In a flash, a legend is born
About eight years ago, Florida writer/producer Jeanie Linders found herself fanning herself madly while standing in front of her open freezer “and singing the words ‘Hot Flash’ to the tune of ‘Hot Legs.’ ”
Millions of women of a certain age will agree: Nothing unusual about that.
What was unusual was, 1) she was wearing a formal gown at the time, and 2) she used this flash of inspiration to create “Menopause The Musical” – which has played to an estimated 10 million people around the country and the world.
The show, which arrives in Spokane for the first time at the Bing Crosby Theater this week, conforms to that original idea almost exactly, minus the freezer.
“Menopause The Musical” takes classic baby boomer rock and pop hits and changes the lyrics to comment on all aspects of menopause, from memory loss to mood swings, night sweats to food cravings.
For instance:
•A “Staying Alive/Night Fever” medley becomes “Stayin’ Awake/Night Sweatin’.”
•”Heard it Through the Grapevine” begins with the line, “Don’t you know I heard it through the grapevine / you’ll no longer see 39.”
•”The Lion Sleeps Tonight” becomes “My Husband Sleeps Tonight.”
•Petula Clark’s “Sign of the Times” begins with, “It’s a sign of the times / your roots are gray and your memory’s shorter / it’s a sign of the times/ when your hourglass shape becomes a glass of water.”
Linders also created four archetypal characters – Professional Woman, Soap Star, Earth Mother and Iowa Housewife – and wrote a script which calls for them to meet while arguing over a bra at Bloomingdale’s.
Then she assembled a cast and found a performance space in Orlando. Well, sort of a performance space.
“It was a converted perfume shop,” said Linders, by phone from Florida. “The girls had to crawl through a cut in the drywall to get into the next shop to change.”
The audience reaction was “fabulous,” she said. It was obvious that the show struck a nerve. Women were relieved to finally get this issue out in the open, even in this show’s lighthearted way.
“This is nothing like the ‘Vagina Monologues,’ ” said Linders. “It’s just funny and silly and poking fun at what we have to go through.”
The show generated tremendous word-of-mouth business and within a year it had moved to an established Orlando theater. In 2002, it began an off-Broadway run in New York.
A New York Times critic was cutting, calling it “a sometimes slapdash mix of trite and clever wordplay.” But it went on to be a huge off-Broadway hit, running for three years.
Even the Times had to admit that the “show’s success is a testament to the crying need for middle-aged women to see themselves on stages and screens.”
“You wouldn’t compare it to Shakespeare,” said Linders. “You compare it to a really fun night out, where you giggle and laugh and see that there are other people your age, going through the same thing.”
That formula has certainly worked. The show has played in more than 200 U.S. cities and has two resident casts in Las Vegas.
The touring cast for the Spokane stop includes a couple of names that people might recognize.
Christopher Callen played Dr. Dexter on “One Life to Live” and Ellie on “The Young and the Restless.” Megan Cavanagh played Marla Hooch in “A League of Their Own.”
The cast also features theater veterans Orgena Rose and Roberta Wall.
Meanwhile, “Menopause The Musical” is still playing in Orlando, long after it outgrew that perfume shop.