ON STAGE
What: Menopause the Musical
When: Today, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (late show is sold out)
Where: McPherson Playhouse
Tickets: $50-$65 at the Royal McPherson box office, by phone at 250-386-6121 or online at rmts.bc.ca
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Menopause the Musical has been on stages across the world for the past 12 years, averaging nearly one million fans annually.
Though impressive, the audience totals for Las Vegas鈥檚 longest-running scripted comedy and one of the longest-running Off-Broadway hits do not come as a surprise to producer Mark Zimmerman, whose company holds the production rights for Menopause the Musical in sa国际传媒.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 feel this way about a drama,鈥� Zimmerman said. 鈥淏ut if you鈥檙e in a theatre, whether it鈥檚 a 3,000-seat casino or a 500-seat theatre, the laughter and joy is so palatable. It just makes your night.鈥�
The international hit about four women bonding over their shared experience with menopause comes to Victoria for the first time on Saturday for two performances at the McPherson Playhouse, one of which is sold out (tickets still remain for the 3 p.m. performance). Zimmerman is taking the production across sa国际传媒 with cast members who are veterans of 513 shows in Toronto.
The all-Canadian cast includes Janet Martin, who is also Zimmerman鈥檚 partner in ShaggyPup Productions, which pays the worldwide rights holder of Menopause the Musical to produce it in sa国际传媒. She plays an Iowa housewife alongside three established performers from the Toronto theatre community: Nicole Robert (who plays an 鈥淓arth mother鈥�); Jayne Lewis (鈥渟oap star鈥�); and Michelle E. White (鈥減rofessional woman鈥�).
That the characters were not given names is said to represent the universality of menopause, which strikes most women in their late 40s. Menopause the Musical takes a humorous, but heartfelt, look at how it affects women in different ways. As the characters bond in a Bloomingdale鈥檚 store, over the purchase of a single black bra, it follows them through the emotional highs and lows of life changing at such a rapid rate, from hot flashes to night sweats.
鈥淓very woman is going to go through what they call 鈥榯he change,鈥� and these are the results,鈥� Zimmerman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very personal, but it鈥檚 universal.鈥�
It鈥檚 both funny and heartfelt, with a soundtrack of hits performed by the cast that includes I Heard It Through The Grapevine, What鈥檚 Love Got To Do With It? and The Great Pretender.
Menopause The Musical is in a constant state of production, with versions of Jeanie Linders鈥� show being staged all over the world. More than 15 countries have staged a version. That says something about the communal concepts of the subject matter, Zimmerman said. From night to night, nothing changes but the city.
鈥淚t鈥檚 universal. Everyone seems to laugh at the exact same spots, because of the topic. Its actually very powerful, and empowering for women.鈥�
Zimmerman is fascinated by the cultural impact of the production. Years ago menopause 鈥渨as in the closet,鈥� he said; some women didn鈥檛 want to talk about it. That what was once known as 鈥渢he silent passage鈥� is now played for laughs shows how far the needle has moved in conversations concerning women鈥檚 bodies.
Men undergo their own version of menopause, known as andropause, with symptoms that include loss of libido. The topic has not become as much of a concern, for reasons that have a good deal to deal with male pride. Women, on the other hand, often work through menopause by talking about it with other women 鈥� a shared bond that results in large groups of friends looking at Menopause the Musical as a fun night on the town.
Zimmerman said the audience for the production 鈥� understandably 鈥� is 95 per cent women. He gives credit to the men who do attend, however. They are an important part of the process, he said.
鈥淎ll the men who come see it love it, but there鈥檚 a stigma to it. But the men end up getting closer to their wives and their partners having seen the show, because they walk away with a new empathy of what their partner is going through. The husband doesn鈥檛 have a frame of reference and this show gives them one.鈥�