TONIGHT: DON’T MEAN A THINGBand leader Red...

TONIGHT: DON’T MEAN A THING

Band leader Red Young will bring his Red Hots to the Moonlight Tango Cafe tonight.

The 10-piece big band performs a repertoire of 1940s and ‘50s swing music. Young, who has toured with Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Cher and others, counts jazz giants Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan among his heroes. He told the Times’ Zan Stewart in 1993 that he tries to emulate the two.

“Those guys were great players, but were very accessible; they’d draw people in with their personalities,” Young said. “I try to do that.”

* Red & the Red Hots at 8 and 9:45 tonight at the Moonlight Tango Cafe, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $7 cover plus a $9.95 minimum. Call (818) 788-2000.

THIS WEEKEND: MOZART IN PALMDALE

The Palmdale Repertory Theatre will conclude the run of its production “Amadeus” this weekend at the Palmdale Playhouse. The play, written by Peter Shaffer, details the story of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and rival composer Antonio Salieri in 18th century Vienna.

The play was made into a film in 1984 by director Milos Forman and it starred Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri. The film won seven Oscars including best picture, best actor (Abraham), director and screenplay.

* “Amadeus” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Palmdale Playhouse, 38334 10th St. E., Palmdale. Tickets are $12. Call (805) 267-5685.

WEDNESDAY: NOW IT CAN BE TOLD

Solo performer Vickie Juditz knows why the solo performance/storytelling genre has become so popular in the last few years. Its main attraction is its truth.

“These are true stories, a lot of power comes from that,” Juditz says. “People are intrigued that the people are real and the places are real.”

Juditz, along with fellow storytellers Sandra Tsing Loh and Susan Van Allen, will perform Wednesday at the University of Judaism. The three solo artists/writers are slated to present some of their most critically acclaimed work in the show.

Juditz will perform “Flying to the Moon From Ozone Park,” the story of her friendship with a young Asian immigrant who was making an uneasy transition from her old world to become a modern Western woman.

Loh, the daughter of a Chinese father and German mother, will perform one section of her critically acclaimed “Aliens in America.” “My Father’s Chinese Wives” is the seriocomic tale of how her widowed father advertised for new brides in the old country and actually brought two of them to America, although not at the same time. Loh’s book, “Depth Takes a Holiday,” a satirical view of Los Angeles life, is soon to be published.

Van Allen, a Bay Area solo performer, will bring her collection of women from the Garden State, “Jersey Girls,” to the Gindi. Her stories feature five Italian American characters from her hometown of West Long Branch, N.J.

Juditz says she varies her way of performing her solo pieces to keep her performances fresh, but never changes her words.

“It changes depending on the audience--what they give me,” she says. “Sometimes I play around with characters, but the words stay the same.

“I write these things and craft them as I would a short story.”

* Storytellers Vicki Juditz, Sandra Tsing Loh and Susan Van Allen will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive. Tickets are $15 and $20. Call (310) 476-9777, Ext. 335.