Linda judged Andrea McArdle’s voice to be the “best in show,” Florence loved Avery Sommers’ hilarious football widow solo, and Sue liked everything she was able to see. And each of the winners of Charm’s Love is Love essay contest genuinely enjoyed the opportunity for a night out at the theater.
When the three local women wrote to the newspaper about their “love lessons learned,” Florence Block, Linda Gaddy and Sue Foley were just sharing a bit of their hard-won wisdom on how to get by when love is in short supply. But their letters (printed in Charm Oct. 8), were good enough to earn the women — and dates if they chose — free tickets to last Thursday’s debut performance of the new musical revue Love is Love at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

So Florence brought Bernie and Sue came with Nouf and everyone chatted away — OK, maybe Bernie was left out a little bit, but he didn’t seem to mind. He whispered to Florence halfway through that he felt Love is Love was “a woman’s show,” and we had to agree.
With 23 separate skits and five songstresses, it was definitely female-centric. Personal favorites were Patti Eyler’s sweetly emotional rendition of e-mailing her husband on their 12th anniversary, Shelly Burch addressing the frustrating (but eventually rewarding) process of online dating and Avery wryly taking to task the annoying 6-year-old she’s forced into contact with on a long flight.
Linda, who divorced several years ago, especially identified with We Would Have Been Fine, a piece about unexpectedly seeing your ex out in public.
“I haven’t seen my ex since our court date, and I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to run into him,” she said. “Would it be a setback, or would I feel, ‘OK, I’m fine now’?”
She also marveled at how tiny Andrea McArdle is: “She must be a size 0,” she said.
Florence laughed the most at the song called Sundays about sports widows. “That’s me,” she proclaimed, while Bernie shook his head and admitted that he gets many complaints about his sports addiction.
“I’m constantly watching TV sports,” he said. “Anything with a ball. I don’t care what it is.”
Florence, a widow who connected with Bernie eight years ago, said one aspect of love she found missing from the show was a sketch on love the second time around.
“Especially in South Florida, that would be appropriate,” she suggested.
Not a bad idea. Plenty of retirees here in the Sunshine State find new love in their golden years.
Anyone out there listening?
~anne_rodgers@pbpost.com