The Mature Mob was born in 1991 as a fundraiser for Senior Services of Central Illinois, a revue of talented actors, singers and dancers aged 50 and over. Few Mob shows in recent memory have been as successful, in terms of popularity and audience acceptance, as last year’s “Flashback to the 50s,” a salute to […]
Will Burpee
Posted inArts & Culture
Mature Mob celebrates the 50s
It’s well established that the 1950s was a decade of enormous change on many fronts. It’s especially true within the narrower context of popular music, from the growth of rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues and country music, as well as how those musical genres influenced each other, and society in general. All these years […]
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The Mature Mob goes country
If country music has a sacred place, it’s the Grand Ole Opry. One country reference book compares it to the importance of the Vatican to the Catholic church. The Opry’s role in the development of and continuing popularity of country music, as well as Nashville’s establishment and growth as the music’s primary home, is unmistakable. […]
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A man of the stage
While a high school student in Petersburg, Don Bailey performed in Forever This Land at Kelso Hollow Theatre (now Theatre in the Park in New Salem) and directed the junior class play at Petersburg’s Harris High School. Those were the first in a long list of theater credits that spanned 65 years. My first encounter […]
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Mature Mob
The men’s chorus sings “New York, New York.” PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE It’s one of those things that may seem like it’s always been here, but Senior Services of Central Illinois, Inc., is only 50 years old. And it hasn’t always gone by that name. Its roots go back to a study begun by United […]
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Mature Mob is good for what ails you
Ed Norris and the Tappers in a rendition of “You’re Not Sick, You’re Just in Love.” PHOTO BY GINNY LEE I’ve learned some basic truths in recent months. Among them: pains and little cares, dear, come in little pairs, dear; the rich get rich and the poor get poorer; and, perhaps most important, not to […]
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The Sky’s the Limit for the Mature Mob
Deanna Langheim delivered a lively performance of “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning” at the Mature Mob’s practice. PHOTO BY GINNY LEE Signs that fall is approaching: cooler weather, the beginning of football season, this year’s Mature Mob show…. Okay, that last one may not be an annual rite of the season for you, […]
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Local playwright brings The Rev to life
Andrew Willmore as the Rev. James Howard, with Tom Heintzelman, who plays a Catholic priest. In the theater class he teaches at Robert Morris University, George A.M. Heroux advises students to look for plot details from one’s life. “I’ve done that with the plays I’ve written,” he says. He’s definitely taken that advice in his […]
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The Mature Mob makes another hit
If anyone can lay claim to being the “father” of The Mature Mob, it’s Jim Myers. It began in the early ’90s, when Jim, at age 76, began taking tap dance lessons at the Springfield Senior Center, located at the corner of Walnut and Mason streets. But his teacher, Dorothy Irvine, surely had something to […]
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School’s out at St. Joseph’s
“Good morning! Today is Thursday, May 17,” said St. Joseph’s School principal Linda Tusek into the intercom one recent morning. She began with the day’s announcements to students and teachers, then delivered the day’s “Caring Message,” centered around that week’s theme of “character:” “Anne Frank said, ‘Parents can only give good advice or put their […]
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Feed your brain
Several years ago, Frances Moore Lappé and her daughter Anna Blythe Lappé set off on a journey spanning five continents. What they found, in their words, was “an invisible revolution of courageous movements helping us to see solutions to environmental crises and social inequality.” The result of their journey is Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet […]
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A simple ceremony
The eyes of the world were on Massachusetts two months ago as it became the first state to legally recognize same-sex marriages. New Jersey last week began issuing extended domestic-partnership benefits to homosexual couples, a policy already in place in California and Hawaii. In Maine, a similar law goes into effect later this month. Vermont […]
