City of Greater Shepparton

City of Greater Shepparton

URL: http://www.greatershepparton.com.au/events/menopausethemusical2010.html

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Presented by HIT Productions under license from THE AUTHOR, JEANIE LINDERS. Menopause The Musical®

Back by popular demand!! With a new cast line up, brand new songs, lots of new choreography, new Costumes. US Playwright – Jeanie Linders has refreshed the show. US Director – Patty Bender has taken a new dynamic approach to the direction of the show.

Already seen it? Well you've never seen it like this! Now with new songs, more choreography and a refreshed look at 'The Change'.

Brought to you from the original US creative team, Australia welcomes the international sensation and #1 Girls' Night Out, Menopause The Musical®! 

Inspired by a hot flush and a bottle of wine, Jeanie Linders created Menopause The Musical® as a celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle, or have survived ‘The Change'.

Set in a department store, four women (Soap Star, Dubbo Housewife, Power Woman and Earth Mother) with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra meet by chance at a lingerie sale. They quickly bond and make fun of their woeful hot flashes, forgetfulness, mood swings, wrinkles, night sweats and chocolate binges. A sisterhood is created between these diverse women as they realise that menopause is no longer the silent passage!

Maybe the attraction to the show is the songs that everyone grew up with - The Great Pretender, Only You, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Heat Wave, I Will Survive and more - all sung with gusto and all with their new lyrics. Or maybe it is the realisation that there is a wonderful life waiting after ‘The Change.'

Menopause The Musical® has travelled for 71 weeks during 2008 - 2009 breaking box office records and will continue in 2010 for an additional 40+ week tour to capital city, metropolitan and regional theatre venues throughout all states and territories of Australia. Many of the audience members have come back time and time again to join in this 90 minute, one act laugh-a-thon but they've never seen it like this before! Now with new songs, more choreography and a refreshed look at ‘The Change'.

The hilarious celebration of women and ‘The Change'

"It's impossible not to laugh" The New York Times

AUTHOR Jeanie Linders

Patrons who attend the show will also have the opportunity to enter into TWO fantastic competitions!

1. Curves competition to Tahiti (Victorian Shows only)
First Prize: 2 return airfares Melbourne to Tahiti, return airport transfers at destination, 7 nights’ accommodation at Intercontinental Tahiti Resort, Half day circle tour of Tahiti, Half day 4x4 Safari Tour. Prize must be taken within 12 months of draw date. Booking subject to availability.
Second Prize: Free 12 months membership at Curves
Third Prize: Free 6 month membership at Curves

The draw winners will be telephoned directly and the winners names will be published in the Herald Sun by way of promotional editorial or classified ad in the Public Notices section in the week following the draw.
Entry forms, pencils and a competition box will be supplied at the performance for patrons to use.  Only one entry per patron will be accepted.
The competition will be drawn by the Menopause The Musical® cast after the performance on Sat 20th November at Sale (this is the last Victorian performance on the tour).

2. Remifemin competition to Las Vegas
In 2011, Menopause The Musical® will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. To celebrate, competition offers patrons a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas to see Menopause The Musical®, plus accommodation at the Luxor Hotel, spending money, supper with the cast and tickets to see another show at the Luxor Hotel.
Details on how to enter can be found in the Menopause The Musical® program, available at the performance.

PRODUCER Christine Harris & HIT Productions
DIRECTOR Patty Bender
RESIDENT MUSICAL DIRECTOR Judith Dodsworth
RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER Sue-Ellen Shook

EARTH MOTHER Michelle Collins
POWER WOMAN Maria Mercedes
DUBBO HOUSEWIFE Andrea Creighton
SOAP STAR Jennifer Levy

PRODUCER

The play is produced by Christine Harris (award winning actor in Carson's Law & award winning entrepreneur - 1997 Victorian Entrepreneur of the Year, 1999 Business Women's Hall of Fame). Christine is also the founder and CEO of HIT Productions. Previous successes for the company include Hotel Sorrento, Goodbye Mrs Blore, Girl Talk, Love Child, Daylight Saving, Talking Heads, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, A Stretch of the Imagination etc.

PLAYWRIGHT - Jeanie Linders

How did the idea of Menopause The Musical® come about?

My standard line is "a bottle of wine and a hot flash" but, truth be told, I have always written parody words to songs. My brain synapses connect differently than others, I guess! MTM came out of my standing in front of the freezer singing the words "Hot Flash" to Rod Stewart's Hot Legs. I was dressed for a formal evening...the local NAACP was honouring Jesse Stone, and I was ready to walk out the door and the dripping started. I have a picture of it...the flapping freezer door, a ball gown and me.

Then in the summer of 1998 I went to San Francisco and saw Beach Blanket Babylon, another parody show in its 30+ year by now. Everyone was screaming with laughter around me and I was kind of angry. I had this voice in my head that kept saying, "Well you could do this..." So I went back home...and did it.

- Why was it so important to bring the issue to public attention?

The show is about WOMEN, and there are more than 40 million baby boomer women who understand, as we understand the embarrassment of "gotta go, gotta go," and the ability to laugh at ourselves. We understand the feeling of wanting to shake the doctor by his/her lapels and scream "YOU HAVE TO HELP ME. I CAN'T SLEEP ANYMORE!"; we understand the feeling of thinking we are alone with the memory loss and wrinkles and everything else that comes with aging and love being able to share the feeling with the hundreds of women in the audience. MTM started out as an experience. Our audiences throughout the country...and now the world...are making it a women's movement.

- Are there any of your own experiences in the script?

It is said that a writer writes what he/she knows. And I realised when asked this question early on...that I am my characters, all of them. The Power Woman who bought into Gloria Steinem's "you can be it all" routine in the early ‘80s and ran businesses since 1979; the aging Soap Star, with the diva personality who cringes at the sight of the wrinkles in the mirror, but still walks into the room with a ‘look at me' attitude; the lost in the ‘60s Earth Mother, who has ALWAYS worn long skirts plus Birkenstocks and feels very much at home at a Left Coast poetry reading; and of course, the nurturing Housewife. I was raised to get married and have four kids. I just forgot along the way and there is a part of me that knows something is missing. The irony is that the women in the audience identify in the same way. They too have the personality traits of all of the characters and can relate to what each is experiencing.

- What are some of the more interesting comments/feedback you've received from people?

"That's me on stage".

"When I walked into the theatre, I felt fat, ugly and unsexy. When I walked out I felt beautiful. Thank you for writing a show for our age!"

And from a male women's doctor..."I learned something from your show."

- What do you think is the best message that Menopause portrays to the audience?

Menopause is not a disease...it heralds a new stage of life when you should celebrate who you are and what you have become, making the rest of your life, the best of your life...

- Has the success of Menopause shocked you?

I knew the show would be successful as I was aware that there was a large audience for it; however, I was unaware (but learnt quickly) - that success brings responsibility...most of all to the audience and those whose life you have touched. And you must protect the message from those who would change it ‘for a quick buck.'

- Money raised through these tours has gone to support woman with ovarian cancer, what does this mean to you knowing you could be helping so many woman?

Being able to support women and girls around the world through the Jeanie C Linders Fund is the greatest blessing of Menopause The Musical® and the area where I am concentrating my efforts for the future. I am a firm believer in choosing to live, and not just exist. It is important to me to not just take up space on the planet but to make a difference in whatever ways I can.