Menopause the Musical

More than 20 years after it first burst onto the theatre scene in Florida, on the way to millions of ticket sales world-wide, Menopause the Musical has been given a swish looking set, an experienced cast and some local Aussie jokes.

The unlikely subject for a musical, and tight demographic focus on women of a certain age, has made it a regular cash cow over the decades. In a none too subtle plug there was a brochure for women’s medicinal products on every seat.

It must be said that the narrative is on the thin side.  The four women meet at a lingerie sale and bond over their stories of change of life. The doors of the department store doubled as a lady’s bathroom which flushed a little too frequently for my liking.

As expected, there were lots of jokes about hot flushes, night sweats, and declining libido.  Having trouble reading restaurant menus was something this 50 something could relate to. The funniest scene was an ode to a dildo.

Mercifully there was rarely much time between dialogue and a new song from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

The mangling of lyrics from popular songs is a feature. The disco tune ‘Hot Stuff’ became ‘Night Sweat’. ‘In the Jungle’ had the lyrics introduced ‘she’s a witch’  and so forth.

The only problem was that the audio was patchy at best in the State Theatre. Sitting near the front it was hard to decipher all the clever lyrics and even more say at the back of the theatre. Hopefully that will be sorted as the season progresses.

The cast were worked hard by the producers, obliged to sing, dance, act and to push the set-pieces around themselves.

It felt like the choreography needed a bit of time to settle in.

The star dancer in the cast was Tara Morrice – of Strictly Ballroom fame - as the professional woman in the quartet. Showing lots of personality was Cherine Peck as Earth Mother. Erika Heynatz was stylish and fearless as the soap star.

The standout was Melissa Langton as the Australian housewife. She was captain of Port Macquarie High but now had become Captain of the Titantic. The sweet country girl humour was a winner.

I went to the show with four woman in their fifties. They enjoyed the show but didn’t rave about it.  It used to be a hit but is now just a giggle.

David Spicer

Photographer: David Hooley