Everything Granny tells you about aging? Forget it!<\/p>\n
From early retirement right up to the pulling of the plug, 21st century seniors are partying like it\u2019s 1969. Imagine: no work, no pregnancy, and a full array of Medicare-subsidized pharmaceuticals. It\u2019s the boomer dream!<\/p>\n
These boomers are partying at Pelican Roost, the very active retirement community that is home to the 18-different characters played by the show\u2019s two actors.\u00a0Pelican Roost is where 70-something is the new 20-something\u2014only with looser skin.<\/p>\n
Assisted Living: The Musical\u00ae<\/em> is\u00a0an 85-minute vaudeville-esque romp\u00a0for everyone who is aging, and for those who hope to. The title came before the show. It happened in a parking lot one warm south Florida night in 2008 when a follower asked the topic of Compton & Bennett\u2019s next show. They had no idea. Rick Compton saw someone loading a walker and said, \u201cMaybe something on assisted living.\u201d Betsy Bennett elbowed him and said derisively, \u201cYeah, right: Assisted Living: The Musical<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Compton & Bennett<\/strong><\/p>\n Assisted Living: The Musical\u00ae<\/em> is written and performed by Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett as Compton & Bennett. Before this show, they wrote, produced, and performed satirical shows in and about southwest Florida for more than 16 years. They are members of the Dramatists Guild of America.<\/p>\n Rick Compton<\/strong><\/p>\n Rick Compton has led the creative life since escaping from the corporate world in 1988. During his 15-year career as a freelance magazine writer, Compton wrote features for glossy regional lifestyle magazines and won numerous state-level professional awards. He also authored the children\u2019s book\u202fThe Essential Street Painter\u202f<\/em>(Simon & Schuster).<\/p>\n In 1994, he founded Via Colori\u00ae\u202fStreet Painting Festivals, which he franchised to 14 cities around the country. It has raised more than $8 million for a variety of social causes. He has served on the board of directors of eight not-for-profit corporations, two of which he founded. Compton has toured in the United States and Japan as keyboardist for The Platters and has played in pit orchestras and served as music director for dozens of theatrical productions.<\/p>\n Compton lives with his wife of 40-plus years, Cher, on 10 acres inland from Naples, Florida, with three horses, two Corgis, and Larry the Peacock. Larry enjoys his own Facebook page.<\/p>\n Betsy Bennett<\/strong><\/p>\n Betsy Bennett has theatre in her veins. At age 10, she was cast in her first show. Soon, she began to write and produce shows in her basement. Five years later, she took her first professional acting job in\u202fsummer stock theatre.\u202fShe was 15 and in\u202fhigh school at\u202fGeorge School, the same Pennsylvania Quaker boarding school that Stephen Sondheim attended. At Kellogg Community College, she was immersed in the theatre program, was named Theatre Student of the Year, and wrote\u202fprose and poetry for\u202fPerhaps<\/em>, the school\u2019s literary magazine. Later, in Albion College’s theatre program, she won a term in New York City as an intern at Playwrights Horizons under the leadership of Robert Moss and Andre Bishop.<\/p>\n After graduating from Albion, Bennett moved to Chicago and became active in that\u202ftheatre community. She co-founded a short-lived professional company called Arcane Theatriks. Bennett has performed in more than 90 different productions, from regional touring troupes like The Acting Group to dinner theatre. Favorite roles include Abigail, and later Elizabeth, in\u202fThe Crucible<\/em>; First Witch in\u202fMacbeth<\/em>;\u202fand Mama Rose in\u202fGypsy<\/em>,\u202ffor which she received 30 consecutive standing ovations.<\/p>\n Bennett lives with her son Jack in Naples, Florida, where she\u202ftries to grow vegetables on her lanai.<\/p>","excerpt":" With 18 characters, all played by the show\u2019s two stars, Assisted Living: The Musical\u00ae is a vaudeville-esque romp for everyone who is aging, and for those who hope to. <\/p>","slug":"assisted-living-the-musical-2023-2-2023-01-21","image":{"url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03.jpg","id":1462,"extension":"jpg","width":1500,"height":1125,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"width":300,"height":225,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-300x225.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":576,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-768x576.jpg"},"large":{"width":1024,"height":768,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-1024x768.jpg"},"post-thumbnail":{"width":125,"height":125,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-125x125.jpg"},"thumbnail_medium":{"width":400,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-400x300.jpg"},"thumbnail_square":{"width":400,"height":400,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Assisted-Living_800x600_03-400x400.jpg"}}},"all_day":false,"start_date":"2023-01-21 14:00:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2023","month":"01","day":"21","hour":"14","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2023-01-21 14:00:00","end_date_details":{"year":"2023","month":"01","day":"21","hour":"14","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_start_date":"2023-01-21 21:00:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2023","month":"01","day":"21","hour":"21","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2023-01-21 21:00:00","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2023","month":"01","day":"21","hour":"21","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"timezone":"America\/Phoenix","timezone_abbr":"","cost":"$35","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"$","currency_code":"","currency_position":"prefix","values":["35"]},"website":"https:\/\/secure.scottsdalearts.org\/online\/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=EB087CB8-A587-4821-9C6C-06390BC83281","show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[{"name":"Comedy","slug":"comedy","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":191,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":26,"filter":"raw","id":191,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/191","collection":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}},{"name":"Theatre","slug":"theatre","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":158,"filter":"raw","id":30,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/30","collection":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}}],"tags":[{"name":"2022-23 Season","slug":"2022-23-season","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":253,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":89,"filter":"raw","id":253,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/tags\/253","collection":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/tags"}}],"venue":{"id":420,"author":"3","status":"publish","date":"2019-03-26 13:57:46","date_utc":"2019-03-26 20:57:46","modified":"2021-10-03 21:56:05","modified_utc":"2021-10-04 04:56:05","url":"https:\/\/scottsdaleperformingarts.org\/venue\/stage-2\/","venue":"Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts | Stage 2","description":"