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Stage
Who knew menopause could be so funny?
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published May 31, 2006
TAMPA - You'd think that a one-joke show would go stale after the first few minutes. That doesn't happen with Menopause, the Musical, the one-joke show about - what else? - a woman's change of life, playing through July 16 at the Jaeb Theater in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Menopause is a 95-minute hoot, with slick production values and a stellar cast (even the stand-in on the night I saw it). The show covers all the bases: hot flashes, sleepless nights, age spots, imperfect husbands, feckless lovers, protective mothers, weight gain, sagging body parts and the glorious freedom that comes with being past child-bearing age and still feeling (mostly) fine. The show has four menopausal women singing and stepping to a string of popular 1960s and '70s tunes as they work their way through New York City's Bloomingdale's. But writer Jeanie Linders has changed the lyrics to be all about, well, the change. Heat Wave becomes Hot Flash; My Guy becomes My Thighs; and you can imagine what Good Vibrations turns into. To tell too much about the show would take away the fun, and it's the surprises, as well as the cast, that make it work. The powerfully voiced Nadeen Holloway plays Power Woman, the terror of the board room; husky-voiced P.J. Jenkinson (standing in for regular Becky Fisher) is Soap Star, whose looks are fading, but not her spirit; Pammie O'Bannon plays Sally Struthers lookalike Earth Mother, who's carrying on a 25-year affair; and the statuesque Sandy DeWoody is Iowa Housewife, whose wide-eyed, erotic musings and physical comedy bring down the house. Menopause, the Musical is playing open-ended runs in 13 major U.S. theaters, as well as four foreign venues, a powerful testament to its popularity. REVIEW: Menopause, the Musicalruns through July 16 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Jaeb Theater, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday;1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $38.50, plus tax and handling. (813) 229-7827; www.tbpac.org.
[Last modified May 31, 2006, 06:41:55]
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