Tickets offered soon for Lawrence show

NPAC information

Emmy Award-winning comedienne Vicki Lawrence is one of the most beloved television personalities of her generation. She, along with her endearing character, Thelma Harper — better known as “Mama” — comes to Van Wert’s Niswonger Performing Art Center of Northwest Ohio on Friday, April 5, for one show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale at noon this Thursday, January 3, at the NPAC box office and online at www.napcvw.org or Facebook.

Plucked out of total obscurity as a high school senior, Lawrence became part of the now-legendary cast of the “Carol Burnett Show.”

“I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America,” says Lawrence of her “Burnett Show” training.

In the seventh season, and hundreds of hilarious sketches later, at the ripe old age of 24, she created her most endearing character to date, Thelma “Mama” Harper. After the “Burnett Show”, Lawrence went on to star in “Mama’s Family,” which consistently topped the ratings for its entire six-year run of original shows. “Mama” has attained almost a cult status among her legions of loyal television viewers, who still enjoy her in reruns twice daily throughout most of the country.

For several years, “Carol Burnett Show” alumni Harvey Korman and Tim Conway toured as a comedy act in casinos and performing arts centers and doing skits from the Burnett show to tremendous response. The unprecedented ratings for the “Carol Burnett Showstopper Special,” which recently delighted more than 50 million viewers, convinced Lawrence that the time is right to take Mama out of the closet, dust off her sensible shoes and hit the road with her new touring production, “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show.”

Lawrence will take the stage first. “My new show will not be a retrospective,” she explains. “We are designing a show that is a mixture of stand-up comedy, music and my observations about real life.” The multi-talented entertainer is mostly known for her acting and comedic talents, but she also earned a gold record for the 1973 hit, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”

“Mama” makes an appearance during the second half. “I think people will get a kick out of the things Mama has an opinion about. We’re creating new material with a more modern and cutting edge. Where Mama is concerned, expect the unexpected. There’s really nothing she can’t do,” she says. “I hope people will be pleasantly surprised by a side of Vicki they may never have seen…I know they will be looking forward to Mama, and for her part, that crazy old gal will be up to the challenge.”

Sponsored in part by The Lima News, the show is a must-see for all who enjoy comedy.

Tickets for the April 3 show are $18-$41 and are available at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center box office during normal business hours of Monday through Friday noon-4 p.m. The box office is located in the NPAC at 10700 State Route 118 in Van Wert, or by phone: 419.238.6722 (NPAC) or online 24/7 at www.npacvw.org or the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of NW Ohio Facebook page.