“Menopause the Musical” is heating up Philly through Nov. 22 at Penn’s Landing Playhouse.
The award-winning musical comedy featuring classic tunes from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s has been delighting audiences for more than 10 years with the stories of four women — the housewife, the professional, the Earth mother and the soap-opera star — who realize they have more in common than they thought when they swap stories.
Out Atlanta-based actor Ingrid Cole has been part of the rotating cast of “Menopause” since the beginning and said the many actresses who have appeared in the musical are like one big family.
“It’s kind of a revolving door,” she said. “Right now there are 20 of us. There’s a tour right now where there’s four of us traveling; there will be four of us in Philadelphia and four of us somewhere else. So you never quite know who you are going to work with. All the girls are union professional actors and I love all of them. It’s a big sisterhood. It’s got four women in it and it’s 22 songs of singing and dancing. The songs are parodied but being on stage with four women together in an ensemble number is just a lot of fun.”
Cole said sometimes it takes some convincing to get some theatergoers to get past the title and give “Menopause” a chance.
“When people see the name, they are like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to see that,’ particularly men,” she said. “So it ends up being a girls’ night out. What ends up happening is you get friends who come see the show and as soon as they come home or the next day, they are on the phone with their moms and sisters and coworkers telling them how hilarious the show is. It’s really word of mouth. It’s been an amazing thing for this show. Men hear about it because they get dragged along to see it, but men love the show.”
Cole emphasized that there is no “men-bashing” in the production — and that the themes of the show resonate with a lot of male audience members.
“A lot of times you see men in the audience nodding their heads like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s you.’ Men bring their moms and aunts to the show. We see lots of men in the audience with their friends and coworkers because they realize it’s a natural human thing. The thing about this show is, whether you are black or white or Republican or Democrat or in Africa or in China or whatever, you are going to go through menopause if you a human on this planet. You are either going to go through it physically as a woman or, as a man, know someone who is going through it. The best part is women come up to us afterwards. One woman came to me crying and saying, ‘I thought I was alone. I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was the only one going through this.’ It’s amazing how much it appeals to people walking the planet. My grandmother could not even say the word ‘menopause,’ but here we are singing it and celebrating it. So we’re taking back our power.”
Cole plays the role of the Earth mother in the show, which she said closely matches her personality.
“I’m totally the Earth mother,” she said. “I’ve been asked to learn other roles and I said no. I love this character so much. She’s a hippie. She’s the peacemaker. She’s going through her own stuff with menopause and has her own challenges. She’s the funny and cool one so I totally relate to her.”
Cole, 45, said she identifies even more with the character now than she did when she began playing her 10 years ago.
“Every once in a while I’ll have a hot flash and now I know what it is and I’m very prepared for what’s ahead. But this character is spot-on Ingrid. It’s perfect for me.”
Cole, who is also an accomplished singer, said that while she enjoys singing the mainstream pop songs incorporated into “Menopause,” her personal tastes in music lean more towards traditional theater.
“Everything is in four-part harmonies so it is challenging and satisfying vocally,” Cole said about the songs in “Menopause.” “The songs are pop songs. I’m a big Cole Porter person. I’m a big musical-theater belter; Ethel Merman is my spirit animal. Although I do enjoy it and I like the songs, it’s not something I normally do style-wise. I’m putting together a cabaret of all Cole Porter stuff. That’s more my speed but with this other stuff I do fine.”
When not performing, Cole spends her time chronicling her experiences and travels as part of the show.
She said she hopes to have these stories published at some point.
“When I started touring with the show, I kept a little journal with me and told stories about things that happened on stage and off stage,” she said. “The book that I have been keeping notes on, there are some crazy things that happen on stage that I try to include. It’s just my personal notes right now but it hasn’t gone any further than that.”
Cole also keeps busy performing in other productions.
“I just finished doing ‘Chicago’ here in Atlanta and I’ve done ‘Gypsy’ in different places,” she said. “As an actor you’ve got to be able to have different projects. ‘Menopause’ has been wonderful for my career but you have to have other projects and hustle.”
Catch “Menopause The Musical” through Nov. 22 at Penn’s Landing Playhouse, inside the Independence Seaport Museum, 211 S. Columbus Blvd. For more information, call 855-448-7469 or visit www.IngridCole.com or www.menopausethemusical.com.