[NEohioPAL]RAVE REVIEW of Menopause The Musical!

Thu Apr 22 06:41:54 PDT 2004

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Entertainment News

THEATER

04/22/04

Tony Brown
Plain Dealer Theater Critic

"Menopause The Musical" sounds like a sophomoric idea.

Take a couple dozen pop songs, mostly from the 1960s and '70s, and 
change the lyrics so that they're all about menopause. The folksy "Puff 
the Magic Dragon" becomes "Puff, My God, I'm Draggin' " and the Bee 
Gees' "Stayin' Alive" is transformed into "Stayin' Awake."

Get four women in their 40s, 50s and perhaps beyond to sing the mangled 
ditties while performing numerous wacky costume changes. Make the 
setting a lingerie sale at Bloomingdale's in New York so they can whoop 
it up with dainty underthings.

And it is a sophomoric idea. But it is a sophomoric idea that can charm 
and entertain if performed with enough zest and energy, especially if 
you are a woman, and especially if you are a middle-aged woman.

Many in the audience of that description at two recent performances of 
the new production that is now in previews at the 14th Street Theatre in 
downtown Cleveland were moved by the proceedings to get up and join a 
menopausal chorus line onstage.

The show, first seen in Florida and now running off-Broadway, is the 
work of Jeanie Linders, a writer and owner of an advertising agency. A 
Florida production company has brought it to Cleveland, the ninth city 
to be infected by this silliness.

The success of the show depends on performers who can sell it, and here 
is where the Cleveland production transforms the inanely pedestrian into 
something special.

Tina Stump leads the cast in singing talent as Power Woman, a busy 
business type who can really belt it out. She gets and deserves the 
biggest hand of the night for an uncanny Tina Turner/Acid Queen 
impersonation in "What's Love Got to Do With It" (used with the Beach 
Boys' "Good Vibrations" to endorse battery-powered onanism).

The comic-acting award goes to the wide-eyed June Lang as Earth Mother, 
an aging hippie type who triumphs by actually making "Puff, My God, I'm 
Draggin' " so funny you'll find yourself puffing for air.

Maryann Nagel plays Soap Star, an aging TV ingenue, with just the right 
dash of egotistical verve, singing "Please Make Me Over," a variation on 
Burt Bacharach promoting surgical beauty enhancement.

And as Iowa Housewife, the outsider visiting New York, Dyan Beder 
doesn't slather on the parochial bit too thickly and has fun turning 
Smokey Robinson's "My Guy" into a lament about the size of "My Thighs."

The whole thing is like a dress-up slumber party. The girls are a little 
older, but they're still giggly and wiggly - and simply irresistible.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

tbrown at plaind.com, 216-999-4181

JEAN ZARZOUR Currently understudying in Menopause The Musical! 
Appearing in Ensemble Theatere's The Sweepers at the CPH May 29-June 13.
Executive Producer
LIPSCHTICK
Putting the SHOW in BUSINESS Nationwide since 1989!
2300 McKinley Ave.
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
Ph/Fax 216-521-3831
Toll Free 866-SCHTICK
Read an on line interview with Jean 
<http://www.esquirerecords.com/mag/1/content/DL_zarzour.htm>

http://www.lipschtick.com   Comedy that lasts all day!

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THEATER



04/22/04
Tony Brown
 
Plain Dealer Theater Critic 


 "Menopause The Musical"
sounds like a sophomoric idea. 
 Take a couple dozen pop
songs, mostly from the 1960s and '70s, and change the lyrics so that
they're all about menopause. The folksy "Puff the Magic Dragon" becomes
"Puff, My God, I'm Draggin' " and the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" is
transformed into "Stayin' Awake." 

<script
 src="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/e/easta/@StoryAd"
 language="JavaScript1.1"></script>
<script language="JavaScript"></script>
<noscript><A
HREF="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/e/easta/@StoryAd?x"><IMG
SRC="http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.cleveland.com/xml/story/e/easta/@StoryAd?x"></a>
</noscript>

 Get four women in
their 40s, 50s and perhaps beyond to sing the mangled ditties while
performing numerous wacky costume changes. Make the setting a lingerie
sale at Bloomingdale's in New York so they can whoop it up with dainty
underthings. 
 And it is a sophomoric idea.
But it is a sophomoric idea that can charm and entertain if performed
with enough zest and energy, especially if you are a woman, and
especially if you are a middle-aged woman. 
 Many in the audience of that
description at two recent performances of the new production that is
now in previews at the 14th Street Theatre in downtown Cleveland were
moved by the proceedings to get up and join a menopausal chorus line
onstage. 
 The show, first seen in
Florida and now running off-Broadway, is the work of Jeanie Linders, a
writer and owner of an advertising agency. A Florida production company
has brought it to Cleveland, the ninth city to be infected by this
silliness. 
 The success of the show
depends on performers who can sell it, and here is where the Cleveland
production transforms the inanely pedestrian into something special. 
 Tina Stump leads the cast in
singing talent as Power Woman, a busy business type who can really belt
it out. She gets and deserves the biggest hand of the night for an
uncanny Tina Turner/Acid Queen impersonation in "What's Love Got to Do
With It" (used with the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" to endorse
battery-powered onanism). 
 The comic-acting award goes
to the wide-eyed June Lang as Earth Mother, an aging hippie type who
triumphs by actually making "Puff, My God, I'm Draggin' " so funny
you'll find yourself puffing for air. 
 Maryann Nagel plays Soap
Star, an aging TV ingenue, with just the right dash of egotistical
verve, singing "Please Make Me Over," a variation on Burt Bacharach
promoting surgical beauty enhancement. 
 And as Iowa Housewife, the
outsider visiting New York, Dyan Beder doesn't slather on the parochial
bit too thickly and has fun turning Smokey Robinson's "My Guy" into a
lament about the size of "My Thighs." 
 The whole thing is like a
dress-up slumber party. The girls are a little older, but they're still
giggly and wiggly - and simply irresistible. 
To reach this Plain Dealer
reporter:

<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tbrown at plaind.com">tbrown at plaind.com</a>,
216-999-4181 


<big>JEAN ZARZOUR  Currently understudying
in Menopause The Musical!    Appearing in Ensemble Theatere's
The Sweepers at the CPH May 29-June 13.</big> 
<div class="moz-signature">Executive
Producer 
LIPSCHTICK 
Putting
the SHOW in BUSINESS
Nationwide since 1989! 
2300 McKinley Ave. 
Lakewood, Ohio 44107 
Ph/Fax     216-521-3831 
Toll Free   866-SCHTICK 
<a href="http://www.esquirerecords.com/mag/1/content/DL_zarzour.htm"
 style="font-weight: bold;">Read
an on line interview with Jean</a> 
 
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lipschtick.com">http://www.lipschtick.com</a>  
Comedy that lasts all day! 

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