The stage was once again graced by talented performers at Stockton’s Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 21, as crowds of people filled the seats to be brought back to their teenage years. Everyone in the venue was taken on a nostalgic adventure with a musical group of friends in this autobiographical musical performance, “Forever Young.”

Following Jacob Estes, Avilla Martin, Brad Baker, Nick Moulton, and Josh Sassanella throughout their lives all the way up to the present, the theatre was filled with music, passion, and joy for both the singers and the audience members, leaving them with glowing smiles and wonderful memories to take home with them.

The act is set in a suburban basement designed exactly like the cast’s original “hangout” during their youth, immersing them in the memories and music that brought them to where they are today. The start of the show immediately caught the audience’s attention: while in most shows, the PAC dims the lights, the show started with the lights still at their full brightness.

The cast then put on their record player, playing some familiar tunes that the crowd immediately started singing to — however, one of the cast members would replace the record every time the chorus approached, leaving only the crowd’s voices, which would dissipate into laughter. The lights then turned off after the cast “blew a fuse,” which then brought the crowd directly into their world as the performers broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience to tell their stories.

Each cast member was highlighted with a solo performance of their favorite songs, giving them the chance to tell the audience what the song meant to them and what part of their lives it represented. They spoke of their middle school days, their high school days, and their careers after graduation, replicating moments when they used plungers, rackets, and baseball bats to mimic guitars.

Many ups and downs were wonderfully narrated through their songs: heartbreaks, love confessions, world travels, cruises, job-switching, and more. Each member wowed the crowd with their incredible singing and beautifully synchronized choreography, further emphasized by Stockton PAC’s amazing staff, who did an incredible job with the lighting and sound systems. The crowd also lent their participation, clapping in rhythm or singing along to the same tunes they listened to in their younger years. Even for Generation Z, the songs proved nostalgic, having been passed down from the Golden Age of music.

Songs like “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Uptown Girl,” “Billy Jean,” “Life Is a Highway,” and more iconic beats were shared in a performance of joy and passion, the singers always reminding the crowd how important and beautiful music truly is. Martin especially won the crowd over with his execution of Michael Jackson’s signature Moonwalk. Baker, Martin, and Moulton also played a great rendition of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” with Moulton playing the piano as well as singing, which ended in a fun and very impressive sing-off between the three. The cast closed the performance with Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young,” the song that named the musical. After a loud and joyful standing ovation, the cast graciously surprised the audience with a final encore of Huey Lewis and the News’ “Back in Time,” which everyone danced to.

In the lobby, merchandise was ready for the guests to purchase, selling “Forever Young” T-shirts and CD’s of both the recorded and live songs. The CD’s themselves brought even more nostalgia, as when Nick Sassanella announced the sale on stage before exiting, he jokingly remarked, “Remember those, everyone?” in reference to the discs. All five cast members then came out to the lobby for a Meet and Greet with the audience.

Estes told The Argo, “I’ve been performing since I’ve kinda stole the spotlight in the kindergarten play they put on back in the day, and that’s how my mom saw I had a passion for it. From there, I haven’t really stopped.” Estes really enjoyed performing for Stockton and loved the energy and support from the exciting crowd. He concluded with, “To do something that you love every single day, it’s not even work. I would encourage anyone to find a passion that doesn’t feel like work when they go into their field, so that you can live every day and not have to dread what you’re doing for about 50% of your life.”

Moulton was very happy with the audience, saying, “This crowd is lights out! From the minute we started, everyone leaned in, ready to have a good time. Someone said that our joy was infectious, and it felt that way- everyone was having a great time [to the point] that you can feel it, and that energy just transferred.” He also commented that “people here really value our entertainment and that has such essence for us, because it allows for that life.”

One audience member, Kathy Fox, said, “It was a wonderful show with a lot of memories of my younger years. I turned 60 yesterday, so that brought back a lot of great memories. I really enjoyed it; [it had] a lot of energy and even brought a tear or two!”