Play about mid-life crisis is far from boring

By Catherine Rowland
The Examiner
Thursday, July 11, 2002

Anyone who thinks that a play about mid-life is boring needs to come to see this one.

The Ontario premiere of Menopositive!: The Musical opened Tuesday at Showplace Peterborough to an enthusiastic audience who had a thirst to see themselves. Randy Read has brought in this smash hit and the standing ovation was well deserved.

Menopositive! is really a play about healing. Four women, pretending that their lives are perfect, come together in order to create a musical for their high school reunion. As these characters peel back their smiling masks of pleasantries to reveal the pain of unrequited dreams and shared wounds, they uncover their particular truths.

Their mutual loving support bonds them as mature women who can move past the wounded core central to their lives, allowing them to mature enough to enter a bright future full of hope and promise.

Mary Ann McDonald created a sensitive vulnerable Kate who could not leave her hometown because she got pregnant at the end of her final year in high school. Barb Barsky crafts a tough, thick-skinned character who has clawed her way to the top of the financial world in New York, covering her pain with the distracting pleasure of young lovers while secretly yearning for a real family life.

Marie Baron flaunts the mask of a pearly perfect housewife whose macaroni casseroles placate an unfaithful husband, covering her with the pink veil of social grace.

Jackie Richardson makes a wonderful passionate Zsu Zsu whose deep wisdom and riveting presence provide an opportunity to share the energy of a deep understanding of the true power of great love.

Janet Laine Green assisted by Michael Walters demonstrated her masterful skill as a director allowing the transition to flow with the professional ease continuing the ebb and flow of the interlaced stories and songs.

The four seasoned professional singers performed solos and ensemble work in a rich mixture of styles of music which ranged in styles including the blues, musical theatre, and a parody of country western.

Zsu Zsu is the school cleaning lady who ends up in the play by accident because another character did not show up for rehearsal.

Her true passion is theatre and she orders the others to "leave their private parts at the door" when they come to the rehearsal. Because they do not do so, much of the tension in the play emerges as each of the women sees that they have each loved the same man.

"Is it me or is it hot in here?" is a predictable line recognized by most women.

Much of the humour is based on truth. But the other side of humour is pain.

These women mourn their lost youth, sharing their sexual fantasies, yet knowing full well that they are each becoming invisible daily and increasingly ignored by males.

They fear being abandoned -unloved, alone and poor. It is only in facing the naked truth of these terrors that they learn to cry and acknowledge the immense pain and joy of what it means to be whole again...

One of the most moving songs - Magda, Maria and Me - performed by Richardson told a powerful story about the little boy who died while hiding in her Hungarian home. She could not cry as her dreams turned to dust and she had to carry the tiny body on her sled and place him in the frozen earth.

The costume design suited all the characters. However, perhaps the '50s hats would have been more dramatic if they had been larger than life.

The set and lighting design were well integrated to create a textured multi-level stage. Peter Freund had a serendipitous moment when he discovered lighting on a folded scrim could create a colourful pop art effect giving a lovely '60s feel to the background.

"I laughed, I cried, I screamed" said Mrs. Burton. Erica Cherney said that she loved the way the characters helped each other mature in a mutually supportive way and she loved the combination of pathos humour and music. Do not miss this great show.

Menopositive! Play until July 13 at Showplace. For tickets call 705-742-7469