‘Menopause the Musical’ returns to Hanover Theatre
May 29, 2014 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
In “Menopause The Musical,” four women with seemingly nothing in common (titled simply as Iowa Housewife, Professional Woman, Earth Mother and Soap Star) run into each other at a lingerie sale in Bloomingdale’s. When they talk, they start to realize how much they do share — ranging from chocolate binges to the state of their sex lives.
Still, “each character in the show has a different arc,” said Stoneham native Kathy St. George.
St. George is playing the role of Soap Star in the touring production of “Menopause The Musical” that comes to The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts for one performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 1.
Soap Star’s arc includes being “worried about being replaced by a younger actress,” St. George said. She has “wrinkles, hot flashes, all those wonderful menopausal things.”
St. George has maintained a longstanding career as an actress and singer in Boston, off-Broadway, and national tours. She came to the former Foothills Theatre in 1995 for its production of “The Fantasticks,” and has been seen a couple of times in the annual production of “A Christmas Carol” at The Hanover Theatre.
Her arc does not include getting replaced in the hearts of theater-lovers, especially in the Boston area, where she has won several awards, but St. George does know about the terrain of show business. She was once soap star Susan Lucci’s stand-in on “All My Children.”
Does she ever have any of Soap Star’s worries? “Oh maybe a little bit,” she said. “I’m through menopause. I’m glad I crossed that hurdle…I just keep plugging away. It’s easy to get discouraged. The secret to longevity is just keep going for it. I’m looking forward to many years, God willing.”
“Menopause The Musical” is a case in point.
The show debuted in a small theater in Orlando, Florida, in 2001. It had an off-Broadway run, and a production was staged in Boston in 2004. “I was in the first Boston production,” St. George said. “‘Menopause’ has been very good to me.”
Tours with the show have taken her to places such as Las Vegas. But she has been able to balance her involvement in the show with other projects, including her solo “And Now Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Garland,” a tribute to the music of Judy Garland that won an IRNE Award from the Independent Reviewers of New England. St. George received the 2012 Elliot Norton Award for Best Actress for her performance in “The Divine Sister” at the SpeakEasy Stage Company. Upcoming shows will include a new Robert Brustein musical.
“The roles I’ve been able to play are very varied,” St. George said.
At first it looked like she would be following a different career arc. After graduating from Salem State College, she took a position as a second-grade teacher at an elementary school in Stoneham. But while at Salem State, St. George had acted in a college production, and the experience could not be forgotten. She quit teaching and moved to New York, where she appeared in a Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Then in 1991 she moved back to the Boston area because she felt homesick.
When she came to Foothills for “The Fantasticks” in 1995, she was saddened by the recent death of her father, something she talked about during the course of an interview.
“I loved that little theater and what Marc Smith did with it,” St. George said of Foothills.
But she was pleased to note that The Hanover Theatre “is thriving…I’m thrilled to be coming back to the Hanover.”
St. George called “Menopause The Musical” “ninety minutes of celebration.”
The cast of four sings 25 songs about chocolate cravings, hot flashes, loss of memory, nocturnal sweats and sexual predicaments. The lyrics parody popular music from the baby boomer era, with song titles such as “Stayin’ Awake” and “Puff, My God I’m Draggin’.”
Asked if the show still holds up, St. George said, “More than ever.” There’s only one line that needs to be changed, she noted — when a character says “I saw that on ‘The View’ with Barbara Walters.”
What about “Menopause The Musical” from a man’s point of view?
“The men in the audience I think really enjoy it. They come in hunched over — ‘I can’t believe I’m here with my wife.’ ” But after the show starts, “I’ve seen men point to one of us (and say to their wives), ‘That’s you.’
“I think most of the women in the audience can relate to at least one of us. My character, she does cry a lot. She has tremendous mood swings. I can relate to that. Why not?”
Contact Richard Duckett at Richard.Duckett@telegram.com
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