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Area native Tom Sweitzer will bring back his show about Altoona to Altoona on Sunday, this time performing it in an area church to benefit a local charity.
Sweitzer, who for several years has helped physically and mentally challenged people through music therapy, will stage his show, “Music Got Me Here,” at the Second Avenue United Methodist Church in Altoona. The cost of admission is the donation of a canned good to the St. Vincent de Paul Society charities in Altoona.
“This show is a tribute to my hometown and the people who raised me and gave me a chance,” Sweitzer said. “I will share many stories about my childhood including my hatred of ‘Husky’ pants and being an overweight boy to spending days in the summer at the family’s amusement park, which back then was called Bland’s Park.”
The show features 15 of Sweitzer’s original compositions, including songs from the musical “Porches,” which is set during World War II, and was staged at the Mishler Theatre twice.
As in the past, Sweitzer has childhood friends performing with him in the show, such as Chris Cook of Altoona, who lived next door to Sweitzer when they were growing up. Cook has appeared in the show a few times before.
Cook said if people haven’t seen the show before, they should definitely put it on their list as a must-see for this performance, especially if they grew up in the city.
“Being from Altoona, it gives you a real sense of pride,” he said. “It really inspires you and makes you feel very proud of your community.”
Cook said Sweitzer introduced him to music when they were teenagers and also helped him through a difficult time in those early years. They’ve remained friends ever since. In the show, they will sing a few songs together.
This includes a duet in which Cook will sing the role of Sweitzer’s father, while Sweitzer will sing the second part as himself.
“This show is really Tom’s story about growing up in Altoona,” he said. “And it weaves our story into that a little bit.”
Another member of the cast, Amy Stone, said she’s looking forward to doing the show. Stone, 20, was one of Sweitzer’s first clients at A Place To Be, a musical therapy center where Sweitzer is director in Middleburg, Va. Stone, who has cerebral palsy, is one of five clients Sweitzer will bring from the center to appear in the show.
“At the very core of A Place to Be, there is a mentality that the clients and their families are extended families,” she said. “So it is a blessing and it seems natural to be able to interact and it seems natural to be able to interact with Tom’s family and friends from Altoona.”
Stone said she will sing one of her own compositions in the show. She said Sweitzer has taught her many things including improvisation, or the ability to make up music on the spur of the moment, and she plans to use that in her performance.
“Tom started out as my music therapist and quickly became my mentor,” she said. “He has opened doors and given me platforms to tell my story to help others know that they are not alone. On these platforms, I talk about what it is like to live life with cerebral palsy and how people with disabilities are just like everyone else.”
With Sweitzer’s help, Stone became the person she was meant to be, she said.
“Prior to this he opened one of the biggest doors for me,” she said. “He gave me a gift. The gift of speaking at a level in which people can hear me and understand me. Tom helps people to realize their full potential.”