‘Menopause the Musical' is no flash in the pan
Older gals should thank the good Lord now that menopause has come out of the closet. Bethesda Theater is offering baby-boomerettes a chance to tap their stilettos, or more likely their Naturalizers, to parodies of beloved 1960s and '70s songs in "Menopause the Musical" through Sunday, May 10.
In just 90 minutes, four middle-aged women sing and dance to some 25 songs including Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools," its chorus transformed into "Change, Change, Change, Change of Life" and Marvin Gaye's signature song, which becomes "I heard it through the grapevine, you know longer seem 39."
The Silver Spring performer plays Earth Mother, a vegan who gets through life by meditating. Accompanied by actresses playing a professional woman, a soap opera star and an Iowa housewife, the four strangers meet while fighting over a black brassiere in the lingerie department at Bloomingdale's in New York City. Within minutes of meeting, the women are commiserating about hot flashes, their girlish figures morphing from shapely hourglasses to chunky water glasses and their propensity to pop Prozac.
Throughout the shopping day, the quartet reunite mostly while running to the ladies room or applying makeup at the cosmetics counter.
This hot flash extravaganza isn't for everybody. Director Michael Larsen first saw the production amid an audience of women in West Palm Beach.
"The women my age were laughing hysterically, and I wasn't laughing," he recalls. But he soon realized that "for a specific audience, it is really genius."
This doesn't mean the director takes the material lightly. Larsen has directed the play throughout the U.S and England, and says he treats the material as if it were something from Shakespeare or Pinter.
This might be somewhat of a challenge when rehearsing "Puff My God I'm Draggin,'" but Larsen is well aware that "you can't create comedy without reality."
Still, with the performers bursting into song at every turn, there's little need for complex characterizations and nuanced performances.
"This isn't ever going to be one of my top 10 plays," Pinolini says, but she knows it wasn't designed to be a work of art.
Pinolini first saw the musical in Las Vegas and was stunned.
"My mouth dropped open," she remembers. "I didn't expect to see such energetic aerobic routines."
The audience response surprised her most. Women were celebrating and she realized that "we are all the same. In the past, women experienced this alone, but this musical brings us together."
The musical, designed for women over 40, was first staged in 2001 in a 76-seat theater in Orlando, Fla. Written by Jeannie Linders, the musical soon was being performed throughout the United States, and then internationally. Linders claims that more than a million people have seen the show.
Camaraderie seems to be the point of all this menopause madness. As their shopping day progresses, the four strangers become friends. And near the musical's end, it turns truly poignant when the four daughters call their mothers and sing "I'm no babe, ma" to Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe."
Some will embrace the song parodies, including "Drippin' and Droppin'" and "Please Make Me Over," while others may complain of menopausal overload. As for the occasional bawdy moments, like hot flashes, they are quickly followed with more G-rated fare.
Until their last bows, the four Spanx-loving menopausal broads prove they can sing and dance almost as well as their 20-something daughters.
For women experiencing the inevitable, it's a chance to find a new attitude.
"Menopause the Musical" is onstage at the Bethesda Theatre, 7719 Wisconsin Ave., at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Sunday, May 10. Tickets are $39.50 to $59.50, and are available at the box office, online at www.bethesdatheatre.com and at Ticketmaster, 301-657-STAR.
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