Show #28 "Menopause the Musical" at the Broadway Center

The crush of the crowd was almost overwhelming. They arrived by the busload, filling the 1100 seat Pantages Theater to the brim. Middle-aged and elderly women came by the score, some wearing Red Hats and Purple dresses, others with walkers, canes and wheelchairs.

A few brave men (including Randy) navigated their way along with their wives into the sea of chattering females. I remarked to my friend Cheryl that it felt like we were at a Mary Kay cosmetics convention...(or something else that is very female).

But this was no convention. This was an event. An event of almost cult-like status. This was Menopause the Musical.

From the time the four actresses took the stage, the auditorium exploded with cheers, laughter and celebration.

The songs were affectionate parodies of pop hits mostly from the 1960s. The topics of the musical numbers ranged from hot flashes to memory loss to middle-aged weight gain. The performers played it big and broad (no pun intended) and sold it for everything it was worth.

In other words, it was brilliant.

I love watching brilliance at work. I'm not talking about the actresses' performances, although they were pretty darn good. I'm talking about the whole concept of Menopause the Musical.

Menopause is a touring production that is only in town for 3 performances. I suspect they are packing the house for all 3 shows. I suspect that happens in every city they visit.

It's not exactly high-brow theatre. This isn't Shakespeare, as they say. No star-crossed love affairs or murdered kings. Try hot flashes and mood swings.

This is pure, unadulterated entertainment. But it's no cheap, trashy affair, either. The production values are high. The actresses are all members of Actor's Equity. This is professional stuff here, folks.....

So what exactly is the brilliance here? Well, I'd say it's this: entertainment for the masses using theatrical standards usually reserved for "high art." This is no school talent show or skit night at summer camp. This is the real thing.

And comedy, as I like to say, is no laughing matter. It takes all the skill, talent and hard work of any dramatic production. Maybe even more so. I mean, how many actors do I know who can pull off drama well, but couldn't make me laugh to save their lives?

After witnessing the hooting, hollering, laughing and clapping that went on today, I would definitely say these actresses know their stuff. The director knows her stuff. The producers know their stuff.

They were brilliant.

Not only flashes of brilliance....but HOT flashes of brilliance.

Sorry, couldn't resist that one.....

Production graphics courtesy of Menopause the Musical

Show #4 "Firesign Theatre" at the Broadway Center

Okay, okay.....maybe this show really doesn't qualify (strictly speaking) as "theatre," but hey. These guys call themselves a theatre, they act, write scripts and tell convoluted and strange stories.

I guess it qualifies.

For any baby boomer who might remember the weirdest comedy act to hit the 1970's, this evening was a true delight. For some of us, it was a trip down pre-Alzheimer's memory lane. It was an ex-hippie love fest evoking laughter and groans courtesy of an old vinyl LP. It was a drug-less college reunion sponsored by the Dept. of Redundancy Dept. and the Natural Guard.

Mind you, I didn't spend a whole lot of time during the 1970's listening to Firesign Theatre's albums. I listened enough to remember most of the dialogue from "High School Madness" featuring Porgie Tirebiter and his pal Mudhead. I surprised myself when I was still able to sing along to the theme song.

But, it definitely surprised my husband Randy that I even knew of Firesign Theatre at all. For someone who is as "straight" as I am (translation: not into drugs or alcohol during college...or any other time in my life), it is a wonder that I am familiar with a comedy group whose fan base mostly listened to their work while stoned or drunk at parties.

That's me...a woman full of contradictions.

For those readers (are any of you even out there?) who still have no clue as to who these Bozo's are, Firesign Theatre is an off-beat comedy quartet who perform "radio style" stories using only their voices and occasional sound effects to entertain and spoof just about everything in society.

Popular with the counter-culture youth during the 70's, they still perform to this day. Only now it is different. Counter culture youth have turned into gray-haired grandparents. Instead of battling the "establishment" (sorry, that's a 1960's term, huh?), they now fight middle-age spread and male pattern baldness. I saw plenty of that from where I sat in the audience at the Broadway Center in Tacoma.

But even from my aged vantage point, their mixture of new comedy material and classic stuff from their albums was still pretty darn funny. Funnier, in fact, than it was back in the 70's.

Wonder why that is?

Maybe it's because I don't have to pretend to be hip, cool, stoned or drunk to belong to the crowd that listened to their stuff. Maybe I am no longer embarrassed about being "straight", uncool, unhip or (gasp!) a G-rated Christian who laughs and is entertained by a variety of things, both straight-laced and otherwise.

It is possible that most of the audience members tonight were ex-stoners. Maybe some of them are current stoners. Randy made comments intimating that I looked like I didn't belong there tonight, that I was too "straight."

I disagree. If I laughed and enjoyed myself, I belonged there. Just like I belong at the "legitimate theatre" watching Shakespeare or at a church service singing praises to God. I like to think I break the mold.

Perhaps that's what I like most about Firesign Theatre. They broke the mold, too.
So, let's hear it for Turkish towels! (Don't ask.....)

Photo courtesy of Firesign Theatre