Travelin' in my Neighborhood - Musical Performances

Travelin’ in my Neighborhood – Musical Performances

In one week I had the pleasure of enjoying some musical events right in my own neighborhood. Well actually one of them was a bit outside of NoHo. Yes NoHo is my neighborhood. For those of you who don’t know what NoHo is. It is in North Hollywood, California. It is the revived theater district in the San Fernando Valley. Yes, we are just over the hill from Hollywood but you would be surprised the artistic activities that are going on here.

Anyway I went to the opening night of a new musical called Stiltz! The Musical.
What I loved with this piece:
The two women who wrote the book and the music took the fairy tale called Rumpelstiltskin and created a 21st century musical. I can’t say it was perfect but they were very inventive and definitely took a chance. I love that this group of people (Wayland Pickard, Deborah Johnson, Doug Engalla and Paula Miller) have been creating musicals that can be done on a small budget in a small theater. Community theaters and small theater groups can afford to put this show on. It bugs me when I go see a big money film or show where the authors didn’t get creative. They just redid something that had already been done. Please don’t get me started!

The cast of this musical were fun to watch. The lead actress was very charming and made the audience want to see what would happen next. And after intermission I noticed everyone stayed. Hey that is a really good sign with disposable audiences that is so prevalent in the world right now.

If you want to go into a theater and have a fun, playful evening then plan to see Stiltz! The Musical.

If you want to see this show, it only runs for a few weeks so go now. It is at the Actors Forum Theatre on Magnolia Boulevard. Get information at www.StiltzTheMusical.com.

I also went to another of Sherry Barnett’s Concerts on the Lawn. Some of you might heard read my review of the previous concert with Teresa James on www.nohoartsdistrict.com so I wanted to see the next one. Yes it was fun and there was a larger audience this time. The singer at this show was Jill Sobule. She was accompanied by Dave Palmer. He is a fantastic musician and really added to the show. Some of the songs I enjoyed were “Now that I don’t have you”, “Nothin’ to Prove”, and “If I had a Jet Pack”. The audience really enjoyed offering ideas to Jill for her to use in making up songs. Her song and personal experience about Joni Mitchell was a hoot. I also loved her song about Billy Tipton. I am not exactly sure of the title but what I remembered was, “All Billy ever wanted to be was one of the boys”. It was very endearing. There are more concerts in this lawn series and if you are on Facebook go check out the page called Concerts on the Lawn. The next one is in October.

I want to add one more musical afternoon experience. Now I will admit that this one is not in NoHo but it is so close. It took place at Adam’s Pack Station in the Los Angeles Forest which is about 20 minutes from NoHo. It is easy to get there you just take the 210 to Santa Anita Drive exit and go up into the mountain. It is a lot of fun and great for the kids. On Sundays once a month this summer and fall they have bands playing. I went to see John Zipperer and Friends. As always they were great and John invited a number of his friends to come and play during their time period as well.
John and his band members, Tara, Jimmy and Eddie were accompanied by some other musicians and then friends sat in as well. Jimmy Scott was in town from Texas and once again it is good to hear this wonderful guitarist. He really is fabulous.

I should tell you that John Zipperer has a beautiful voice and a beautiful soul to go with it which reflects in his own compositions. But this group also sings covers of songs that will remind you of times in your life. Tara Sitser harmonizes beautifully with John and she also shares her talent with other guest artists. And she has some of her own songs that you will love. Jimmy on bass brings a warm charm to the group and Eddie well what can I say about Ed the Spoon Man. You must come see him play those spoons.

For those of you who have never heard John Zipperer and Friends go to their website. www.JohnZipperer.com. I have heard them a number of times and I always enjoy the evening or this time the afternoon.

So that was my week travelin’ in the neighborhood enjoying musical experiences.

You don’t have to take a trip to “take a trip”. Most of us don’t have the freedom to travel all over the world all of the time but we can take our passion and enthusiasm that we have to see new places and look for what is different right near home. That’s my philosophy and I’m stickin’ to it!!

So go out and do something different. Go to a musical event. Look in your local paper or try some local websites. Ask your friends. Tell them you want to do something different. You might be surprised what they know about but have never mentioned because they didn’t think you would be interested.