‘Tenth Season of Wow!’ kicks off at NPAC

This Sunday kicks off our 10th season at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center: “Ten Years of Wow!”  The season is filled with so many different events, but we get started on Sunday with two performers you still see quite regularly on PBS broadcasts of “The Lawrence Welk Show”. Guy & Ralna are a singing duo who appeared regularly in millions of homes for 12 years on the very popular Welk show.

Their show will be filled with many styles of music and will include the wholesome, family entertainment so many experienced each week on their TV. And I say experienced, but millions still do because “The Lawrence Welk Show” is the most popular rebroadcast show on PBS.

Guy & Ralna will be performing with a big band filled with outstanding musicians from throughout the Midwest. This concert is the start of our Community Concert Series, which also includes Doc Severinsen, the flashy trumpeter from Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” for over 30 years, and his Big Band. This concert is on October 23. Also later in the season, the series includes Broadway & Beyond, featuring J. Mark McVey of Les Miserables fame, along with the talented Heartland Vocal Singers, in a concert developed specifically for our Niswonger audience.

That concert will be followed up by the zany Mutts Gone Nuts & Robert Post Comedy Theater — an afternoon of lots of laughs. The series concludes with The Hitmen, legendary performers from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Tommy James, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Chicago, and many more.

You can still purchase this entire series for as little as $75 or you may purchase individual tickets. Either way, don’t miss our kick-off concert this Sunday afternoon starting at 2 p.m.  Single tickets for Guy & Ralna may be purchased from the box office in advance or immediately before the concert. Single tickets range from $15-$35.

Showing our concern for the heroin/opium epidemic. which affects communities all over the U.S., including our very own Van Wert County, we team with Westwood Behavioral Health Center for a free event on September 20 at 7:30 p.m.  Sam Quinones, a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and author, will be speaking of his experiences covering the growing situation. A panel of professionals will also be on hand answering questions. The public is invited to learn more about this dangerously growing epidemic, which affects so many.

The following Saturday, September 24, features two outstanding jazz musicians: Jonathan Butler and Gerald Albright. If you have seen Butler when he performed at the Niswonger as part of the Dave Koz & Friends concert, you know what you are in for. Butler literally stopped the show in the middle with a standing ovation of his performance.

This time he teams with saxophonist Gerald Albright, fresh off a world tour with Phil Collins. If you love jazz, if you love music, if you love inspiration, you won’t want to miss this concert.

Phew! That’s a jam-packed opening to our “Tenth Season of Wow”! We look forward to seeing you at the Niswonger real soon!

FINÉ.