband was a jazz drummer and he got me my first paying gig at Kent State.

As regards the Great American Songbook, are you a “strict constitutionalist,” in that you think we’ve got things pretty well defined as to what belongs under that heading…or do you see it as a living, evolving thing that should encompass the work of songwriters from outside the old Tin Pan Alley scene? 

The songs that really made the biggest impression on me from when I first started singing are the sort of things that remain relevant today…things by Joni Mitchell, who’s a goddess; Jimmy Webb, who’s a national treasure. James Taylor, absolutely. It’s a different kind of song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein style, but there’s such an exquisite craft to the singer-songwriter music that emerged out of the 1960s.

So between pop, folk, Songbook, Gilbert and Sullivan, I got the reputation as something of a ‘schizophrenic’ singer.

You’ve been quoted as saying that music therapists are your heroes; is this something that you elaborate upon in your show? 

In Little Women, Marmee sings a song called ‘Days of Plenty,’ at a point where Jo is despondent over having lost so much in her life — the song says that you go on in your life, in honor of the ones you lost. We had a group of sixth graders attend one of the performances; it turned out that a little girl in the audience had lost her brother, and when I did the song I saw a light bulb go on over her head. That’s the power of music.

There are those who find your first big hit very inspirational as well…a lot of performers who had this one tremendous hit song that forever gets linked to their name, tend to view that song as something of an albatross around their neck as they strive to get noticed for other things. But it sounds like you’ve managed to make peace with that song; to find something new there.

It’s a generic hope song — but you’re always able to find a new context to it!

Carry It On goes up in previews on Tuesday, April 3 (8 pm); official opening night is Saturday, April 7 (that performance is SOLD OUT), and the show continues with a schedule of evening and matinee performances, Wednesdays through Sundays until April 22. Tickets are $37 – $57 (with a new discounted price of $24 for anyone 30 years and younger) and are available by calling the TRTC Box Office at 732.345.1400, or visiting the TRTC website for schedule details and availability (tickets also available for In This House, which continues in the Marion Huber space at Two River Theater through April 8).

For a longer version of this article, check out Tom Chesek’s new blog, Upper WET Side.

By STACIE FANELLI

Victor Rallo stands on a chair dangerously close to a table stocked with dozens of fragile wine bottles. He’s changing a lightbulb while employees circle him laughing.

“He’s definitely a jack of all trades,” says his cousin, Bryant Rallo, general manager of Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill on Riverside Avenue in Red Bank.

“Yeah, and parle Italiano perfecto,” Victor Rallo jokes.

The owner of Basil T’s and Undici Taverna Rustica in Rumson, Rallo travels to Italy up to eight times a year, surfs in Puerto Rico, skis in the west, enjoys what he calls “absent-minded photography,” and now, has written his first book.

“Napoleon Wasn’t Exiled” is a journal of wine and food tasting done in Italy by Rallo, a self-trained wine expert and certified sommelier. He also took all the photographs.

“I decided to write a book because I teach a lot of classes and speak to a lot of people, and they say, ‘Can I come with you? Where should I go? What should I do in Italy?’ And it’s often difficult to put it in words after the fact,” said Rallo.

The book is written in layman’s terms for the sake of de-sophisticating wine and making it something everyone can enjoy, he says. It’s also a tribute to Rallo’s ancestral home; as the title makes clear, Rallo believes that Napoleon Bonaparte had it made when he was forced to spend some time chilling on the Tuscan island.

“Supposedly, Napoleon was exiled to Isola d’Elba,” he said. “It’s a hoax. Napoleon wasn’t exiled on Elba. It’s too beautiful. He had a palace, he lived on the beach.”

Rallo, a 48-year-old Fair Haven resident, signed copies of his book for customers at Basil T’s last Thursday evening. This Thursday, he’s scheduled to hold another signing at Dearborn Market in Holmdel.

“When it hits best seller on the New York Times, we might have to pencil a few more in,” said Preston Porter, Rallo’s social media chef, who maintains hundreds of vlogs on YouTube in which Rallo teaches viewers to make most of the recipes made at his restaurants.

“He’ll tell you that you could make it at home, but we can probably make it a little better and you’ll be back for it,” Porter said.

Rallo, a self-proclaimed “wine boss,” credits his Italian roots for the existence of his restaurants.

“About 10 years ago, we switched all of our wines to only Italian wine because I’m Italian and I just think it’s an unbelievable country,” Rallo said. “What I do every day is true to Italy, the heritage and the culture. That mobster, Jersey Shore thing is absolutely for TV.”

Basil T’s is currently in its 25th year, Undici’s in its fifth and the Rallo Wines website in its second. Rallo was also an original owner of Zebu Forno, which opened near the Red Bank train station before his partner, present owner Andrew Gennusa, suggested a move downtown.

Rallo has left his mark on today’s Zebu via a mural by Gregg Hinlicky that he commissioned. Other pieces of art by Hinlicky are all over the walls of both of Rallo’s restaurants.

Rallo’s travels are reflected in Basil T’s menu, according to Ronald Emmons, who said he has been dining there for  “17 years and four months.

“There’s a freedom to this bar because Victor and his brother [Bobby] have a handle on culinary adventures that’s unmatched,” Emmons said.

When he’s not on one of those adventures, Rallo spends time with his wife, three children and three dogs. The newest addition to the family is a white Labrador puppy. Name? ‘Vino.’

By JOHN T. WARD

Dan Laden’s been at the front of the line before when new  Bruce Springsteen records have hit the stores.

But being the first, as he was at Jack’s Music Shoppe Monday night for the market debut of “Wrecking Ball,” isn’t about bragging rights, he tells redbankgreen.

“It’s hard to explain,” said Laden, who as the owner of Garden State Auto Repair in Little Silver has worked on Springsteen’s cars for 15 years. “It’s a matter of respect for Bruce.”

A sense of spiritual indebtedness was one of several forces that fans said compelled them to show up shortly before midnight in 28-degree weather to buy an album that would still be available the next morning.

Dan Laden shows off a poster Jack’s gave customers, along with coffee and doughnuts, at the Springsteen record drop. (Click to enlarge)

“I want to get the Bruce album pretty much before everyone else,” said Diego Allessandro of Old Bridge, who spins records for WMCX at Monmouth University. He also allowed that he’s a “big nerd” who likes being at the forefront of cultural milestones.

But being among other devotees was also part of the draw, he said, when not singing along to the lyrics as ‘Wrecking Ball’ played on the store’s sound system.

“For me, it’s all about community,” Allessandro said. “These are the diehard fans, just like me.”

And Jack’s, fans said, is a shrine of sorts, not only because it is a relic of the age of independent record retailers, but because of its associations with Springsteen. He often shops at the store, and, in April 2001, spent 90 minutes mingling fans at a record-debut event just like this one.

“Who else is going to do this, Sam Goody?” one fan in line asked sarcastically.

“It’s gotta be this one,” said Linda Busichio, who drove up from Wall Township with her 18-year-old daughter and two friends, partly on the hope that Springsteen would show up again. “I wouldn’t want to miss that,” she said.

As of 12:05 a.m., Springsteen had not appeared.

By JOHN T. WARD

At Jack’s Music Shoppe on Broad Street in Red Bank, they’re still dining out on the time that Bruce Springsteen showed up for a late-night release of one of His records.

That was in April, 2001, for the launch of ‘Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City.’ Rolling in from his home in Rumson, or maybe the one in Colts Neck, Springsteen mingled with fans, posed for photos and signed autographs for 90 minutes, staying until the last sale was rung up.

With just about every Springsteen record release since then, speculation about an encore stirs, nudged along by the scheduling of midnight drops. The last one was in November 2010, with the issuance of a remastered ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town‘ and companion making-of video.

Hey, is it the store’s fault if diehard fans postpone their beauty sleep on the expectation of an appearance?

Tonight, the must-buy-now impulse again mixes with what-if-He’s there? yearning with the hardcopy release of Springsteen’s newest collection, ‘Wrecking Ball.’

Not gonna happen, store employees say. Not this time. Probably.

Hey, who’s to say what Springsteen will do? If he shows up, he shows up.

Whether he does or not, Jack’s will be open for fans who’ve just gotta have their new Bruce before breakfast.

The store will open at 11:30, offering refreshments to customers, and start selling the CDs at midnight.

For fans of old-fashioned vinyl, the store also has a couple of cases of Wrecking Ball in LP format. At $28 a pop, and absent two tracks on the CD, it’s for those Springsteen fans of a particular level of devotion.