By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
Elizabeth Ziman
A lot of people know Elizabeth Ziman — via a lot of different ways.
She is an acclaimed composer in a variety of music styles, including scores for several international award-winning documentaries such as “Trapped,” a Peabody winner.
She is an award-winning classical pianist who has studied at Boston’s world renowned Berklee College of Music — and she has conducted a women’s choir.
She won an Independent Music Award for Songwriting, and her songs have been featured in national television campaigns for Google and Amazon.
However, the majority of people who know Elizabeth Ziman know her as the Elizabeth in the talented Brooklyn-based band Elizabeth & The Catapult.
The band, which has been around for more than two decades, just released its sixth album, “Responsible Friend” on April 3 on Compass Records.
Elizabeth & The Catapult are now out on an album support tour – a tour that brings them to the area on April 11 for a show at World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, www.worldcafelive.com).
“The seeds of this album go back to when I was working with Jon Titterington four years ago on ’50-50,’ my last album,” said Ziman, during as phone interview last week from her home in Brooklyn.
“I wanted to encapsulate all the relationships in my life and what’s going on.
“I wanted to look at the suffering people are going through — not the loss but how we process the pain.
“Writing this album was a coping mechanism.”
While this might sound like a very introspective album that dwells on Ziman’s personal paths through life – and it is – it is also a collection of songs which listeners can relate to and apply to their own lives.
“I wanted to write about how to slow down and accept the challenges,” said Ziman.
“I wanted to make record about how to show up for life – show up for everyone and show up for yourself.”
Ziman is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who has worked with Blake Mills, Esperanza Spalding, Gillian Welch, Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds.
“Together Alone,” a song from her last record, made it onto NPR’s All Songs Considered “10 best songs of 2021” list.
Ziman attended Berklee on scholarship to study classical composition and was awarded the 2001 ASCAP Leiber and Stoller scholarship for her song “Like Water is to Sand.”
In 2002, she changed directions.
Patti Austin came to Berklee to recruit background vocalists for an Ella Fitzgerald tribute tour.
Ziman got the gig and put her plans for scoring films on the back burner.
She toured with Austin for 18 months.
Around the same time, she formed the original Elizabeth & The Catapult with drummer Dan Molad and guitarist Pete Lalish. After Ziman and Molad completed their studies, the band moved to Brooklyn in early 2005’
The two Berklee students later were co-founders of the band Lucius in 2007.
“I met my band at Berklee,” said Ziman. “Now 20 years later, I’m still working with them. It’s a big deal.
“I worked with Danny and Phil on my last record – Danny on drums and guitar and Pete on guitar. We also had Adam Minkhoff who played everything – drums, bass, guitar, vocals.”
In the album’s liner notes, Minkhoff was billed as “General Director, Artistic Oracle, Stormwarden of Logistics.”
In October 2006, Elizabeth & The Catapult were the featured Billboard Underground Artist following the release of their first record, a self-titled EP. They signed with Verve Records in 2008 and produced their debut album, “Taller Children.”
Lalish left the group in 2009, after which Ziman and Molad worked as a duo with various collaborators on a second album, “The Other Side of Zero.”
From then on, Elizabeth & The Catapult has been largely a solo project — with frequent collaborators including Molad and Lalish.
Ziman split with Verve and, in 2014, released “Like It Never Happened” on Scratchback/Thirty Tigers.
In 2017, she signed with Compass Records and released her fourth album, “Keepsake.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ziman recorded and produced her fifth LP, “sincerely e” in her home studio.
Music and home life have been Ziman’s companions for most of her time on earth.
“Supposedly, I sang before I spoke,” said Ziman. “We had a musical family. My brother played Suzuki violin, and I was in the Young People’s Choir of New York.
“I took classical piano lessons and studied intensively as a kid. Later, I studied piano again – composing at Berklee. And then I met my band.”
Video link for Elizabeth & The Catapult – https://youtu.be/w0lirIkWerQ?si=4Y_qFO5MujVbkUse.
The show at World Café Live on April 11 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $22.
The award-winning solo play, “UNRECONCILED,” (www.unreconciledtheplay.com) will return to Pennsylvania this April for a powerful two-week, three-city tour in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Jay Sefton
The tour supports legislation introduced by Representative Nate Davidson that would reform Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations and establish a retroactive two-year civil “look-back” window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
“UNRECONCILED” is based on the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest. The story chronicles a survivor’s journey as he confronts his past, navigates a victims’ reparations program set up by the Catholic Church, and discovers the courage to use his voice.
This 80-minute piece is a poignant and at times humorous exploration of family, place, and the meaning of reconciliation.
The first-person story is written by Jay Sefton (along with Mark Basquill) and performed by Sefton.
The tour will open at Barley Sheaf Players (810 North Whitford Road, Lionville, www.barleysheaf.org/unreconciled) on April 10 at 7:30 p.m.
There will be a moderated post-show discussion with retired West Chester University theatre professor Jane Saddoris.
Additionally, representatives from the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County will be on hand to support survivors and families.
The show at Barley Sheaf Players on April 10 will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.
From April 15-19, the play will be performed at JD McGillicuddy’s Pub (33 Brookline Blvd., Havertown, unreconciledprojectinc.ticketspice.com/unreconciled) from April 15-19 with performances Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
The tour will culminate April 22 at Gamut Theatre Group in Harrisburg, just steps from the Pennsylvania Capitol, the evening prior to anticipated Senate action on the bill. The timing underscores a pivotal moment for survivors and lawmakers alike.
Video link for “UNRECONCILED” — https://vimeo.com/961145887?fl=pl&fe=cm.
“The Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein” is running now through April 19 at the Candlelight Theater (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, candlelighttheatredelaware.org).
The show is a Mel Brooks Broadway musical based on the movie “Young Frankenstein,” a 1974 comedy film written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.
Described by Brooks as his best film, it is a parody of the horror film genre — especially the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
After the success of the movie, which has been named to the “Top 50” lists of comedy films by a number of organizations, Brooks teamed with Thomas Meehan to write and produce a stage version of the show.
The show tells the story of Frederick Frankenstein, a New York doctor who is ashamed to be a Frankenstein and insists his name be pronounced “Fronkensteen.”
His grandfather Dr. Victor von Frankenstein, a mad scientist, passed away so the younger Frankenstein has to travel to Transylvania to settle the estate.
In Transylvania, Dr. Frankenstein becomes involved with a variety of zany characters including the hunchback Igor, the yodeling lab assistant Inga, the mysterious Frau Blücher and, of course, The Monster.
The Candlelight Theater is presenting “The Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein” now through April 19. Tickets, which include a tasty dinner, are $77.50 for adults and $35 for children (ages 4-12).
Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) is hosting its monthly Jazz Jam on April 9, The E-Block on April 10, “Make Me An Angel – A Tribute to John Prine” on April 11 and “The Legendary Kennett Flash Open Mic Night hosted by Michael Hahn” on April 12.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org) will host J2B2 on April 12.
Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, www.jameyshouseofmusic.com) will host Ryan Hartt on April 10, Michael London & Friends on April 11 and the Girke-Davis Project featuring AC Steel on April 12.
The Colonial Theatre (227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, thecolonialtheatre.com/events) will host “Mike Doughty Solo Tour ’26” on April 10, “Broken Arrow – The Music of Neil Young” on April 11 and “Eddie Bruce: The Tony Bennett Centennial Celebration” on April 12.
The Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com) will present Pink Talking Fish on April 9, AF2K on April 10, “Sabbath Supertzars: Tribute to Black Sabbath” on April 11 and Tinsley Ellis on April 15.
