Paramount has good jump on 2011

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Pushcart Players will bring their family fun when they perform at the Paramount Theatre in March. - Courtesy of The Pushcart Players

With a new year comes a new lineup of shows at the Paramount Theatre, and manager Scott Anderson is getting excited for the upcoming months.

The most notable show Anderson has booked so far for the first half of the year is Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist of The Doors, who will be playing at the Paramount on April 23.

“That’s a big deal for sure,” said Anderson. “The keyboard was so prominent in (The Doors’) music.”

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Plenty of theatrical productions will also be coming to the Paramount in the first half of the year, most of which are family-friendly.

Matchbox Children’s Theater is performing Feb. 4-6, and the Pushcart Players — a group of adults who do performances for children — will be performing “Happily Ever After: A Cinderella Tale” twice on March 5.

“It’s definitely family-oriented,” Anderson said about the Pushcart Players performance. “It’ll be really fun and a little different than Matchbox Theater, but it’ll be a very nice show for kids and families.”

Stand-up comedians Alex Jackson — who is the Minneapolis Fire Chief — and Tommy Thompson will be on stage Jan. 15. Anderson said the Paramount rarely features comedians, so he hopes it will draw a different clientele.

A week later the home-grown ensemble Northwestern Singers is performing with a live orchestra backing them. They’ll be at the theater January 22 and 23.

March is going to be a busy month, Anderson said. Among several other shows, Frank Vignola, who is a guitarist for a “gypsy jazz band,” will be on stage March 12.

“He’s just a wonderful musician,” Anderson said. “He plays gypsy jazz and it’s really cool stuff.”

Finally, May 6 features one of Anderson’s personal favorites — the Galactic Cowboy Orchestra. Lisi Wright of Blooming Prairie plays violin for the group, and their guitarist used to play for Martin Zellar and The Hardways.

“It’s a really cool group,” said Anderson. “They’re quirky, funny, very unique.”

“It’ll be really fun,” he added.