Cranford Radio

The final show of the 2025-2026 Cranford Dramatic Club season is a classic, "Fiddler on the Roof." The musical won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. On this episode I speak with Emma Taylor Schwartz, the director and choreographer, Larry Brustofski, who plays Tevye and Elle Michaeli who plays his wife, Golda.

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"It Shoulda Been You" had its debut in New Brunswick, New Jersey at the George Street Playhouse. It later went on to a Broadway run. The musical farce is back in the Garden State at the Cranford Dramatic Club. The show runs from February 13 through March 1. 

Three members of the show chatted with Cranford Radio about the production; Zach Mazouat, the director; Rachel Love (Jenny Steinberg) and Sean Lynch-Littlejohn (Albert, the wedding planner). 

Tickets are available online.

Starting January 1, Cranford High School principal Mark Cantagallo will be the superintendent of the Cranford Public Schools. On this episode of Cranford Radio, I chat with Mark to learn about his background, how the transition is going and some of his plans for the schools in the years ahead. 

For many men, getting a suit or sports coat means going to a store and buying it off the rack. For some men, however, the process is more involved. That's where Rob Breslau comes in. Rob, who grew up in Cranford, serves a clientele who are willing to spend more to get clothing custom made for them.

Rob owns Prestige Custom Wear and he chats with me about how the business works, the type of clients he serves and how the industry has changed as the business world has become more casual.

Mark Manto' first took drum lessons as a child. The love of music never left. Mark's a triple threat as a musician, singer and composer. He's putting the finishing touches on a new album, The Rocky Hill, and he joins me on the podcast to talk about his Cranford connections, the wide range of musical genres he performs and dreams of someday playing in front of a stadium filled with screaming fans.

Mark's music

In the movie Jaws the shark was terrifying. In real life, the mechanical shark, known by the actors and crew as "Bruce" was a mechanical nightmare. This first show of the Cranford Dramatic Club's 2025-2026 season is a comedy that looks at how the three main actors in the film dealt with the delays and each other during the filming.

On this week's podcast I'm joined by director Mike Burdick, Patrick Blood (Richard Dreyfuss), Bill Geltzeiler (Roy Scheider) and Mike Patierno (Robert Shaw).

Skybreak, aka Jack Ramsay, is a Cranford musician who released his album, Half Blood, this month. As a relatively new artist, Jack does it all with his music; writing, recording, and promotion, to name just a few responsibilities. Shows this year have included Tokyo, Southern California, Detroit and Portland, Oregon.

On this week's podcast we chat about what led him to into music, and electronic dance music in particular. We also discuss the business side of music, from selling your creations to selling merch to fans.

The Declaration of Independence was passed by the Second Continental Congress 249 years ago today. New Jersey is filled with a number of sites connected to the American Revolution, including here in Union County. 

It's not only historic locations that have a connection with the past, but there are people who can trace their ancestry to that time period. Cranford resident Chris Sands is the president of the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.  The SAR is active with a number of events connecting New Jersey to its revolutionary past. 

After a career in the US Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, Chris became involved in the SAR. We talk about the organization, his involvement and his connections to the birth of the United States.

In 2024 a new organization made its debut in town. PFLAG Cranford-Union wrote that it "hopes to be a beacon of support, advocacy, and education across Union County." 

As you might imagine, June, as Pride Month, has been a busy season for the organization. Katie Webber, who serves as the non-profit's president, joins me on the podcast to talk about why the chapter was created, what it's doing and its goals.

During school days you'll find Sean W. Bagan in a CHS classroom teaching French. Outside of school hours he's working on a dystopian trilogy that takes place in a new world. The title of the first book, which was published this year, is "On Ravens & Riddles: From the Shelves of the Noktern." 

Sean joins me on the podcast to not only discuss the book but why he was drawn to being an author and a bit of what he has planned.