When I Officially Realized I Was 'Old'
It wasn’t when I turned 40, which was five years ago. It was SORT of when I started hearing 90s and Y2K era music being considered oldies but in reality, it was much more recent. It was when they announced a revival of the musical version of Sunset Boulevard. and the lead, Norma Desmond, was to be played by Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls (see teaser trailer below). Now, I didn’t follow the band, but I knew of them and knew that the members were all around my age. So yeah, damn right I freaked out. I remember when the musical first made its premiere more than 30 years ago and featured stars like Glenn Close and Patti LuPone. Then I looked those stars up. They were around the same age as Nicole (who is currently 46) back then. And the lead character (originally played by Gloria Swanson in the 1950 movie) is supposed to be 50.
It was really an OMG moment because it’s NOT the same thing as memories of boy bands, old TV shows (90210! Full House! OG Fresh Prince (the new one sucks, by the way)! Gilmore Girls!) and jokes about VCRs, dumbphones and dial-up internet (and not to mention, MySpace and Napster). The fun stuff. It’s different because it’s telling this musical theatre girly that someone who is of her peer age group is playing a role that she saw people her mom’s age (or older - Diahann Carroll in her early 60s when she played the role in Toronto! And it seems that the Australian revival will be doing the same with Sarah Brightman in THEIR revival). It solidifies the fact that I’m in THAT era of my life. And that’s despite having a child who is in early elementary school rather than a high schooler. And I don’t even FEEL all that old. My brain still tells me I’m in my early 30s!
I know, I realize that it’s not the reality. But that’s how I feel, and I’m pretty sure many other people in their mid-40s can relate. And I’m sure I’ll also feel this when someone famous who is of my peer group is cast as the baroness in The Sound of Music (the actress who had the role in the movie was 43 at the time. Of course, the fact that Christopher Plummer was only in his mid-30s was JUST WRONG. It was a total WTF for casting. Was it just for his looks? He didn’t even sing! He was dubbed by another guy). And it would be REALLY weird if Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are cast as Middle Aged Noah and Allie in a MUSICAL film of The Notebook (yes, there’s a musical now, and the musical breaks them down into three eras: young, middle aged and elderly). It’ll be playing the same role twice, but at different age categories. Wait, does Rachel sing?
Anyway, what was YOUR trigger? The REAL trigger? Was it “your” music on an oldies station? Kids asking you what things were like in the “olden days” or what a VCR is? Do tell!