[NEohioPAL]Berko review: MENOPAUSE, THE MUSICAL

[Roy Berko]

CLEVELANDERS HAVE A BETTER MENOPAUSE THAN THE BIG
APPLE

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

“Seeking -- Iowa Housewife: mezzo, must be able to
sing D below middle C to a high A. General
information: Women should be over 42 and size 12-plus.
 Choreography is not difficult but they need women who
can move well.”  That definitely is not the
traditional casting call for a Broadway musical.  But,
‘MENOPAUSE, THE MUSICAL” is not a traditional show. 
There are no chorus cuties.  There are no prancing
guys.  There is just a lot of fun, good singing, and
an audience who knows from experience what it’s all
about.

I’ve gone through menopause three times.  In my home
where my wife kept turning on the air conditioning
during the winter and shedding clothing quicker than
Gypsy Rose Lee.  I also experienced it in New York
with the original cast of the musical.  But, sorry
dear, undoubtedly, my best encounter with the “change”
was at Cleveland Playhouse Square’s new venue, the
14th Street Theatre.   
	
‘MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL’ is a musical parody about the
meeting of four women at a lingerie sale at
Bloomingdale's. The four are a power professional, an
aging soap opera star, an Iowa housewife, and a
lost-in-the-sixties ex-hippie.

The quartet sings twenty-eight "re-lyricked" songs
from the '60s and '70s which comprise the score,
including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine, You'll No
Longer See 39" and "Stayin' Awake, Stayin; Awake."

According to the show’s author Jeanie Linders she was
inspired by "a hot flash and a bottle of wine."  She
contends the show is  a celebration of a passage that
launches women into an exciting new phase of their
lives.  "Most women know intuitively that every other
woman is experiencing memory loss, night sweats or hot
flashes," states Linders. "But when they are in a
theater of 400 women – not just a few friends who are
sympathetic by nature – and all 400 are laughing and
shouting ‘That’s me!’ then they KNOW that what they
are experiencing is normal. They aren’t crazy. It
becomes a ‘sisterhood.’"

The Cleveland cast is wonderful.  They work together
well, obviously a labor of love.  As the power woman,
Tina Stump wails and shakes her “bootie” to the
screams of the audience.  June Lange, as the
Earthmother (you’ll remember her as the widowed mother
in the long running ‘TONY & TINA’S WEDDING)’ quickly
became the audience favorite.  The lovely and talented
Maryann Nagel portrays the Soap Star with her usual
dramatic flair and powerful voice.  Dyan Beder doesn’t
quite reach the heights of the others, but is so full
of charm and enthusiasm that she blends in well.

The 90-minute show, which is performed without an
intermission, contains take-offs filled with double
entendres of such hits as ‘Chain of Fools,” “The Lion
Sleeps Tonight,” “Puff, the Magic Dragon” (which
becomes “Puff, My God, I’m Drag ‘in”), “Lookin’ For
Love in All the Wrong Places” and “Stayin’ Alive.”

The show climaxes (excuse the pun) with the audience
being invited on stage to share the “experience.” 
Many of them do!

According to the producers, the show’s few glitches
are being taken care of.  The band is being toned
down.  At times it was impossible to hear the clever
words over the overly loud pounding beat of the
musicians.  The miking and speakers are being
adjusted.  And the order of the song titles in the
program are being relisted as audience members were
complaining that they wanted to know what song was
being sung and the random title arrangement didn’t
help.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  It’s a “Sign of the Times” that I
developed a “New Attitude,” while getting “Good
Vibrations“ from the wonderful cast.   Pick up your
fans, pop your pills, grab a bunch of your friends
(even men will do) and strut your way downtown to see
this hysterically funny, well done show.   The
production is in an open run and deserves to be held
over and over and over!




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Roy Berko's web page can be found at royberko.info


	
		
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