KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Members of the Young@Heart Chorus are about 15 years older than Mick Jagger and are out to show the world they, too, have the rock 'n' roll spirit.
Production proves elders
can still rock the house
Age is nothing but a number, according to R. Kelly, but that's easy for the 34-year-old R&B singer to say. It isn't that simple for those seeing the tail end of their 30s, or beyond.
Young@Heart Chorus
Where: Hawaii Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and 8 p.m. Oct. 17
Tickets: $30 to $45
Call: 528-0506
No one thinks twice about young adults smooching in public or on the big screen, but swap them for some "old people," and can you hear the "Ewwws"? As for "old people" rocking, not even! In a chair, maybe.
The perception of elders as feeble -- though that is changing as the all-influential baby boomers keep striving to stay healthy and be as young as they wanna be -- is the reason Young@Heart Chorus director Bob Cilman has such a hard time convincing music lovers that the show is more than a one-joke production built around the novelty of hearing senior citizens singing such rock era classics as "I Will Survive," "Whip It" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
"It sounds very gimmicky ... but it's so not about that, and after the second song you understand that it's not about that," Cilman assured me during a telephone conversation Thursday. He and the group stopped off in Honolulu on the way to Melbourne for five performances at an Australian music festival. The group returns to Hawaii on Oct. 16 for two shows at the Hawaii Theatre.
"Rock 'n' roll is about a certain energy level, and they get to that energy level. That's what's really amazing to people," Cilman continued, hoping I'd be open-minded. After all, some media have a penchant for making disparaging comments about Mick Jagger and "geezer rock." The members of Young@Heart are, on the average, almost 15 years older than Jagger.
The key to Young@Heart, Cilman said, is that the group is serious about the music they're singing, even though it isn't the music they grew up with.
"The truth is that the (show) is very emotional on some levels, and they reinterpret music in a way that's interesting instead of just being cute or gimmicky. London is probably the toughest theater press that you can face ... and they came away thinking it was really quite something to talk about."
CILMAN SAID he understands why promoters emphasize the fact that the average age of the chorus members is 77, particularly because the group is not widely known in the United States, "but it's not the greatest place to start, either."
Still, age is the talking point. When the group was formed in Northhampton, Mass., in 1982, it included people old enough to remember World War I. Most of the members of the current roster are now "of the World War II/Korean generation, although a couple of them give Martin Denny a run for his money," said Cilman, 50.
"We started playing around with them singing music that was a little bit out of their era, and it became a very interesting process for them to do this music. Then we created a visual context to put these songs in."
An arts performance piece titled "Road to Heaven" was created for a festival in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1997, and was subsequently presented in London, Berlin, Munich and Montreal. The two Hawaii Theatre dates will be the first American performances "outside our hometown."
"People should understand that they're coming to see a theater piece," Cilman said. "The music they do is very interesting (because) it's an interesting choice of music, but people should know that (the show) is not just music -- it's theater, and it's got a visual look to it that's really interesting. It's set in a surreal nursing home and it'll look very good (in the Hawaii Theatre)."
And no, Cilman said, this is nothing like barbershop or a capella choral singing. The chorus is supported by a band of musicians ranging in age from 70-something on down to the "baby boom" generation. The group doesn't copy the original arrangements, he added, but they're not playing stripped-down, karaoke-style stuff, either.
"You will not think that any of these songs were presented with the hope that they would sound like the originals, but their version of 'Stairway to Heaven,' I think, will really knock your socks off ... and you'll understand that they bring something very different to the table with it."
But with that, we'd come pretty much full circle. How do you get people to set aside their preconceived notions about what "old people" can do? Cilman knows it's a hard sell.
"People who see the show are amazed, but the only way I can convince people is to have them see it."
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