ASSISTED LIVING: THE MUSICAL Comes to The Playhouse at Westport Plaza

If the Smothers Brothers and the Golden Girls had a baby, this would be it! Emery Entertainment brings the antics of Pelican Roost to the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza stage this summer with the comedy ASSISTED LIVING: THE MUSICAL August 1-11. Tickets are $55 and on sale now. Tickets may be purchased through MetroTix at www.metrotix.com or by calling 314/534-1111. Additionally, tickets will be available at the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza box office one hour prior to show time. Groups of ten or more should call 314/402-2430 for special rates.

The show promises "The Tales Granny Will Never Tell" and it delivers. In the opening scene, a newly-departed couple discovers their son has pulled their plugs to get his Dad's vintage Corvette. The show romps through the "best years of their lives" at Pelican Roost, an active senior living community, where 70-something is the new 20-something, only with looser skin. The place oozes with characters, each with unique answers to later-life's questions.

"It's like a cruise," explains Pelican Roost resident Naomi Lipschitz-Yamamoto-Murphy, "except the final destination is not The Bahamas." Naomi is one of 18-characters played by the two actors. This is not your grandma's assisted living. Original songs include "Help! I've Fallen (For You) and I Can't Get Up," "WalkerDude@Facebook.Com" and "The Uplifting Viagra Medley."

ASSISTED LIVING: THE MUSICAL opened in Naples, Florida in 2010 and immediately drew the attention of national press. The San Francisco Examiner called it "Wickedly funny." The San Jose Mercury News warned, "You'll die if you miss this one." Broadway World called it "Absolutely thrilling." The Tampa Times gushed that it is "A joy to savor and savor again."

The show's authors and stars have a different take on aging than some. "Old age is no more about fixed incomes and disability than youth is about student debt and hangovers," says Rick Compton. "Imagine a world in which no one expects you to work, no one can get pregnant, and where you get a 20% discount just for being alive," Betsy Bennett says. "That's Assisted Living."

Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett are Compton & Bennett. They have been writing and performing together since 1995, plowing the fertile fields of political and social satire in and around Naples, Florida. Betsy Bennett is a life-long theatre denizen, starting professionally in summer stock when she was 15. She has a theatre degree from Albion College, and followed that with an internship at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. Betsy co-founded Arcane Theatriks, a professional company in Chicago. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild and has been cast in more than 90 productions.

Rick Compton leads the creative life since escaping from the corporate world in 1988. Since then, he founded Via Colori, a small chain of annual street painting festivals, toured Japan as a keyboardist for The Platters, and authored a children's activity book called The Essential Street Painter (Simon & Schuster). Rick's won several regional awards for magazine articles and is a member of The Dramatists Guild. Rick has played piano and synthesizer in the pit for more than a dozen musicals and served as musical director for several more.

Playhouse @ Westport Plaza is located at 635 Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, Missouri and is a venue filling a niche for a variety of Broadway and Off-Broadway entertainment that would otherwise not find its way to the St. Louis area. Programming at the venue is offered at affordable ticket pricing so that anyone can have dinner at one of the many restaurants in the area as well as see a great show. For additional information on upcoming events and to download high resolution photos, please visit www.playhouseatwestport.com.

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