Larry Rivellese is heading to Los Angeles to sing a little opera, play some softball and shoot the breeze with Steve Harvey on national TV.
“It feels great and I can’t wait to get there,” said Rivellese, a 71-year old Villager.
He will appear on NBC-TV’s new show, “Forever Young.” Harvey is the host of the program, which will be on this summer and is produced by Ellen DeGeneres. The network will fly Rivellese to Los Angeles in April and he will spend four days there before filming the show.
Also, next week, NBC will send a crew to Florida, to film Rivellese.
The program found out about Rivellese after seeing a story and video about him online at Villages-News.com. The story detailed Rivellese’s talent in the Villages as an opera singer and softball player. It also told how he grew up in New York and had a career as a plumber.
NBC has been scouting people over 65 from all over the country to appear on the show. At least one other Villager is under consideration to appear on the show, Villages-News.com has learned.
“I’m so excited; this means a lot to me,” said Rivellese, who has lived in The Villages for 13 years. “They seem very enthusiastic about me appearing on the show. They’re going to spend a couple of days preparing, and then film the show.”
NBC couldn’t quite believe the power in Rivellese’s operatic vocals. “They heard me sing on video and asked how old I was,” he said. “I told them 71. They said, ‘You can’t be that old and sing like that.’ I said, oh yes I can.”
Rivellese’s talent is no surprise to Villagers.
”People in The Villages just love the ‘big singer’ as he has been called,” local singer Diana Arlt has said of Rivellese. “I call him the singing plumber who has a tremendous set of pipes. He has tremendous talent.”
