“Menopause the Musical,” by far Colorado’s longest currently running theatrical production, will soon end its run at the New Denver Civic Theatre. Tickets are being sold only through Jan. 29, but depending on audience response, it could run a few weeks beyond that date.
The musical, which opened June 30, 2004, has played for 542 performances, drawing 138,000 spectators and generating $4.7 million in box-office revenue.
This silly musical parody is simply a revue of 28 relyricized, baby-boomer pop tunes set to hot-flash themes. But the communal experience of simply laughing at the so-called “silent passage” struck a deep chord among Colorado women.
“Everyone is ecstatic,” producer Kathi Glist said in November when the show passed the 500-show milestone. “Denver is a hard market to break into with its many independent theaters and productions.”
The Civic expects to move a musical based on the work of a pop-music icon into the main-stage theater for a few months while awaiting the rights to produce a new all-female musical it hopes will rival “Menopause” for its longevity.
In the meantime, “Defending the Caveman” moves into the Civic’s studio theater for an open-ended run Feb. 14.
Briefly …
Cynthia Davies, founder of the Playwright Theatre, has transferred ownership of the company to Brian Thompson, director of the extended hit “Party of 1.” Thompson said his goal is to produce theater at the level it was at when his friend John Ashton ran the Avenue Theater out of that space.” …
Morris Bernstein, father of New Denver Civic Theatre president Richard Bernstein, died last week at 89. Morris wrote the orchestral score upon which the Civic’s original musical “Suddenly Hope” was based in 2003.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
