The cast of Stratford Court of Boca Pointe’s talent show made its entrance from stage left, with members lining up their walkers and wheelchairs in front of the audience. A pianist supplied the music as they sang “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
More than 250 residents, friends and relatives packed the senior living community’s auditorium to see the performers, most of them in their 90s.
Country music-style dancers Stan and Pearl Ehrlich opened the show moving gracefully across the floor to the tune of “Dancing Rose Garden.” Stanley, 92, wearing his signature cowboy hat, a colorful rodeo shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, skillfully guided his wife. Pearl, 87, was dressed in a black, long-skirted cowgirl outfit with a red shirt. The couple has been dancing at western-style hoedowns all over the country for many years. The music ended and they received a hearty round of applause.
The Activities Department, led by Andrea Peleg, put out the casting call to recruit residents. She appointed her assistant, Curtis Sawyer, to direct the production with the help of staff member Tylin Roland.
Army veteran Thomas Gewant, 85, sang his rendition of “Stormy Weather.” Verne and Pat Kelley, 95 and 83, respectively, danced to “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home.”
Confined to a wheelchair, Lillian Brick, 98, sang in a plaintive voice “What a Difference a Day Makes.” As she concluded her number to loud applause, her daughter presented her with a large bouquet of flowers
Estelle Lipton did a tap dance routine in front of her grandchild. Yonkers-born Francis Weinberg, 86, rolled her walker to the microphone next and told jokes, followed by Vincent Socci, 95, another jokester who scored loud laughs. Pat Kelley related a story about a harrowing family adventure in a foreign country.
Pianist Eunice Allman, 76, played a composition she composed titled “Healing Hands.”
But the residents weren’t the only performers. The staff stepped into the spotlight as well.
Roland sang a Swahili song called “Ye Yo,” then introduced her husband and their three young sons to appreciative applause. Sawyer, who worked tirelessly for weeks rehearsing and directing, sang “I Have Nothing.”
To conclude the show, the audience participated with the cast in a group chorus singing “Put on a Happy Face.”
