Participate, even in old age

Towards the end, the faces are more animated, the applause less hesitant than at the beginning. Around thirty people here at the Langgrüt Health Center for the Elderly in Zurich have just watched the hour-long musical theater based on Franz Lehár's operetta The merry widow followed. Now they leave the room, which is immediately transformed back into a cafeteria. The mood is not exuberant. "We really enjoyed it," explains a couple who give way to the walking frames and wheelchairs on their way out. They are both only 89, but many of the visitors in the hall have passed the hundred mark. "Even if they are often no longer able to show it: The joy of such an experience is profound. We used to go to public performances at the theater and opera, but now our health no longer allows us to attend a performance." They are very happy about performances right here in the house.

Katharina Willi and Eric Müller, who had just been singing and acting on stage, confirmed that they could feel the audience absorbing the action and being grateful. Olivier Tambosi, artistic director of the Jungbrunnen Theater, has rewritten the operetta, actually a "big box" with many soloists, choir, ballet and a large orchestra, into a chamber play in which the catchy tunes are performed as solo pieces or duets, melodies that this generation knows, if not from their own visits to the theater, then at least from the radio: the folkloric Vilja song, which you can hum along to, "Da geh' ich ins Maxim", "Lippen schweigen" or the "Weibermarsch", which is brought into the present day with a newly texted counterpart: "Ja, das Studium der Männer ist leicht ..."

It's not really true that the singers are "on stage". There is neither a platform nor special lighting, just two chairs. In a newly conceived framework, the two have placed the necessary props and costume pieces in a trolley case in front of the audience themselves. From time to time, the pianist intervenes in the action with a commentary or stands up briefly and plays along. Today, Graziella Contratto, who has reduced the lush piano score to rather chanson-like accompaniments, has to deal with a somewhat out-of-tune instrument. The room is also actually too low for the voices. But that simply doesn't matter here. It's the proximity to the audience that counts.

The Theater Jungbrunnen has been bringing theater and music to people with reduced mobility for almost 70 years. It tours the whole of German-speaking Switzerland, but most often makes guest appearances in the canton of Zurich. The canton contributes a lot to the funding, as does the city of Zurich. The offer is in demand, says Sinnika Jenni, the administrative director. Although she writes to institutions, many approach her of their own accord and she cannot consider them all. Such ideas are valuable building blocks in the activation efforts of health and retirement centers. And indeed: here on Langgrütstrasse, memories have just been evoked, ears caressed and eyes made to shine.