By Nanette Light
entertainment editor
Joan Colee's garage is fighting a losing battle against a growing stash of dress up clothes.
Wigs, dresses and a heavy fur coat, which she admits no one will ever wear, litter the newly proclaimed dumping grounds for the flashy clothing.
"My garage is fast becoming a costume shop," said Colee, after admiring the black, bob wig loaned to her by her friend Jackie Short, an Oklahoma City attorney, for a 1950s twist routine.
"Oh Jackie, this is going to be perfect. Did people wear pig tails in the '50s?" Cole, 75, asked Short, 59, as she debated, following Short's private lesson at Colee's home in Oklahoma City, how to style the wig for this Friday night's performance.
Colee, vocal instructor, performer and founder of Tulsa's Dance and Performing Arts Academy before opening a vocal studio in Los Angeles, formed the Oklahoma Seniors' Cabaret, a 1-year-old, non-profit performance organization for adults ages 55 and older.
"I realized there wasn't something for people with a lyric talent, who were maybe a little nervous to audition," said Colee, who credits her inspiration for the performing group to the Palm Springs Follies, a Broadway-caliber performance group for senior citizens in California. "I named it the Oklahoma Seniors' Cabaret, 'cause you never know what you're going to get."
The group will host the Oklahoma Seniors' Cabaret Extravaganza at the Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore 8 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $4 for children.
While the group has performed at small-scale retirement and nursing home venues for almost a year, this weekend's show, which includes performances by an Elvis Presley impersonator, a Marilyn Monroe, a Willie Nelson, a duo by Sunny and Cher, along with comedy skits like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears 60 Years Later" and tap dancing, is the group's debut to the general public in an 800-seat theater, a stage performance Colee said parallels a Broadway musical.
"It's going to be quite a production," she said about the two-and-a-half hour performance.
"I think people will be surprised. You can't get better entertainment for $10," said Roger Holland, 62, of Norman, who plays Willie Nelson.
Holland said he has been a fan of Nelson's since 1973, adding that he doesn't need to labor over infamous Nelson songs like "Whiskey River" for his act. He's been playing them for 30 years in the background of his life as a navy man and recently retired Postal Service worker.
Colee, who refers to groups members by their personas, like "our Marilyn" and "our Willie," said the 28 members, who auditioned for their parts and practice five hours a week collectively at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City, must contribute a $35 fee to join the cabaret, in addition to holding fundraisers to build up the money pot of the infant organization.
"You might remember us standing on the side of the road out there shaking our tin cans," said Colee about the group's rally for donations earlier this year, as she pointed out her window to the road.
But the funds clinking in Colee's "kitty jar," as she refers to it, from their fundraisers and this weekend's performance aren't solely to cover production costs.
The group is donating its ticket sales to an elderly woman in Oklahoma City to pay the taxes on her house.
"It's about seniors helping seniors. For them, it's either eat or medicine and the taxes are...," said Colee, her voice trailing off as she waves her hands in the air.
Colee, who couldn't release the woman's name yet since the donation is a surprise, found the woman, after several previous knocks on other doors, through the state's tax commissioner.
"People wouldn't open the door. They thought it was a scam." she said.
The seniors' talents don't conclude with the on-stage performances. The behind the scene work, including designing the costumes, creating the flyers and programs by Karen Cargile and lighting by Brad Henning of Norman, is credited to seniors nostalgic for old time Broadway.
Few of the performers have professional training. Most of these song-and-dance-lovers carry only an ear for pitch, like Short, who plays Cher and Liza Minnelli, and Holland, who have been singing karaoke for years.
Holland was recruited to join the group after Colee heard him croon into the microphone at the Riverwind Casino.
"I think singing was always my calling, but I missed it," said Holland, a self-taught singer and guitarist.
Colee, who still has her high notes -- a remarkable feat at her age, she added -- will also impersonate Jeanette MacDonald, one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th Century.
And when Colee, who has been singing since she was 8 years old, performs she doesn't picture the audience in its underwear.
Instead, she morphs the routine into a show for one, focusing her energy on an individual in the back with his arms crossed and face locked in a frown.
"It's my challenge to make him uncross his arms and smile by the end of the performance," Colee said. "A lot of people just don't want to enjoy themselves."
