Modesto seniors put on benefit talent show

They swayed, they bopped, they crooned and they strutted their stuff in the spotlight while soaking in the roar of applause.

Age, of course, was no barrier at Sunday’s “Senior Spotlight – on Broadway,” a delightful talent show where every performer was at least 55 years young.

“I think we all perform because we have an ego,” said emcee Grace Lieberman, who created the show 40 years ago. At 85, she was this year’s most mature performer.

“We care about our talent,” Lieberman added privately, before the lights came up. “We want to expose it to other people and we want to keep going because it’s part of our life.”

The youngest may have been 56-year-old Greg Pyatt, who sang from “Grand Hotel” and “Miss Saigon.” Other numbers ranged from “Phantom of the Opera” and “Sound of Music” to “South Pacific” and “Funny Girl.”

And everyone had a rollicking good time, even if not every high note rang true. Most did, though.

“Sparkle time!” gushed Debbie Farrell to the “girls” in her trio, arriving backstage before the show, a benefit for the Senior Advocacy Network’s Senior Law Project.

The others are Shelly Streeter and Penny White. White missed last year’s show while recovering from cancer surgery – only a few weeks after the death of her guitarist husband.

“Music is one of the things that gets you through it, keeps you going,” said White, whose CAT scan a week ago pronounced her cancer-free. Her gigs with the Sensations, a local quartet that tied for first place in the 2012 Valley’s Got Talent competition, helped give her strength to endure, she said.

Others can’t resist the persuasion of Lieberman, a regional treasure who ran the Stanislaus Arts Council for nearly four decades.

“Grace needs me! She said I was going to be the star,” winked Noble Dinse, 69, a former California State University, Stanislaus, stage professor who made the trip from his adopted home near the Oregon border. He suspects, of course, that Lieberman says the same to each performer.

“Even though she schmoozes me, in a way she means it,” continued Dinse, who sang Sunday from “Fiddler on the Roof.” “If you’re still capable (of performing), there’s no reason not to. It’s a gift of love.”

Thomas Harlan of Riverbank would not be found anywhere else when “Senior Spotlight” rolls around. Years ago, he crafted wooden handrails for people to grasp when mounting the stage. To make sure they don’t slip, he stations himself next to the stairs to steady each performer – even though at 89, he’s older than them all. The yearly ritual is a tribute of sorts to his late wife, who used to perform here herself.

“You know, we’re all bombarded with ads for wrinkle cream. It doesn’t work,” Lieberman said. “Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul,” she added, musing about such things as “love of wonder” and “beauty of life.”

“Seeing the lights, the makeup, the costumes – it’s a joint effort,” she continued. “It’s being together and it’s having friends and it’s making people happy. Being on stage creates a wonderment of the past, the future and the present. It’s what life is about.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2015 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Modesto seniors put on benefit talent show."