Theater Review—

‘Menopause The Musical:’ A Proud And Happy Dance At Long Wharf

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN — If your girlfriends ask you if you want to get together and go to New Haven to see Menopause The Musical, the answer is a definite Yes!

Long Wharf came up with the canny idea of filling its otherwise unused summer space with this rollicking celebration of  the lives of women after they’ve turn men at a lingerie sale in Bloomingdales: a Power Woman executive, a Soap Opera Actress, an Earth Mother from an upstate New York farm, and a Housewife from Iowa (on her first trip to the big city where her husband is attending an undertakers’ convention). Beginning by squabbling over a black lace bra, they quickly apologize for their ill temper, attributing it to “the change!” Segue into Irving Berlin’s oldie, “We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave,” only  now the words have been changed to “I’m having a hot flash…”

For the rest of the show the ladies become boon companions. Prowling through various departments and displays at Bloomie’s, they compare notes over the tribulations that afflict women at this stage of life: night sweats, chocolate binges, the need for reading glasses, memory loss, the undignified rush to the ladies’ room and, on a more wistful note, the fact that at any age we still remain our mothers’ daughters, longing for their respect and approval.

They do this while performing more than two dozen musical numbers, all clever parodies of songs from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies that are engrained in the minds of every Boomer.

The key words here are “clever” and “perform.” The ability to laugh at yourself is one of the best signs of maturity and that’s what this show invites women to do. The songs are delightful, especially when music that you have heard all your life is juxtaposed with lyrics that bring heretofore unmentionable subjects out in the open. My personal favorite (because I have always loved the Platters) is when Power Woman sings “Oh yes, I’m the great pretender” (to a doo wop accompaniment by the other three) culminating in the line “pretending that I remember your name.”

Other memorable numbers include variations on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (my husband sleeps on the couch), “My Guy” (everything I eat  sticks to “my thighs”), “Stayin’ Alive,” “YMCA,” “Puff the Magic Dragon,”  and – in a tribute to a pink plastic object that can be purchased from an adult toy store, “Only You…”

While writer-producer Jeanie Linders has come up with consistently entertaining lyrics, what really makes this ninety-minute show work is the talent of the performers, in particular Avery Sommers as Power Woman, whose voice alone is worth the price of admission. Also, Adrienne Cote, as the silver haired suburban wasp from Iowa, is a hilarious comedienne, whose dancing and body language kept the audience bursting into peals of laughter.

There were some men in the audience – clearly there with their wives – and they seemed to be enjoying the show although their responses were more subdued than the women, who repeatedly clapped and cheered every time another point struck home. My husband remarked at the outset that he’d never been in the presence of so much estrogen in his life, but by the end he was taking part in the standing ovation with a broad grin on his face.

This is clearly a show that conveys a sense of fellowship and recognition in the audience, and at the end, dozens of women answered the invitation by the cast to come up on stage and join them in a last proud and happy dance.

(Menopause the Musical continues through September 17. Call the theater at 203-787-4282 or visit LongWharf.org for full schedule and ticket details.)