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Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW A singing voice can be like a fine wine the longer it ages, the better it gets. The Young @ Heart chorus, based in Northampton, proves this point with their performances which draw standing ovations both here and abroad. The group created such a buzz that it had filmmakers clamoring to record their journeys and their stories for years. British documentarian Stephen Walker won that war and his film, "Young @ Heart," has been receiving rave reviews from Vanity Fair, Newsweek and audience members at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Longmeadow resident and septuagenarian Stan Goldman has been a member of the Young @ Heart chorus for two years and said he's very excited for the film, which will be released sometime in April. With the film's trailer currently being shown in cities throughout the country, Goldman's celebrity is starting to grow. "A lot of people I've been meeting are saying 'I saw you in the movies,'" Goldman said. "They call me a star now. I'm far from a star. I'm just part of a group." A Brooklyn native who celebrated his 78th birthday earlier this month, Goldman said he used to sing in his high school choir. "I've done a lot of shows, theater productions, musicals, drama I was onstage at the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York, not as a singer but as a supernumerary (which is a big word for a small role as an extra in a crowd). I just love jazz and classical music. I'm an opera buff." He added that he was onstage at the Met with some of the greatest opera stars of that age. "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life," he said. A friend suggested Goldman audition for the Young @ Heart chorus two years ago. He was accepted to the group and loves performing with them, but he's still getting used to the music the chorus performs. "This is my first foray into rock," Goldman explained. "It's an interesting experience for me because I'm becoming acquainted with something I've never done before." "He is and always will be faithful to classical and jazz so his involvement in the chorus has brought on some interesting conversations about different genres," Leah Lesser, Goldman's daughter, said. The Young @ Heart chorus began in 1982 and since then have been performing unique versions of popular pop and rock songs. The current incarnation of the chorus sings songs from the Clash, the Ramones, Coldplay and the Talking Heads. Goldman performs a duet of James Brown's "I Feel Good" in the film. Traveling, not the music choice, is Goldman's favorite part of being in the chorus, however. "The travel has been sensational, a marvelous experience," Goldman stated. "It's about seeing and feeling the reactions of the audiences wherever we go. "I think younger audiences see their own parents in us, or wish their parents could do what we do," Goldman continued. Lesser didn't always feel that way, though. "I remember being a teenager embarrassed to go grocery shopping with him because he would sing up and down the aisles of Big Y. He still does," she said. Goldman said it was exciting to have the film crew follow the chorus for six weeks, recording their personalities, their thoughts and their dreams. "We're elderly rockers," he said. "Hopefully, this movie will have a ripple effect and get more people into what we do." Bob Cilman, director of the Young @ Heart chorus, praised Goldman as an excellent singer and complimented the rest of the chorus for their outstanding work, both performing live and in the film. "We're a live group," Cilman explained. "Film is not something we're used to." He said he is happy with the end result, however. "It is an intense movie about what it is to grow old," he said. And with the trailer for the documentary currently showing on more than 1,000 screens nationwide, Cilman's been receiving fan mail from people and places he never would have expected it to come from. He added that the group's popularity comes in part from the staging local theater company No Theater has been providing for the last 11 years. "Being part of the Young @ Heart chorus and traveling around the world performing with them has been the best thing for my dad in his retirement," Lesser said. "The upcoming movie is the sweetest icing on the cake imaginable. "This is truly a once in a lifetime experience and we are so pleased that my dad is able to be part of it," she continued. Goldman said that when the movie is released that he will be going to see it in a movie theater "without question." "I'm going to keep singing as long as I can," Goldman said. "I just have to wonder how long will I be traveling on this road?" To view the trailer for "Young@Heart," visit www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart and to learn more about the chorus itself, visit www.youngatheartchorus.com. | ||||||
