It is so hard to believe we are only two concert events away from completing our 12th season at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. I think I say it nearly every year, but it reminds me of Carol Burnett\u2019s sign-off song: \u201cI\u2019m so glad we had this time together, just to have a laugh or sing a song, seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say so long.\u201d For me, this rings truer than ever this year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My last concert as executive director of the Niswonger will be The Sound of Music<\/em> on May 4.\u00a0A better sendoff could not have been scheduled.\u00a0Honestly, at the time of booking this show, I had no idea it would be my last.\u00a0God certainly does work in mysterious ways!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For as long as I can remember, music has played a predominant role in my life. I am not sure where this love of music came from, but I do know my entire family loved music and it was always special in our lives growing up. My brother and I have made livings in music. God then gave me a wife who loves, and is involved in, music. He then gifted us with three children who all have been involved in music and acquired a love and appreciation for quality music. What a blessing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I leave the leadership role of the Niswonger, I know that God has other things in store for me, and I am sure they will still involve music. Once God gives a gift, I don\u2019t think He takes it away. Music is one thing that can last for a lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, to finish off the season: this Sunday night we welcome one of Britain\u2019s early pop music stars — Peter Noone and Herman\u2019s Hermits. When Peter came to the States with his first hit song he was only 15 years old. He took the world by storm at such an early age. As front man of Herman\u2019s Hermits, he got all the notoriety and even was on the cover of Time magazine as one of popular music\u2019s up rising stars. He was on all the big TV shows, including Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin, and Danny Kaye. He has also appeared in feature films and many other TV shows over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With such an early start at age 15, Peter is still quite a popular and vibrant singer. His concerts feature all the hit songs many remember over the years such as: \u201cI\u2019m Into Something Good,\u201d \u201cMrs. Brown, You\u2019ve Got a Lovely Daughter,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Henry the Eighth, I Am,\u201d and so many more. There is a Peter Noone fan club called the \u201cNoonatics\u201d who follow Peter all over the country and I would imagine we will have many of his fan club at this nearly sold-out concert this Sunday, April 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Peter Noone is originally from England, he is now a naturalized U.S. citizen and resides in California. His popularity is still evident in the UK as he just recently finished a tour through Britain. This is one reason we had to move his Van Wert concert to a Sunday night from our original date, which was a Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are currently 57 seats remaining for this concert. Hurry and get your ticket now if you want to see this living legend on our Central Insurance Stage of the Niswonger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our last concert event is Broadway\u2019s Sound of Music<\/em> on May 4.\u00a0There are two big shows: one at 2 p.m. and the other at 7:30 that evening.\u00a0Load-in for this show begins at 4 a.m. (any volunteers?).\u00a0With two shows, we can still fit ticket buyers in either show, although we have sold well over 1,800 seats between the two shows.\u00a0This is a huge four truck show and I am told is an amazing production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope to see you at these last two concert events as we wind up another successful season at the Niswonger.\u00a0My last show will be the evening show of The Sound of Music<\/em>, as I will be traveling back from my son\u2019s graduation in Chattanooga, Tennessee.\u00a0I will really look forward to greeting a capacity house then and thanking each of you for your support over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is so hard to believe we are only two concert events away from completing our 12th season at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. I think I say it nearly every year, but it reminds me of Carol Burnett\u2019s sign-off song: \u201cI\u2019m so glad we had this time together, just to have a laugh or sing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 20:21:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}