Thursday, November 17, 2011

Pas de Quatre avec Force Deserving of Awards

The worldwide hit, Menopause The Musical® opened to a standing ovation at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre last weekend. The star of the show is no doubt Brenda Radloff in the role of the “Earth Mother” – what a performance and what a fine singer and comedy actress! But, the other members of the four-woman cast also delivers brilliant performances.

They are all well-known faces in a variety of roles in several television series and many theatre productions for which they received a number of well-deserved Awards: Kate Normington plays the role of an ageing “Soap Star”; Ntambo Rapatla is the “Power Woman” and Judy Ditchfield portraying the “Iowa Housewife” to the finest degree of character observation.

Four older actresses giving us some of the most superb singing, acting and dancing that we have experienced in a long time - a "Pas de Quatre avec Force" and deserving of being considered for many an award! The show will run for a ten week season. Menopause The Musical® is a joint venture produced by leading South African theatre & entertainment producers HAZEL FELDMAN and PIETER TOERIEN.

“Menopause The Musical® turns every woman’s dreaded lifetime experience into an incredibly funny and light hearted comedy which will obviously be enjoyed by women of all ages but also their male counterparts, families and friends.” says Hazel Feldman. It all started with four women at a Bloomingdale’s lingerie sale with nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex and more.

A joyful parody of 25 relyricised classic baby boomer hits, the 90-minute show features chart-toppers as "I Heard It Thru the Grapevine; You No Longer See 39" and the disco favourite "Stayin‘ Awake! Stayin‘ Awake!"

Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, American writer/producer Jeanie Linders created the show as a celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived The Change. Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a "grassroots" movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges that result in the mental, physical and spiritual freedom of the post WW2 baby boomer generation.

"Most women know intuitively that every other woman is experiencing hot flashes or night sweats. There is always a close friend or two who can sympathize or identify with her," says Linders. "But when they are sitting in a theatre with 400 women, all laughing and shouting‚ 'That’s me! That’s me on stage!' they know what they are experiencing is normal. They aren’t alone…or crazy. It becomes a sisterhood."

According to The New York Times, “[Menopause The Musical] has no trouble winning over its audience…because elsewhere the subject is almost never treated with humour from the woman’s point of view.” The Miami Daily Herald wrote “Menopause The Musical is the little revue that set the world on fire – at least that portion of the world that knows the term ‘hot flash’ as reality, not a news bulletin or punch line.” And the positive reviews and audience testimonials continue to arrive daily. Joy Behar from The View said, “You’ll love it. It’s hilarious. Go see it.”

Menopause The Musical®
Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre
From 11 November to 8 JanuaryPerformances:
Tues – Fri @ 8pm, Sat @ 4pm & 8pm, Sun @ 4pm
Tickets: R250, R200, R150, R75
All bookings at Theatre & Computicket
(011) 511 1818
http://www.montecasinotheatre.co.za/

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