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Is Menopause and Hot Flashes – FUNNY?

I’m getting older? It’s Not Funny!

menopausmusicalThat, from the beginning, was the aim of Florida writer Jeanie Linders, who created the 90-minute musical seven years ago. The show revolves around four women who meet at a Bloomingdale’s lingerie sale and put new lyrics to more than two dozen baby boomer hits (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine: You No Longer See 39” and “Stayin’ Awake, Stayin’ Awake”).

Menopause the Musical

“Menopause the Musical never has been about theater, it’s about women,” Ms. Linders, 59, says by phone. Inspiration for the musical struck when she tried to cool herself during a hot flash by standing in front of an open freezer and singing.

“My goal was making women feel better about themselves as they go through the change and helping their husbands understand what they’re going through. When the critics go in and write, ‘There’s no book,’ I go, ‘Hello? This isn’t Macbeth.’ I know exactly what this is. Women get it. They understand it. And word-of-mouth is our biggest selling point.”

Musical About Menopause and Hot Flashes Success

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Selling is something this show has done extremely well, reaching nearly 10 million people in 12 countries including South Africa, South Korea, Israel, Italy and the United Kingdom.

In Australia, a producer warned Ms. Linders not to expect the audience to dance onstage. He told her it would not be like America, where women with cancer sometimes throw their turbans into the audience.

“He said, ‘Jeanie, women are a lot more reserved here.’ Then he called me back three weeks later and said, ‘I don’t know what to do, there are hundreds of them at every show, and they won’t get off the stage!’ ”

Ms. Linders contributes the proceeds from the sale of show souvenirs to women’s causes. She has raised nearly $500,000 to benefit ovarian cancer research and education and hopes to raise more with another tour that will begin later this year.

A Spanish version, Menopausia El Musical – Pasaporte a Su Salud — has also been touring.

“I knew it was going to be successful,” Ms. Linders says of her musical. “But I think what I’ve come to understand is that success means responsibility. You have got to try to figure out why you are taking up space on this planet. I have always been a firm believer in wanting to make a difference.”

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