Singing just for seniors
Hunched in wheelchairs, the ladies of West Valley Healthcare Center perked up as Chris Taylor began strolling among them, crooning “Beautiful Dreamer.”
Luisa Federovsky, 90, didn’t let the moment slip by, even if she had forgotten to put in her dentures that morning. As Taylor passed, the great-grandmother from Argentina grabbed his hand and locked eyes for an impromptu duet.
“Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day,” she belted out in a strong and clear soprano. “Lulled by the moonlight, have all passed away!”
‘Tis the season of the nursing home holiday singalong. But this recent show at the Canoga Park care center was not the standard staple led by an activities director and volunteers.
Rena LeBlanc has assembled a troupe of performers -- many culled from Hollywood -- who feel as comfortable on stage as they do before a room of seniors. One singer just ended a tour of “Les Miserables”; another was the lead singer in the opera “Aida” at the Ford Theatres in the Hollywood Hills. Others have performed on Broadway and in the concert halls of New York and Los Angeles.
Taylor isn’t a professional. But he’s good enough to sing with the pros at Vitello’s in Studio City, an Italian supper club.
“My pianist says the shows are so good we should charge a two-drink minimum,” LeBlanc joked. “I choose my performers carefully.”
The volunteer troupe, called Cabaret, is in its 20th year of performing at nursing homes all over Los Angeles. Though the holiday show typically is the grandest, LeBlanc organizes 10 to 12 acts a year.
LeBlanc, a freelance journalist who will put her age only as “more than a half-century,” said the effort is a labor of love that honors her mother. Requiring constant care, her mother lived her final years in a nursing home. It wasn’t a good experience, LeBlanc said. Neglect and bed sores eventually forced her mother to seek alternative care at a fragile time in her life, she said.
LeBlanc thought that trauma would never leave her. But the moments of joy she sees on the faces of nursing home residents during Cabaret acts have transformed the old wounds, she said.
“When my mother died, I was relieved that I’d never have to step foot in another nursing home,” she said. “Now it’s an uplifting experience.”
Mark Curran started his own nursing home act a few years back for more practical reasons. The Long Beach singer, 52, wanted to keep his musical skills sharp between professional gigs.
He makes his living booking stage shows at small theaters in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties, he said.
“If you don’t have an agent, the only other place you’re going to perform is in a bar. And bars are not good places to perform,” said Curran, who sings and plays guitar. “This is kind of a captive audience. They are appreciative.”
Curran says he charges a modest fee to perform his one-man show of music from the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. On occasion, he’ll throw in an Elvis act, performed in a one-piece jumpsuit.
“They really like that,” he said. “Even if it’s hokey and cheesy, you want to get them involved. You do things that are upbeat and fun and involve a lot of movement. Otherwise they just sit there.”
Nursing homes typically have modest budgets, so he barely recovers his costs, Curran said.
“I’ve thought many times of quitting,” he said. “I don’t know why I keep doing it.”
After a moment, he recounts a reason. “One woman got up from her wheelchair to dance and sing,” Curran said. “Aides told me that they haven’t seen her do that for three years.”
This year, with the economy turning sour, he’s had several cancellations, Curran said. Then, two weeks ago, he broke his ankle, taking him out for the rest of the holiday season.
“It’s been OK for now,” he said. “I can’t speak for next year.”
LeBlanc said she will be at it as long as she can continue to recruit quality performers who will work for free.
She scouts new talent recommended by friends at places like Vitello’s, where up-and-comers perform for restaurant patrons.
Wayne Behlendorf, a house pianist at Vitello’s, has been with her from the beginning. Cindy Benson, who just came off the “Les Miserables” tour, sang “Memories” for 50 or so seniors gathered for a recent holiday show at the Canoga Park care home.
Not all are professionals. Marvin Meisler, 67, is a periodontist by day. Matthew Swank, 34, manages a program for mentally ill homeless people. In Cabaret, they are “our Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone,” LeBlanc said.
They performed a playful duet of “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” drawing laughter from the crowd. At the show’s end, all of the performers linked arms and led the elderly group in rousing renditions of “Jingle Bells,” “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.”
Taylor, the crooner, said he always tries to pick out one woman to focus on as he sings about romance and love. It works well -- sometimes too well.
“I’ve had three offers of marriage and two offers to go to bed,” he said. “Today, the lady knew both verses of ‘Beautiful Dreamer.’ I told her we have to take it on the road.”
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catherine.saillant@latimes.com
