Dan Shearer, Editor, Green Valley News
Larry Worster remembers the first show for “Green Valley’s Got Talent” back in 2016. He and a couple of helpers set up 60 seats in the Dance Studio at the Community Performance & Art Center and would have been glad to fill two-thirds of them.
They attracted double that and never looked back. Now, nine years and 200 performers later, Worster says it’s time to bring down the curtain. “Green Valley’s Got Talent” held its final show on March 10.
All along, the message from the stage was consistent: “Just because you’ve retired and you moved to Green Valley doesn’t mean your life is over. You have a whole different life here,” Worster says.
It’s tough for Worster to pick out his favorite moments from nine years of sold-out shows.
“Grandpa Cal (Lambert) has been amazing, coming up with the ‘Green Valley Minute,’” Worster said, adding that the poems have been crowd-pleasers for years. “I think he speaks to the commonality of his aging process and his connection with his own life.”
Then there were teenager Adrian Blanco and 92-year-old Lynn Bienen, both dancers. During an on-stage interview, Worster asked Blanco what he wanted to do when he grew up. “And Adrian looked at Lynn and said, ‘I want to be her.’ And there was the connection between the young artist and the person who said age isn’t going to stop me from what I want to do.”
In considering bringing the show to an end, Worster had to face some realities.
First, it’s a big commitment, and it’s hard to find people to fill roles that include everything from artistic director to stage manager to grant writer, media, fundraising, and sales.
Next were his personal goals, which include becoming a better musician. He plays with five bands. “I can never explain to people what music does to me,” he said. “There are these moments when I am playing music that it just feels like there’s a connection, whether it’s a connection with all the other people who are either playing or are listening or whether it’s a connection with the sound image, which I believe is the voice of the Universe. It’s as close to God as I can get.”
“It was hard to let go of something that is still a raging success, but it was the right decision,” he said. “I want to see what comes and takes its place, because I think this is a need within our community, and I think something will come and take its place.”