Generations: A Musical Journey through the Decades will be performed by the Tom Riley Musical Theater Company June 16 at 7 p.m. and June 17 and 18 at 3 and 7 p.m.
\nFormerly known as The Tipton Creek Musical Theater Company, the group will feature musical selections from the 1930s to the present including songs by Elvis Presley and from the movie Flashdance. The event is sponsored by DelGrosso\u2019s Amusement Park.
\n\u201cThe group\u2019s name change and the performances are in memory of Tom Riley who was one of the musical theater company\u2019s founders. Tom\u2019s death in November 2005 was a huge loss not only to these kids but also to a community that had come to know, love, and respect him,\u201d explained Anthea L. Germano, publicist for the Tom Riley Musical Theater Company.
\n\u201cTom loved life and had great confidence in and dedication to young people. His inspiration and influence will be perpetuated by the many fine teenagers who are part of this musical theater company now and in the future,\u201d Germano said.
\nArtistic Directors Tom Sweitzer and Kim Tapper remembered Riley\u2019s guidance and generosity to the teens.
\n\u201cTom was the kind of visionary who always put people\u2019s happiness first,\u201d Sweitzer noted.
\nTapper summed up her feelings stating, \u201cThe sparkle in his eyes told so much. He made it all look effortless and did it with a smile.\u201d
\nIn September 2004, Riley co-founded The Creative Youth Theater Foundation which consists of the Middleburg Teen Theater Class of Middleburg, Virginia and the local Tom Riley Musical Theater Company. The Middleburg, Virginia cast traveled to Altoona in February of this year to perform To Kill a Mockingbird. The Foundation provides classes and performance opportunities as well as educational resources and financial assistance to students interested in the performing arts.
\nThe Tom Riley Musical Theater Company consists of junior and senior high school students from Blair and surrounding counties. The group rehearses one weekend every month at the Church in the Middle of the Block in Altoona. Their debut performance was in June 2005 at DelGrosso\u2019s Amusement Park. Since then, they have performed at the Blair County Arts Festival and other local events. In December 2005, the group created and produced A Childlike Christmas, a musical production combining traditional and contemporary Christmas music with poetry and dance. The performance benefited the St. Vincent DePaul Society Soup Kitchen families.
\nStudents interested in joining and organizations interested in having the Tom Riley Musical Theater Company perform at an event can call 684-4918.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Generations: A Musical Journey through the Decades will be performed by the Tom Riley Musical Theater Company June 16 at 7 p.m. and June 17 and 18 at 3 and 7 p.m. Formerly known as The Tipton Creek Musical Theater Company, the group will feature musical selections from the 1930s to the present including songs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}