Review: MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL Leaves the Crowd Laughing and Dancing at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center

MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL (MTM) is no LES MISERABLES or THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which introduced instant hit songs destined for endless repetition on "AMERICA'S GOT TALENT." Instead, MTM is a souped-up version of one of those satiric fundraising PTA shows whose inside joke lyrics are set to Broadway favorites or golden oldies, such as "Teacher please, my homework's home," sung two octaves below "Bring Him Home." But, oh what a souped-up version it is!

The current MTM tour (known as "The Survivor Tour") is a charitable glorification of life; part of each ticket price is going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Three of the performers have survived breast cancer and the fourth served as the caregiver for stricken family members. Yet, despite their travails, the four women are back on stage, singing and dancing their hearts out and causing their enthusiastic audience (which I estimated to be about 95 percent female at the Riverside matinee) to laugh uproariously at their antics.

The show is primarily a party celebrating sisterhood. The story line, such as it is, involves four middle-aged women who bond after engaging in an underwear-throwing fight over the right to a sexy bra they find on the clearance table at Bloomingdale's. The pant-suited professional woman (Linda Boston), the earth mother who never moved on from the 1960's (Megan Cavanagh), the prim and proper Iowa housewife (Teri Adams), and the fashionable soap star (Judy Blue) exchange life stories while lamenting their hot flashes, night sweats, and forgetfulness and supporting each other's hopes and desires. The audience members never learn the characters' names but, by the end of the one-act show, we feel as if these ladies are our new best friends as well as each others'.

The production is a team effort that would be nothing without top-notch talent, and director Seth Greenleaf and the ensemble Equity cast are up to the task. Each of the four performers has her own opportunity to shine: Ms. Boston with R&B songs and her wide-eyed facial expressions, Ms. Adams with a hilarious attempt to fit into a much-too-small teddy (my favorite scene), Ms. Blue with a trip into the audience to hunt for a new boyfriend, and Ms. Cavanagh with her character's failed attempts to calm herself through deep breathing.

It is almost impossible not to clap and dance along with the performers as they play instruments consisting of kitchen implements while singing "The sheets are wet, the sheets are wet," in a send-up of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Each bouncy number has plenty of clever lyrics and deliberately silly choreography (original choreography by Patty Bender, choreography supervision by Daria Lynne Melendez) to keep the audience laughing. It is hard for me to choose a favorite number because they're all so funny. "I'm Looking for Food in Too Many Places" (to the tune of "I'm Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places"), "Mom, I'm no Babe, Mom" (to the tune of "I've Got You, Babe"), and "Stayin' Awake" (to the tune of "Stayin' Alive") were the three that hit closest to home for me.

The clever set (designed by Bud Clark) consists of art deco doors that double as elevators, rest rooms, and fitting rooms, and movable pieces of furniture to set up whatever department the ladies are currently visiting. The props are mostly simple - merchandise and a few menus and table settings - as well as an elaborate tabloid magazine with a cover promising a tell-all article about the goings-on at the soap star's show, "One Life to Lose." Unfortunately, the mezzanine and balcony patrons may not have been able to see it.

The only weakness was the sound system, which resulted in music that was simultaneously too loud and difficult to understand. I found myself trying to read lips to pick up the lyrics that I could not discern over the speakers. Hopefully, this problem is unique to the venue and other stops on the tour will not suffer from the same defect.

At the end of the show, the cast invited the audience members up to the stage, where the pros guided the amateurs into an exuberant kickline, followed by joyful hugging. I'll bet that never happens at THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or LES MISERABLES.

The rest of the credits include Jeanie Linders (book and lyrics), Sue Hill (costume designer and assistant stage manager), Jenny Jacobs (production stage manager), Max Moss (technical director/lighting supervisor), Kate Wecker (audio supervisor), Alan J. Plado (music supervisor and arranger of additional music), Ryan A. Patridge (lighting designer), and Steve Shapiro (sound designer). MTM's tour schedule is available at http://www.menopausethemusical.com/venue_list/mtms . For a video preview of the show, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygJ5NCiqK20 .

The Fox Performing Arts Center's other Broadway presentations this season are MARILYN FOREVER BLONDE (October 24, 2015, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.); BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (January 27, 2016, at 7 p.m.); THE PRODUCERS (February 14, 2016); FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: ALIVE AND KICKING (March 12, 2016); and JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (April 10, 2016).

Fox Performing Arts Center tickets are available at 951-779-9804 and at www.riversidelive.com. The Fox is located at 3801 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501, about 120 miles from San Diego, 70 miles from parts of the San Fernando Valley and West LA, 57 miles from Long Beach, 55 miles from Palm Springs, and 45 miles from Anaheim.

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