Ms. Judy Collins appeared in Jim Benerofe’s honor in Westchester for the first time in years thanks to Westco Productions – Westchester’s most successful children’s theatre company – to premier Westco’s 27^th Anniversary season at Irvington Town Hall Theater Saturday night. Photo, WPCNR News

Jim and Robin Benerofe greeting friends as they make they way to their seats.

Photo,WPCNR News

Ms Collins looking elegantly beautiful, graceful, wise, wonderful and all-knowing and singing with emotion, range and clarity of imagery in voice, enthralled a packed house of 450 persons, including Paul Schaefer and Jane Alexander, putting us all at ease like an old friend should. 

From her joyous opener “Old friend, I hope I’m as good to you as you are to me” to her uplifting, powerful  9-11 tribute, 343, “no breaking hearts on a sunny day” her enchanting voice played the audience like a fourth instrument in addition to “The Voice,” piano and keyboard. Thunderous applause greeted each number in a two-hour concert so comfortably paced and modulated by Ms. Collins that it hardly seemed as if two hours had gone by. You could have kept on listening into the night.

Earthy  contraltos,  serene soprano,  soft articulations of phrase played our emotions, our hearts, our memories, brightened our futures and had us enjoying every bejeweled aspect of the silver diamond, the one and only Judy Collins.

 This reporter saw Ms. Collins perform in the early 70s, and has to say she was great then, but  she is even better now – a master of her craft and her voice. The depths and heights of emotions Ms. Collins effortlessly styles into each selection creates music that through her voice paints pictures you feel. You’re hunching at the steering wheel in the cold wind of a Colorado blizzard,  you feel the brightness of the sun on a Chelsea Morning (her encore), you feel the edge and the irony of  life over the edge “a thousand kisses deep.”

Judy Collins Performing Saturday night.

Photo, WPCNR News

 Before singing Jim Benerofe’s special song, Ms. Collins reminisced of music her father liked.  It is a good thing Ms. Collins isn’t considering a nightclub cabaret act otherwise those frowsy songtresses would be out of gigs, because Ms. Collins’ voice can torch. Her up the scale, down the scale version of My Funny Valentine  a capella, awakened my heart to that old feeling.  Snapping her fingers,  she Gershwined  They Can’t Take That Away From Me, before seguing into Send In the Clowns for the honoree, Jim Benerofe sitting in the front row.  Her tour de force of styles was most entertaining. A Streisand or a Krall cannot do Judy Collins, but Judy Collins does them better than they do themselves.

On through the evening the favorites came, songs we knew and songs we did not know and we got  to know and want to hear again.  Ms. Collins’ stories about her life and why she sings what she sings made her an instant old friend, from stories of her days in Greenwich Village to stories of her childhood.

Considering the thousands of times Ms. Collins has sung Someday Soon, she voice styles it so it is fresh with many depths and heights, enhanced by her years -- lingering low on some notes, keening high on other lines embellishint the perennial favorite with everything out of her talent and her rich life. Someday Soon and Both Sides Now – she sings stronger today with only her guitar and brilliant accompanist on piano laying down a multi-layered lifetime of experiences in the instrumentations of her signature songs.

Her keyboard work that she switched to start the second act, was enthralling particularly haunting on her meaningful Before Dark. This song speaks to the temporary nature of relationships and Ms. Collins voice evokes the unforgettable feelings departure leaves and how all relationships end. Photo, WPCNR News

Ms. Collins ended her concert with Amazing Grace, which she invited the audience to sing together with her. The gem of Irvington Town Hall Theater with the ceiling fans overhead turning soundlessly turned into an old southern revival hall, filling us with a peace that church services create. Photo, WPCNR News

Roared back to the stage, Ms. Collins rewarded the charmed audience with an encore --  Chelsea Morning – just the right song to send us out into the night to face a new day. Just like an evening with an old friend should be like.

In the After Party at the posh cherry-paneled Carriage House at Lyndhurst Castle, the former tycoon Jay Gould's estate on the banks of the Hudson River, a select group of over 90 close friends and Ms. Collins saluted the Guest of Honor Jim Benerofe, enjoying wine, cocktails and elegant apple cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake and carrot cake in the high-ceilinged relic of America’s Gilded Age. L to Right, State Senator State Senator  Suzi Oppenheimer, "The Dean of White Plains Journalism," Jim Benerofe, Judy Collins, and Susan Katz, "The First Lady of Westchester Children's Theatre." Photo, WPCNR News

Susan Katz, founder and Executive Director of Westco Productions said she had known Jim for years and remembered the days when they had talked about bringing theater for kids to the county. She said Jim always listened a lot, spoke softly, but always had a knack for analyzing a situation and when he spoke sized up situations incisively was often funny in the process. Ms. Katz praised him for being such a longtime supporter of the Tickets for Tots program. Steven Slednik, left, Chair of the Westco Board of Directors presented Mr. Benerofe with a crystal Westco “Star” honoring him for his years of encouragement and support. Photo, WPCNR News

State Senator for White Plains, Suzi Oppenheimer, right,  though she left the New York State Proclamation honoring him home on her kitchen table, she said Jim when he visited her in Albany always spoke very quietly, but was always persistent. She noted that he has been very valuable to the City of White Plains, mentioning his work with Westco, the White Plains Public Library and other organizations, and has been such an asset to the community.

 Photo, WPCNR News

Congresswoman Nita Lowey said she had a proclamation but was not going to read it, but instead said that for many of us we work and come home to spend time with our families, but that we need to involve ourselves in our communities as Jim Benerofe has done because that is what makes the country strong. Photo, WPCNR News

Mr. Benerofe, emotionally moved, said, this was the first time anything like this has been done for him since his Bar Mitzvah. He thanked all for coming out to see him, and thanked the opening act, (Ms. Collins). He said he and the Shirley G. Benerofe Foundation named in honor of his mother, have been supporting Westco for some twenty years and is currently supporting their Tickets for Tots Program which enables 4,500 children a year from Head Start programs to attend Westco Theater for Young Audiences performances at no charge, and encouraged the audience to read about the other programs on Westco's website. Thank you, Jim Benerofe, it would not be White Plains without you.

Thank you Westco for bringing back two old friends on one great stage.

We hear through the Broadway grapevine that Westco is in negotiations to bring Ms. Collins back to Westchester and the Irvington Town Hall Theatre again in the near future, and Ms. Collins loved the audience and wants to come back too. Ms. Collins said to the audience it was so nice to see such a theatre still exists -- and she loved the acoustics.

Welcome back old friend, it's so good to see you again!