The Follies

So we resisted for two years but finally succumbed and went to the Palm Springs Follies. It pretty much sums up what staying in the Palm Springs area is all about. The geriatric dancers and singers refuse to say die and are kicking and smiling their way through their sixties and seventies! The women could fool most people from a distance but as the MC said, "Only half of what you see is the original!" The six men shuffled and grinned bravely but I would have been less inclined to cringe if they had given the smooth, blonde, duck-tailed wigs a miss. The music was canned, the speakers set to "High for Largely Deaf Audience" and the viagra-laden jokes were laid on. I doubt if anyone in the audience was any younger than the dancers on stage. The MC/producer tormented selected people in the front row and I know I will never, ever, ever buy tickets within shouting distance of a stage for fear of the same treatment.
The final act was an unashamedly brash, over the top rendition of all the patriotic songs ever written for "our" America with the audience proudly standing, hands over hearts for the national anthem. The probability of 1/3 of the audience being Canadian didn't cross anyone's mind - we were just assumed to be part of the love-in. Oh well, better than watching local TV as the republican candidates duke it out night after night.....