Review: ‘Menopause The Musical’ flashes hot after 25 years
- Anita W. Harris
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Though it’s been 25 years since Jeanie Linders’ “Menopause The Musical” first performed in a small theatre in Orlando, talking about “the change” in women’s lives is still such a whispered event that the show continues not only to entertain but inspire.
Performing at Laguna Playhouse through this weekend, the well-polished musical features four women of a certain age who meet while shopping at Bloomingdale’s and start sharing their experiences of aging, hot flashes, mothers and sex through a throwback playlist of songs with lyrics humorously rewritten to reflect their menopausal experiences.
The rotating cast of performers portraying the four very different personalities — Professional Woman, Soap Star, Iowa Housewife and Earth Mother — are all excellent in their snappy deliveries and graceful choreography, making the show a pleasure to experience as a musical revue with lively recorded music.
As the women get to know each other while shopping, lunching and getting their hair done at Bloomie’s — making beelines in between for the well-appointed bathroom — we come to know and love them as well, thanks to each performer’s talent and charisma. Each stands out in a different way and gets at least one solo, sometimes venturing into the audience.
All the songs are clever rewrites, such as Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” becoming “Change, Change, Change,” and delivered with just the right emphasis to elicit knowing chuckles from the audience. A highlight is the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” — given a whole new meaning after the ladies introduce Iowa Housewife to her new vibrating best friend — sung while the women expertly play air guitar and drums.
While some of the songs are more general about aging and weight gain (Mary Wells’ “My Guy” becoming “My Thighs”), others are specifically about women’s hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings — common midlife experiences, though menopausal women come across as constantly sweaty crazy ladies who slyly hide faulty memories and pop antidepressants just to function.
Maybe that’s true and maybe that isn’t, but it’s certainly an amusing caricature. A couple of songs are more meaningful, though, such as about women and their mothers, with Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” becoming “I’m No Babe, Ma,” and the culminating songs — with the women in glamorous department-store couture gowns — affirming their “New Attitude” of fully embracing womanhood and building on the power of female friendship.
It’s an inspirational and uplifting closing to a show that celebrates aging femininity with all its bumps and wrinkles. One only wishes there were more of the deeper moments to balance the witty takes on hot flashes, peeing and forgetting. If the show were to be refreshed, perhaps more could be added about what actually happens during the years-long process of menopause (estrogen was only mentioned once in the show) and perhaps the songs could be updated out of the 1960s and ‘70s for a new generation of menopausal women (and others).
Still, considering that menopause is something people still don’t talk about enough, the show is refreshingly bold, charmingly funny and musically delightful. Hopefully seeing it inspires women to share their experiences of this transitional time of life, and more importantly to embrace their new selves that emerge from it.
“Menopause The Musical” continues through July 26 at Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd., Laguna Beach, with shows Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 949-497-2787 or visit LagunaPlayhouse.com. Run time is 90 minutes with no intermission.