Young@Heart

Young@Heart is a Northampton, Massachusetts based chorus, whose two dozen or so members' average age is eighty years old. They are directed by the relatively young fifty-three year old Bob Cilman. Bob started the chorus in 1982, when they performed primarily vaudeville songs. But when they performed Manfred Mann's "Do-Wah-Diddy" to great fanfare, they have since almost exclusively performed pop, rock, R&B and even alternative, heavy metal and punk songs. The musical tastes of the chorus members generally leans toward the classical, but they love the energy of the group and reception they get from performing these more modern songs. Film director Stephen Walker, who saw the chorus perform in London in 2005 when they were on a European tour, travels to Northampton to film the chorus for the seven week rehearsal period for their new 2006 show, which will ultimately be called "Alive and Well". Bob is introducing a new repertoire for this show. He generally knows what the group will and will not like at the beginning of the rehearsal period, but hopes all the songs will be favorites by the time they are perfected. Perfecting the songs and their resulting inclusion in the show are not a guarantee, as some of the individual songs do not progress well. For this concert, Bob is hoping that two former chorus members will return to do a duet, they who originally left the group due to health reasons. But as Stephen follows the chorus, including to a local prison where they will test their "Alive and Well" program, he learns that health is a built-in concern of the group due to their age. He also learns that singing, music and being part of this group can be a miraculous panacea to these health concerns. Ultimately, the group has a "the show must go on" mentality, even if the one not making it to the show is his or herself.