Menopause The Musical on Tour
There are ch-ch-changes of life aplenty in Menopause The Musical, the hit Off-Broadway production (2002-06) that has sold more than 15 million tickets since its 2001 debut. Written by Jeanie Linders, Menopause rejiggers two dozen hit songs from the ‘50s through the '80s to talk to women — and the men who love but may not completely understand them — about food cravings, hot flashes, memory lapses, night sweats, the lure of cosmetic surgery and other common responses to the natural aging process. The longest-running scripted musical in Las Vegas history, Menopause is playing at Harrah's Cabaret and around North America on the latest legs of a tour that has included some 500 cities worldwide. Call its appeal "half-universal" and join Menopause's celebration — with laughter and sisterhood — of something every woman may eventually experience.
About Menopause The Musical
A Professional Woman, an Earth Mother, an Iowa Housewife and a Soap Star meet in Bloomingdale's lingerie department. So begins Menopause The Musical, which quickly amps up into a series of rollicking rewrites of familiar pop hits: "Chain of Fools" becomes "Change of Life," "Staying Alive" becomes "Staying Awake," "Night Fever" become "Night Sweating" and "My Guy" becomes "My Thighs." The music is nostalgic and the wordplay never less than clever. ''Nothing I can do 'cause it sticks like glue — to my thighs,'' sings the Iowa Housewife. ''No matter what I eat, there's always cellulite — on my thighs.''
While the four women come from vastly different backgrounds, they share a single inescapable characteristic: All are going through menopause. In addition to common observations on appetites ("Looking for Food in All the Wrong Places") and energy lapses ("Puff, My God I'm Draggin'"), Menopause goes there with slightly edgy observations on vibrators ("Only You") and antidepressants ("My doctor prescribed a pill to control my urge to kill").
Menopause The Musical provides a rare opportunity to see older female actors in starring roles discussing menopause publicly. It also recognizes, represents and celebrates female audience members as never before, and that's one change long overdue.
