Synopsis

Everyone wondered, how could it be done? How would you make a musical out of a quiet, albeit best-selling, novel in which the leading characters are senior citizens suffering the indignities of aging and nursing homes? But then it became clear that if anyone has a reason to sing - and lots to sing about - it’s those folks. Especially when they’re all riled up and decide to fight back.

The show opens (and takes place almost entirely on) the rocking porch of the Rosehaven Convalesence Center in little Listre, N.C. Unable to keep up with the times, Rosehaven is being sold to Ballard College for use as a care facility for wealthy donors. Nothing is supposed to change, but long-time residents Beatrice Satterwhite and Clara Cochran already notice a difference in the cornbread. It’s almost the last straw. “We’d all be better off if everything were more simple,” snaps Clara. “Have you looked at a damn TV remote control lately?”

It looks grim for them, and for the others: Eli Greyson, a guitar-picking Rosehaven original who swats imaginary butterflies, and L. Ray Flowers, a retired but still-fiery preacher with a very colorful past (“I used to be a saint..but now I ain’t”). Into the group comes Lil Olive, a new resident whose recent broken hip has signaled the end of her living-alone days. What’s worse, her favorite nephew Carl now has to tell her to turn in her car keys (“How do you tell ‘em they can’t drive no more/When they knock out a headlight/And beat up a door?”).

The spunky Lil brings new life to the Rosehaven porch - and a few new ideas. When she realizes there’s a church across the street, and a preacher in the house, she and L. Ray unite the “porchers” to form The First Breakfast Club, so called because, “after 2,000 years of Last Suppers, we need a first breakfast to follow it up.” It’s a new movement that will save the world. They’re not exactly sure how it works, but, says Clara, “It sure is nice to have something to get up for in the morning.”

As the FBC gains members and momentum, the rowdy residents begin to revolt, demanding changes at Rosehaven and finally erupting in a roof-raising rap song. Along the way, everyone gets another chance. The “porchers” get a second life, the bachelor Carl falls for administrator Anna Guthrie, Anna and her head nurse Carrie find a surprising way to save Rosehaven, and Lil gets to drive again…briefly. As the final curtain falls, we may wonder just how long the FBC will last, but we know it has given its members - and us - the party of a lifetime.