It\u2019s hard to believe but the Niswonger Programming Committee has already met twice and I will soon be off to New York again on another programming mission.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, when attending the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference, I rarely get to hear all the performers many dream of coming to the NPAC in Van Wert.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are many performers who showcase (performing about 20 minutes of your best stuff), but most of them are people you\u2019ve never heard of.\u00a0It\u2019s quite overwhelming how many performers throughout the world are looking for work.\u00a0Unfortunately, many of them are far more talented than the ones widely known to the public.\u00a0That\u2019s why they are showcasing! This is how I often find performers for Fountain Park that many of you enjoy, but had never heard of.\u00a0 If I only had a nickel for every time I have been told, \u201cYou need to bring them back!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m glad we occasionally get to hear new performers who surprise us.<\/p>\n
In the Niswonger Performing Arts Center, where the audience is usually paying for tickets, we realize there are certain performers people think they want to see.\u00a0 This certainly is taken into consideration when the programming committee meets.\u00a0 Not every concert can be like a hot fudge sundae, although many are.\u00a0 Others might be meat and potatoes.\u00a0 Whatever the next season ends up being, you can bet there will be something for everyone and many for most!\u00a0 It\u2019s already shaping up to be an exciting season with many wonderful possibilities.<\/p>\n
Once in awhile, we get surprised, although we shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 One example is our April 5 show with Vicki Lawrence.\u00a0 Her two-woman show of Vicki, the actress and singer and then the loving, adorably cranky \u201cMama\u201d from “The Carol Burnett Show” and then her own TV show, “Mama’s Family”, has already sold out!\u00a0 Get your name on a waiting list at the box office.<\/p>\n
The Rippingtons, one of smooth jazz\u2019 legendary artists has been drawing attention from ticket buyers all over the region.\u00a0 They appear at the Niswonger on Saturday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting the feeling you might not want to miss this one!<\/p>\n
I recently saw the movie Les Miserables<\/em>.\u00a0 I had the very distinct pleasure of also seeing this mega-Broadway hit musical (opera) on Broadway back in 2001 when the First United Methodist Choir visited New York City.\u00a0 Although I really enjoyed the movie (I would highly recommend it), I couldn\u2019t help but think how live is still better!\u00a0 I\u2019ve said this before and I still believe it.\u00a0The same thing with Shrek: there is a human element that movies lack, but live stage productions only can capture. I guess this is why people still pay for live performances.<\/p>\n If you are looking for the next family entertainment to wow you- I have to mention Cirque Ziva featuring The Golden Dragon Acrobats.\u00a0 Coming on February 16, they will perform two shows at the NPAC: one at 3 p.m. and the other at 7:30 p.m.\u00a0 The Golden Dragon Acrobats are the very best acrobat troupe I have ever seen, and I understand in this Cirque show, there are incredible new feats they amaze audiences with.\u00a0 Check with the box office at 419.238.NPAC (6722) or online (www.npacvw.org<\/a>) for tickets.<\/p>\n I will catch up with you next week, hopefully from the Big Apple!<\/p>\n FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hard to believe but the Niswonger Programming Committee has already met twice and I will soon be off to New York again on another programming mission.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, when attending the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference, I rarely get to hear all the performers many dream of coming to the […]<\/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-33427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 08:18:24","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\/33427","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=33427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}