ON THE TOWN:

As the new television season premieres, the timing could not be more perfect for the staging of “My Obsession with TV,” a one-man show starring Burbank resident Jeff DePaoliJeff DePaoli.

The show, which also features a quartet of extremely talented local musicians: Daniel Ferguson, Evan Richards, Ryan Domier and Eddy Hewitt, premiered Saturday and will run the next two weekends on the boards of North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts Center.

Written and created by DePaoli, the show debuted at Boston’s Improv Asylum in 2006. Updated and co- produced by longtime Burbank resident Jeremy Bennington, DePaoli presents monologues that reveal his self-professed obsession with television shows, creators, characters and theme songs.

A product of tube culture, DePaoli clearly struck a chord with Saturday’s opening-night audience as he sang parodies that lamented the cancellation of favorite shows and unleashed anger at network executives who juggle the nights and times of programs. The performance also includes clips of DePaoli interspersed into scenes from various current television shows and conducting hilarious man-on-the-street interviews.

If you love television, this is a must-see evening of creatively crafted entertainment presented by a talented performer who knows how to connect with his audience.

Among those whom DePaoli connected with at the opening night performance and after-party were Dean Ricca; Rick Lasher; Sky McDougall; Daniel Gutierrez; Michelle Aponte; April Villareal: Kimberly Cass; Jill Eisenberg; Marisela Lopez; Frederico Rosas; Babette Lewis; Max Andrews; Fed Eguez; Rachel Jennings and Anthony Rodriguez.

For more information and to reserve tickets for “My Obsession With TV” visit myobsessionwithtv.com or call (866) 811-4111.

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While Burbank High School stole most of this past week’s spotlight by staging its centennial celebration, McKinley Elementary also lit the candles on the birthday cake as it celebrated its 80th year of service to Burbank students. Opened in 1928 with a bond that passed four years earlier, the school doesn’t look anything like an octogenarian due to recent modernizing and renovations.

Friday’s birthday celebration, coordinated by PTA President Suzanne Weerts, welcomed the school’s students, families, staff, friends and neighbors to the campus party that included a cookie cook-off judged by Mary Jane Strickland, of the Burbank Historical Society, who attended McKinley in the early 1930s. The cook-off saw Laura Groneberg walk away with top honors, while Hideko Schroeder and Donna Maginnis respectively placed and showed.

Among those who enjoyed the event were McKinley Principal Bobbie Kavanaugh; Burbank Unified School District Deputy Supt. Joel Shapiro; school board President Larry Applebaum, school board member Ted Bunch, and McKinley alumna Marsha Ramos of the Burbank City Council who was on hand with her parents, Richard and Lila Ramirez, and her sister, Jeanne Hutchinson.

Others who made the event a success included Gabriella Smallwood; Beth Roth; Michelle Lowder; Brenda Outwater; Irma Avelar; Keith DiStephano; Robert Reeves; Dougie Cringean and his son, Cameron; Chris, Maddie and Jack Weerts; Bill Biewener; Isabel Ricker, and Alejandra Torres, the first recipient of the McKinley Alumni Scholarship, who is now a freshman at San Diego State University.

?DAVID LAURELL can be contacted at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.