Seniors Take Center Stage In Karaoke Contest

By Nancy K. Crevier

American Idol, step aside. Connecticut’s senior citizens are storming the stage.

More than 70 performers and spectators crowded the Newtown Senior Center on Riverside Road Wednesday afternoon, December 2, in the final regional competition of the Health Net of the Northeast Senior Stars Event.

Health Net Senior Stars is a series of karaoke contests in which more than 45 senior centers around the state took part this past year. Finalists from the earlier Bethel, Southbury, Oxford, Danbury, Monroe, and Newtown Senior Center competitions took part in the Wednesday program, singing songs of their own choice under the watchful eyes of judges Bob Mel and Karen Wagner, area professional performers.

Mr Mel and Ms Wagner took the edge off of contestant’s nerves by warming up the crowd with their own performances. By the second verse of the Christmas favorite “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” Mr Mel had the entire audience and all of the Senior Star wannabes singing along with him. Ms Wagner’s appropriate selection of the Broadway-style “Big Time” by Jack Murphy brushed away the last of the participant’s nerves, and the show was underway.

Health Net coordinator Rob Gedarovich said that he hoped that the judges’ picks from Wednesday’s competition would be posted by Thursday afternoon on YouTube, where viewers will be able to vote for his or her favorite Senior Star, until 9 am, December 15. The ten performers receiving the most votes will be notified December 15 and invited to the finals at the Hamden Senior Center, December 16, where the single top Health Net Senior Star will be selected.

Newtown Senior Center members going on for voting at YouTube are Dick Goodman, Joe Petro, and Marie Parker.

To vote, visit youtube.com, and type in Health Net Senior Stars.