The 68 Year-Old Chorus Girl by Irene

The 68 Year-old Chorus Girl
by Irene

My “career” in entertainment began very inauspiciously when I was about 10 years old and joined the Children’s Choir at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. I later moved on to sing alto in the Young People’s Choir. When I reached high school, I sang in the talent shows. I thought I was good. Then in my senior year my music mysteriously disappeared shortly before the show.

(Do you suppose someone was trying to tell me something?)

Fast forward to the 1990’s:
I was in my 50’s (after a 36 year teaching career) and once again singing alto in a church choir. Like most altos, I longed to sing a solo. I chose a song, practiced it and taped myself singing it so I could see how I sounded.

“Honey,’ I told myself, ”You sound pretty bad. You had better take some singing lessons”. So I started taking lessons at community colleges.
Mrs. Bloomquist at West Los Angeles College started me out. Peisha McFee and Mel Dangcil at Los Angeles City College taught me stage performance.

I moved to Texas in 1997 and, at Mountain View College, Pat Ivey increased my range up to mezzo-soprano. By then I was in my 60’s and hadn’t done much except sing alto in various choirs and perform in a couple of shows at the Hopkins Senior Center in Duncanville, Texas.

I had attended several stage musicals by the Family Music Theatre at Cedar Valley College in Lancaster, Texas. I was encourged by a friend to audition for their upcoming production of ‘Hello Dolly’. I went and auditioned only for the chorus (thank goodness). I did not think that I was ready to try for an acting part yet. I received a call back and was in the show! Guess what? I was singing alto again. but I had to dance and sing at the same time. If you think that is easy, just try it sometime. I was also helping build sets and make costumes. It was the most fun I had had in a long time. It was 6 weeks of grueling work, but I loved every minute of it. The show ran for three weekends in October, 2005.

By then I was 68 years old and that is how I became the “sixty-eight year old chorus girl".

Irene's story gave us inspiration. For sure, we felt like we, too, might explore ways to develop our talents no matter our age. Too, she described well the events that covered her life and brought her full circle with her singing career! I, for one, would have loved to have seen her perform in Hello Dolly.

PHOTO: The cast of Hello Dolly, the play Irene was part of in 2005.
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