One night at dinner a few months ago, my mother in-law coaxed a new friend at Belmont Village to stick around for the evening’s entertainment by bursting into song.
“What good is sitting alone in your room, come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret.”
Grandma Mary Jane has developed a reputation among the residents and staff for spreading joy.
Imagine our multi-generation excitement yesterday when we were able to gather up both Grandma Mary Jane and Grandma Peggy to see their granddaughter Katherine perform in Citadel Theatre’s production of Cabaret.
Life is a cabaret for both women, who maintain a contagious joie de vivre. How thrilling for Katherine, who played LuLu, a Kit Kat dancer, to have both of her grandmothers in the audience for the matinée!
We all loved the show, which told the story of 1930’s Berlin, a city of vast contrasts and a determined , somewhat collective, refusal to recognize its impending doom. Both Molly and I left the theatre with a desire to read Goodbye to Berlin, the book on which the play is based.
Despite its melancholic theme and the desperate fate we all knew awaited the hedonistic members of the Kit Kat Club, we really enjoyed our Sunday afternoon at the Citadel.
Led by our matriarchs, we appreciated some of its  carpe diem messages.  “It is not always a good thing to settle for the lowest apple on the tree, the one easiest to reach. Climb up, a little way. It is worth it! Up there the apples are so much more delicious!”

Also,

“Start by admitting, from cradle to tomb, it isn’t that long a stay. Life is a Cabaret, old chum. It’s only a Cabaret, old chum.”

And in this family, we all love a Cabaret.