DRY HUMOUR
Life’s changes played for laughs
Menopause the Musical is touring again and set to heat things up with shows in Vancouver and Surrey.
The Jeanie Linders-penned show stars the original Toronto cast of Janet Martin, Jayne Lewis, Nicole Robert and Michelle E. White.
Seen by over 11 million people around the globe since it was first launched in 2001 in Florida, the show is set in a department store where four strangers meet while shopping for bras.
Mark Zimmerman is the show’s producer and has been since bringing the off-Broadway hit to Toronto back in 2006.
Q Why is Menopause the Musical so successful?
A Because all women can relate to the change of life. Every woman goes through it. Decades ago it was in the closet and now it is no longer.
Q What is the musical content like for this show?
A It is all told through parodies of No. 1 hits from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, so not only is the subject so common but the music is very well known. All the music has been changed, the lyrics have been changed. Instead of Stayin’ Alive from Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees it’s Stayin’ Awake as opposed to Peter, Paul and Mary’s Puff the Magic Dragon it’s Puff My God I’m Draggin’. All sung in beautiful four-part a cappella harmonies.
Q What are some of the common things you hear from people who have seen the show?
A Whether we play in a 3,000seat casino or a 400-seat theatre, I’ve never been in a theatre where I heard so much laughter so much crying out in joy. Having so many people come up afterwards and say: ‘My God that’s the funniest show I have seen in my life.’ The only complaint I’ve had in 10 years is that people complain that their face hurts or their ribs hurt from laughing so much. It really strikes a chord with all women.
Q What do men think of the show?
A Men do love it too, even though it has the stigma of being a chick flick. They love it because they see that their wife or their partner are going through, the symptoms of the change of life. It actually brings them closer to their partner because they walk away with a new-found appreciation of what their partner is going through.
Q Did you learn anything new about women and menopause when you first saw the show all those years ago?
A I walked into it blindly in the sense that I didn’t really know what women went through at the time. What the symptoms were and the commonality.
Q What makes you want to keep touring this production?
A I have never been involved in theatre where every night the enjoyment and the laughter and the reaction of the audience is so palatable. I could never feel this way about a drama but when you are in the house every night and you’re hearing the laughter and the screaming and getting the feedback that I get, well, it just really fuels me and it also fuels the actors.