Oklahoma Senior Follies seeks to inspire
Oklahoma Senior Follies is partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association for the third year in a row in hopes of inspiring seniors to be more active in their lives and communities.
The eighth year of the Ziegfeld-inspired extravaganza will be June 23 and June 24 at the OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center at 7777 S May Ave. This year, the show is taking on the theme of “Oklahoma Performing Artists: Then and Now.”
Carol Sander, follies board member and performer, has participated in the show all eight years and said the cast members have become very close in that time.
“My husband and I have been in it all eight years — there’s quite a few who have been in it eight years,” Sander said. “It’s fun, I guess I’m a ham; I guess most of us are who are in it — I love the camaraderie of the performers; you get to feel like you’re a big old family.”
All cast members are required to be at least 55 years old, with the oldest member being 97 this year. That makes the show beneficial not only for the cast themselves, but also for the audience, Sander said.
“Our purpose is to enlighten and inform, and entertain and inspire Oklahoma seniors by seniors themselves getting up and doing something to keep active,” Sander said. “I think it might inspire them to go out and do something that they want to do.”
Sander said the theatrical experience of the cast members varies from novice to professional, bringing a wide range of character to the show and making it comical at times.
“Watching the show — it’s fun. There are all different kinds of acts,” Sander said. “The opening act is fun because almost everybody who is in the show is in the opening act and it is singing with, and I put it in quotes ‘dancing,’ because we’re all trying to memorize how to move.”
Lee Allan Smith will
serve as this year’s Follies King. Smith is chairman of Oklahoma Events LLC, a fullservice event production firm. He also has served as vice chairman of Ackerman McQueen and president of Oklahoma Centennial Sports Inc., the local organizing committee for U.S. Olympic Festival ‘89 in Oklahoma.
Smith was the creator and developer of Stars and Stripes Park, and he has served on numerous boards and committees in Oklahoma City civic life.
Joining Smith in the spotlight will be a group of women called the 2018 Beauties.
The women chosen to be this year’s Beauties are Edie Roodman, Fran Kozakowski, Jan Henry, Jonna Kirschner and Billie Rodely.
“The Beauties are like fifth-year follies girls, and they’re a lot of fun,” Sander said. “The women that we choose are very outstanding in the community.”
Several performers also will be returning this year, including Charlotte Franklin, Jim Henline, Jody Miller, Linda Wright Piro and Larry Darnell, who portrays Hank Williams.
Behind the glamour of the show, however, remains a purpose shared by the cast members, Sander said.
“We just want to show Oklahoma seniors that because they get older, they don’t have to sit around,” Sander said. “They can go out and do what they love to do.”
The Oklahoma Senior Follies is a nonprofit entity founded by Bobbie Burbridge Lane in 2011.
Audience members will have the opportunity to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease at a booth outside of the auditorium after the show.
Show times will begin at 3 p.m. on both days. Tickets for the show are $29.99 and can be purchased at tickets.occc. edu or by calling the box office at 682-7579.