Although the Youngs lived in the Midwest for the next six years, the two women kept in touch and looked forward to the time when they could work together again, they said. When the Youngs returned to New Jersey in 1992, they had two small children, Jesse and Kate, who had to be entertained while their mother resumed practice sessions with Binkowski. Now, Young said, she can sing when the children are away at school. But because she lives in an apartment complex, she still hast to time rehearsals to be considerate of her neighbors. And after onetime when I walked in and saw a 'shrunken' piano with only half the regular keys, I take along my own electronic keyboard.
Creativity is another quality that both women cite as an important aspect of their partnership.
She comes up with the ideas, sometimes in the middle of the night, and sends them to me via e-mail. Young said she sometimes spends as much as a year doing research on a new program. For example, she said when they discovered how popular Jeanette MacDonald was with their audiences, she looked up all of MacDonald's movies and songs. Then they had to find the sheet music, which often was difficult to do. At one point, Binkowski said, she persuaded a music shopkeeper to take an old copy of one song off his wall so they could include it in the program.