“The Delightful Dizzy Dames” is just one of the Red Hat Society’s 77 chapters – in Colorado Springs alone. With 1 million members in 42,000 chapters in 30 countries from Algeria to Venezuela, the Red Hat Society is considered the largest and fastest-growing women’s movement in the world.
And they are about to get a musical just for them.
Sibling Entertainment will open “Hats, the Red Hat Society Musical” in its world premiere production Oct. 11 at the New Denver Civic Theatre. And it will break the mold for how a large-scale new work is launched in the American theater.
“Hats” is a collaborative musical whose songwriters include TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford, Grammy winners Melissa Manchester (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”) and Pam Tillis (“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”), and Tony-nominated composer Carol Hall (“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”). It centers on a “49.999-year-old woman” who dreads her 50th birthday until she meets up with an organization dedicated to fun and friendship after 50.
“Underneath the frivolity,” said founder Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, Calif., “we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.” Not to mention those trademark red hats and purple dresses.
The “Hats” score includes songs that address empty-nest syndrome, the death of a spouse, the end of a marriage and surviving cancer. But Sibling president Mitchell Maxwell emphasizes the tone is joyous and celebratory.
“The message is, ‘Don’t count your years; make your years count,”‘ said Maxwell, who launched the underdog Broadway hit “Brooklyn” at the Denver Civic in 2004. “We think we are onto something that is life-changing and life-affirming.”
Martha Rabe, a 73-year-old member of the Delightful Dizzy Dames, said it won’t be a matter of whether her group of 40 will hop the bus from Colorado Springs to see “Hats” – but how many times.
“It sounds like a lot of fun and that it will spread the message of the Red Hat Society to even more people,” said Rabe, a widow since 1979 who meets with her “sisters” for dinner weekly and other activities monthly. “So many times a woman will lose her husband and she’ll become a recluse. This gets them out. And the best thing is there are literally no rules. There are no officers. Just have fun. That’s the main thing.”
Maxwell already has made arrangements to stage “Hats” in up to 28 Harrah’s casinos throughout the country. He also plans a national annual pay-per-view telecast from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for an audience he estimates at 2 million.
Nowhere in his plan does he include New York.
“I no longer believe in the economic model of the off-Broadway musical,” said Maxwell, a veteran of three decades of New York productions. “It has priced itself out. And look, if I can reach 2 million people in one night, I don’t have to go to Broadway.”
The potential audience for “Hats,” even for an open-ended Denver run, is enormous. There are 606 Red Hat Society chapters in Colorado, or an estimated 20,000 women. “Hats” also will build on the audience that helped “Menopause the Musical” play for 20 months at the Civic, drawing 145,000 and generating $4.9 million in sales.
“‘Hats’ embodies the Red Hat Society spirit in song, in dance, in humor and in pathos,” said Cooper, who charges $39 a year for membership. Maxwell said “Hats” will appeal to anyone over 50 – or plans to be.”
Tickets to “Hats,” discounted through July 15, are available at 303-309-3773 or ticketswest.com.
“columbinus” in Denver?
Now that “columbinus” has been given New York’s qualified stamp of approval, creator PJ Paparelli is refocusing his efforts on bringing it home.
“We’re hoping to God we’re still going to get it to Denver one day,” Paparelli said of his examination of the Columbine massacre. “That’s been my goal since the first day I started writing it. I’m just hoping somebody there will pick up the flag and run with it.”
Briefly …
Those tricky Buntporters: The live sit-com “Magnets on the Fridge” completed its five-year run last month, but with a real surprise ending: There’s one more episode! “The Magnets Wedding Special” will be staged, complete with pre-party and reception, beginning at 6:15 p.m. Saturday. Tickets $15 (720-946-1388) …
At Wednesday’s “Unique Lives” appearance, Robert Redford told The Post’s Lisa Kennedy why he prefers working with actors with theater experience. “I like working with actors who can act,” he said dryly, “and that usually means they’ve had some (theater) training.” …
“Movin’ Out” is back Tuesday through Sunday. Archival coverage of the tour’s first visit to Denver, including a review and Kyle MacMillan’s interview with Twyla Tharp, are posted at denverpost.com/theater …
The theater schedules for every company in Colorado have been updated at denverpost.com/theater. But if you want to know what we’re in for in 2006-07, consider this: six current or planned productions of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and seven of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
