NEW HAVEN — Get ready to cry tears of laughter in the side-splitting, hilarious “Menopause, the Musical” celebrating it’s 10th year in production and playing at Long Wharf Theatre through Aug. 7.
Who would have thought that night sweats, mood swings, relationships, wrinkles, and weight gain would all be topics that are ripe for comedy, here with songs such as The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations,” which takes on a whole new meaning and practically bring down the house.
This musical, with books and lyrics by Jeanie Linders, uses familiar older tunes by groups including The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys, and Sonny and Cher and parodies them with lyrics fitting for women going through that change of life.
The Bee Gees “Night Fever” is now “Night Sweats,” and “Stayin’ Alive” is “Stayin’ Awake” about insomnia and the list goes on, complete with disco ball and appropriate choreography created by Patty Bender.
Even Irving Berlin has a song in the show, where “Heat Wave” is mashed into “Hot Flash.”
The show features four women, each with a different background, who all meet at a department store lingerie sale.
It’s kind of a “Sex and the City” meets middle age, set to music.
One is a professional gal who tries to keep cool even when she can’t remember what she was thinking about, played by the dynamic Fredena J.
Williams who does an amazing turn among other songs as Tina Turner singing “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
They all have terrific voices, by Williams has a soulful sound that should make her a singing star in her own right. She is simply stunning.
Lisa Fox plays a soap opera star whose ingenue days are well behind
her, and hears through the rumor mill that her days on the T.V. show
are numbered, singing, “I’ve Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
“I’ve heard it through the grapevine, not much longer is the job mine…” she sings.
Margot Moreland plays the Earth Mother who is hanging onto her sanity by trying to meditate rather than medicate when the heat turns up. She says that night sweats never keep her up at night, because she never sleeps.
Carolynne Warren is amazing as the naïve Iowa Housewife visiting New York City for the first time while her undertaker husband is at a convention.
She says, “I’ve gotten a lot more pushy, when I’m not crying.” She goes from uninformed to liberated by the end of the 90-minute performance.
Warren does a hysterically funny silent bit with a piece of lingerie that tests the durability of Lycra and makes her a comic star in her own right. She also does a mean air-drum when the four become an air-band.
The set is an Art Nouveau backdrop with four golden doors and two curtained side entrances that function alternately as bathrooms and dressing rooms at the department store. Set design by Bud Clark.
The costumes, designed by Sue Hill, are flattering and attractive and distinguish each character as a unique individual.
The music sounds good enough to be live, but must be pre-recorded, which is quite an achievement, with original music direction and orchestration by C.T. Hollis and original score and arrangements by Alan J. Plado.
At the end of the show the four ask all the women who have gone through menopause to join them on stage, which is not necessary and ends the show on an unfinished note. As generous as the actors are, they should just take their bows and end it cleanly.
There were a few men in the packed house Sunday and they appeared to be having at least as much fun as the women in the audience.
This fabulous show is touring North America through November, but this is their only Connecticut stop, so do what you can, and bring your husbands, sisters, and daughters too, to this uproarious, outrageous, feel-good show of the summer season.
One is a professional gal who tries to keep cool even when she can’t remember what she was thinking about, played by the dynamic Fredena J.
Williams who does an amazing turn among other songs as Tina Turner singing “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
They all have terrific voices, by Williams has a soulful sound that should make her a singing star in her own right. She is simply stunning.
Lisa Fox plays a soap opera star whose ingenue days are well behind
her, and hears through the rumor mill that her days on the T.V. show
are numbered, singing, “I’ve Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
“I’ve heard it through the grapevine, not much longer is the job mine…” she sings.
Margot Moreland plays the Earth Mother who is hanging onto her sanity by trying to meditate rather than medicate when the heat turns up. She says that night sweats never keep her up at night, because she never sleeps.
Carolynne Warren is amazing as the naïve Iowa Housewife visiting New York City for the first time while her undertaker husband is at a convention.
She says, “I’ve gotten a lot more pushy, when I’m not crying.” She goes from uninformed to liberated by the end of the 90-minute performance.
Warren does a hysterically funny silent bit with a piece of lingerie that tests the durability of Lycra and makes her a comic star in her own right. She also does a mean air-drum when the four become an air-band.
The set is an Art Nouveau backdrop with four golden doors and two curtained side entrances that function alternately as bathrooms and dressing rooms at the department store. Set design by Bud Clark.
The costumes, designed by Sue Hill, are flattering and attractive and distinguish each character as a unique individual.
The music sounds good enough to be live, but must be pre-recorded, which is quite an achievement, with original music direction and orchestration by C.T. Hollis and original score and arrangements by Alan J. Plado.
At the end of the show the four ask all the women who have gone through menopause to join them on stage, which is not necessary and ends the show on an unfinished note. As generous as the actors are, they should just take their bows and end it cleanly.
There were a few men in the packed house Sunday and they appeared to be having at least as much fun as the women in the audience.
This fabulous show is touring North America through November, but this is their only Connecticut stop, so do what you can, and bring your husbands, sisters, and daughters too, to this uproarious, outrageous, feel-good show of the summer season.
3 ½ Stars
Location: 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven
Production: Books and lyrics by Jeanie Linders. Supervising director
Seth Greenleaf. Choreography supervisor Daria Melendez. Costume design
by Sue Hill. Set design by Bud Clark. Lighting design and national
production manager Ryan Patridge. Choreography created by Patty
Bender.
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
Show Times: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday
matinees at 2 p.m. through Aug. 7.
Tickets: $51.50. For more information call their box office at
203-787-4282, or visit their Website at www.longwharf.org
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Margot Moreland … Earth Mother
Carolynne Warren … Iowa Housewife
Lisa Fox … Soap Star
Fredena J. Williams … Professional Woman
Kimberly Ann Harris … Professional Woman (July 29-31)
Location: 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven
Production: Books and lyrics by Jeanie Linders. Supervising director
Seth Greenleaf. Choreography supervisor Daria Melendez. Costume design
by Sue Hill. Set design by Bud Clark. Lighting design and national
production manager Ryan Patridge. Choreography created by Patty
Bender.
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
Show Times: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday
matinees at 2 p.m. through Aug. 7.
Tickets: $51.50. For more information call their box office at
203-787-4282, or visit their Website at www.longwharf.org
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Margot Moreland … Earth Mother
Carolynne Warren … Iowa Housewife
Lisa Fox … Soap Star
Fredena J. Williams … Professional Woman
Kimberly Ann Harris … Professional Woman (July 29-31)
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