A snapshot of the holiday season

It’s hard to believe the holidays are almost upon us!  Thanksgiving is only a week away and then it’s full speed into the Christmas season. This season will lack nothing as far as music and entertainment to help set the mood for anyone in the Van Wert area. There will be seven … count them … seven concerts and shows at the Niswonger performing Arts Center this Christmas season! This does not even include the various school programs and concerts that will be held in the NPAC.

These concerts will draw thousands of people to Van Wert this season, rather than people vacating Van Wert, to see people like David Phelps, Kenny G, Ricky Skaggs, and John Tesh, not to mention the Ballet Theatre of Toledo is bringing two performances of The Nutcracker to Van Wert.

I recently had a local attorney stop me downtown and say he was looking around the area for Christmas shows to take his office to for a night out. He checked out Fort Wayne and said no one has anything even close to Van Wert. I have to admit, this is quite a holiday line-up.

Following are the ones you can still get tickets for: The Nutcracker on December 3 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Kenny G’s second show on December 7 at 7:30 p.m., The Skaggs Family Christmas (limited seats now available!) on December 11. All others are sold out at this time.

We have people traveling from all over to come to Van Wert for these Christmas shows. This is exactly what we had in mind when the idea of a professional performing arts center was sold to the community. So many of you helped make this possible and we are eternally grateful for your support. It is now paying dividends to our community.

The Nutcracker on December 3 is choreographed and staged by world-renowned artistic director Nigel Burgoine of the Ballet Theatre of Toledo. Nigel is a graduate of the Royal Ballet School and former principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet. Trust me, he’s all British!  In addition to his cast of professional dancers, Nigel has auditioned and accepted 14 young dancers from the area (Van Wert, Lima, Coldwater, Celina and Payne) to be in the production.  Also singing … well OK, “ah-ing” … in the production will be 18 local boys who make up the Van Wert Area Boychoir.

One of the stipulations I made was that we would do The Nutcracker with a live orchestra this time. So this time, you will see squeezed in our Koch Orchestra Pit 28 musicians all under the direction of Maestro Lloyd Butler. The orchestra, dancers and stage crew will put the whole production together Friday night before the two Saturday performances.

Much of the scenery, staging and backdrops come from past Nutcracker performances by the Cincinnati Ballet. I understand they are absolutely astonishing.

I hope you can bring the family to this holiday classic right here in Van Wert.  It has been four years since we presented The Nutcracker and we felt it was time to bring back this American production of this classic ballet. We intentionally priced tickets beginning at just $12, hoping it would allow families to attend and have a great Holiday experience.

Check the box office (419.238.7622) or check for yourself at www.npacvw.org for available seats to The Nutcracker, as well as the others I mentioned earlier. It will be a festive time in Van Wert this Christmas season!

FINÉ.