the angelus plaza senior talent show

Dear readers.

I have been in and around the entertainment field my whole life. Over the years (and especially in the last year), I've slowly learned that if you aren't filled with joy doing what you love, then what's the point? The industry is difficult enough and theater is doubly worse because, let's be real, there's not much money in it. So cultivate joy, people. Joy. Now I realize that "joy" is a relative term and can make people wince at the mere mention of it. It's kind of quasi-religious, or sometimes equated with being generically "happy." I mean not this.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary sources joy's etymology as such: "Middle English, from Anglo-French joie, from Latin gaudia, plural of gaudium, from gaudēre to rejoice; probably akin to Greek gēthein to rejoice." Its date? The 13th century. Some of its definitions include "the emotion evoked by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a source or cause of delight." You get the picture. Which leads us to my latest foray of "free things to do in downtown LA."

I was told by the Los Angeles Downtown News that if I didn't go to The Angelus Plaza Senior Talent Show, then I was missing a "pick of the week." What they didn't tell me is that if I went, it's possible my jaw might drop open and my head might explode from all the good vibes while i watched people 55+ bring their talents to a community room stage.

I have to admit, in reading about it, my first thought was, "I've gotta see this" - as if there was some freak show aspect to watching older folks perform on a stage. Perhaps I'd find everything so adorable (look! old people tap dancing!) that I'd run home and blog about it as if I was the first person to ever go to a retirement community talent show.

I witnessed all sorts of performers - amazing jazz singers, an afro-cuban drummer, line dancers, a Durante impersonator, a blind singer and guitarist, piano players, tappers, and ballroom dancers. People would get up and introduce themselves and say things like "This is a song that was a page in my life a long time ago" or "Never stop looking for love. My father's 90, been married 6 times and is looking for number 7" or "I'm a senior too, but I refuse to quit." We were in a low panel-ceilinged fluorescent-lit community room with an awkward-looking stage and a faulty sound system, there was intermittent shushing of the audience, and sometimes when an act would almost reach the alloted 3 minutes you'd hear a judge yell, "10 SECONDS!" which was funny to me because, well, shouldn't older folk get a little extra time?

I shed a genuine tear - for the worst performance I saw - because you know what? The person who performed (a gorgeous woman dressed in black who basically just danced all over the stage barely singing along with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and finally throwing glitter from a scarf) was so filled with this "delight" I spoke of earlier that I actually felt shame for not experiencing her bliss. She was transcendent.

Finally, the voting results were tallied. Did I mention there was a $1,500 prize? The announcer let us know that there were "remnants of confetti and feathers from a boa - that's how fierce the competition was." The woman who won sang a song called (I believe) "How Did He Look?" She was truly deserving, a magnificent performer.

Below is one of the more beautiful albeit confusing pieces I witnessed. En(joy).