MENOPAUSE: THE MUSICAL

Jeri Jacquin, THEATRE MAVEN

In 2001 a small theatre in Orlando, Florida the lights came up on a new production called “Menopause: The Musical” – a musical with quite a different theme.

Now before you veer your eyes away hear me out. I realize the topic of menopause is an odd sort for a musical, but, for millions of women who go through “the change”, this musical is a hysterical celebration brought to us by writer and producer Jeanie Linders.

This is a 90-minute production of twenty-five re-written lyrics to tunes from the 60’s and 70’s that add to the hilarity of the change of life. The story is set in at Bloomingdale’s in New York with four women who might otherwise have nothing in common. They come together over a bra sale and the fun begins. 

Each floor they visit brings a new issue that must be emphasized in song. In “Tropical Hot Flash”, obviously about hot flashes, have the lyrics lamenting, “I’m having a hot flash, a tropical hot flash, my personal summer is really a bummer, I’m having a hot flash!”

But that is only one of many on the list of oddities that includes poking fun at memory loss; mood swings, crying jags, wrinkles, night sweats, body gravity and 2 a.m. eating binges! The hilarity comes as each woman sings, and dances, about the wonderful and not-so-wonderful list of changes.

The cast includes the Earth Mother (Alex Apostolidis), the Iowa housewife (Melinda Gilb), the Power Woman (Anise Ritchie), and the Soap Star (Karen Schooley). Each of these characters brings a unique perspective on their experiences and changes.

Through song and sisterhood there is 90 minutes of laughter shared by both women and the men of the audience. You will recognize the music of “Stayin Alive”, “Only You” along with others. In the tune “Looking for Food” (to the tune of “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places from “Urban Cowboy”) the words ring “Now When I’m starving with no fries in sight, A quart of rocky rod will get me through the night, don’t know where is started or where it will end, I turn to a milkshake and I call it “friend” continually sends the audience into laughter.

The end result is an open sisterhood that is silent no more. Instead, these women come together to share openly a common stage of every woman’s life. As Linders says, it no longer has to be a “silent passage”.

FINAL WORD: Each of the women in this cast stands out on their own. Ritchie’s impersonation of Tina Turner is amazing and a showstopper. Her voice is pure enjoyment and her attitude is one to be reckoned with. Gilb as the housewife from Iowa is angelic, sweet as you please and eventually comes out of her shell in an eye opening way.

Earth Mother Apostolidies is centered but always one step away from totally letting loose! Finally, Soap Star Schooley is ever hopeful for extended youth through nips and tucks but is continually reminded of how “tropical” her life is becoming.

Ms Linders herself is amazing in her own right. With the success of the musical, in 2003, the Entertainment to Empowerment Foundation was formed that supports women all over the world. In 2005 “Menopause: The Musical Out Loud” toured fifty-one cities across the U.S. to benefit the research of ovarian cancer and has donated over half a million dollars toward this research and education effort.

In May 2005, Linders began publishing W4W Voices, which eventually became me* Magazine (My Entertainment, My Empowerment) and is a bi-monthly publication and over 350,000 magazines have been distributed to women in over forty countries.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give “Menopause: The Musical” four tubs of popcorn out of five. An estimated that nine million women have attended a show performance since its’ opening in 2001. It is a girls’ night out of pure fun. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the fellows joining in as well. This could be a great insight to the great change women experience with laughter as your guide.

Visit their site at www.menopausethemusical.com and get your tickets to see “Menopause: The Musical” at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego. Go with an open mind, youthful heart, laughs at the ready and be prepared to share an experience like no other.