With decades of experience, Southbridge seniors gotta sing

Pauline Rosenbaum and Larry Vide, above, performed a scene from “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Southbridge Towers’ annual music revue. Below, Estelle Yomtov, who has performed with Leonard Bernstein and at Tanglewood, sang “If I loved You” for Southbridge residents.

After bringing down the house with her rendition of the song “If I Loved You” from “Carousel,” Estelle Yomtov, 93, who has lived at Southbridge Towers since 1971, reflected for a moment. “I used to sing in a chorus with 100 other people,” she said, “and with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, with Leonard Bernstein and at Tanglewood.”

She was just one of the performers in the Seaport complexes’ 10th annual Music Comic Revue, which was held three nights in August.
Pauline Rosenbaum, 88, who has lived in Southbridge for 36 years, sang the “My Fair Lady” song, “Loverly” with updated lyrics. Wishing for a nearby bagel shop and a subway stop, “Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly,” she sang to a round of applause.

“I’ve been performing all my life,” Rosenbaum said at intermission, “and I write my own lyrics now.”

Looking at the room with over 50 people in the audience, Rosembaum added, “It’s so important [performing for them] because they don’t go out at night. It brings the community together.”

Revue organizer Larry Vide left the crowd in stiches with his medical humor. “What is bacteria,” he asked, replying, “the back door of a cafeteria.” Ba-da-boom.

— Jefferson Siegel