Celebrating life's new beginnings

Angela Ayers plays a country housewife going through the change in Menopause - The Musical

Forget what you've read about menopause. Rather than an end to a phase in women's lives, it signifies new beginnings which should be celebrated and revelled in. That's what writer Jeanie Linders thought when, inspired by a hot flush and bottle of wine, she wrote the incongruously named Menopause - The Musical.

The 90-minute musical comedy sold out in seasons in Australia, where it has made history by being the only show to have two productions running simultaneously on opposite sides of the country.

The original cast, which opened the show in Melbourne last year, has been playing in Perth; a second unit, with New Zealand singer Angela Ayers, was staged in Brisbane before heading to Auckland to open at the Civic on Friday.

Ayers plays a country housewife who, during a shopping trip to town, meets a businesswoman, an earth mother and an ageing soap star in a department store lingerie sale.

Because they are all going through "the change", they've got more in common than outward appearances suggest. Thus begins an all-singing, all-dancing show celebrating hot flushes, sensible shoes, big knickers, memory lapses and weight gain.

Hits of the 1960s, 70s and 80s including Change, Change, Change, Heatwave, My Guy and Olivia Newton-John's Physical have been adapted to suit the situation.

Ayers claims the audience will leave Menopause - The Musical laughing. "Men shouldn't shy away because of the title or the subject matter," she says, adding that the musical is more about celebrating the wisdom which comes with age and experience.

"I think you get to an age where you can't be bothered with all the bulls*** any more. You know yourself, you are happy with yourself and you feel you have a right to your own opinions. If people don't like it, you know it's not worth having them in your life because you have got a few close friends who accept you no matter what."

Ayers became known in the early 70s, when she was 19, for singing and smiling perkily on shows like Happen Inn and Sing. She was voted Queen of Television and Most Popular Female Artist and had a couple of hit records - then she disappeared.

Like many of her contemporaries, Ayers headed to Australia to advance her career. For 25 years, she worked the musical theatre circuit winning plum roles in productions such as A Chorus Line, West Side Story, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Cabaret, Chicago and Guys and Dolls.

When she came home six years ago, she expected a warm welcome but got, she says, the cold shoulder. Her achievements of the early 1970s had been forgotten.

"When I came back, it was like starting all over again and having to prove myself. I appreciate that there are a lot of younger people who may not remember me but I would have thought turning up for an audition with a seven-page resume might earn you some respect but no.

"Because nobody would give me a chance, I started to doubt that I could sing, that I could dance and I wondered if I should just give my career away."

Then came an audition with cast requirements any actress will tell you are so rare as to be unbelievable. The producers wanted women aged over 40 who at a minimum were size 12.

The diminutive Ayers, who at 53 looks more like 35, just passed the size requirement.

She recalls being taken aback when she heard the show's name: "I thought, Menopause - The Musical? Oh. Right. That's something you don't hear every day."

The next shock came when she was told if she got a role, she would spend five months performing in Brisbane before the Auckland season started.

Wayne, her husband of 18 years, quit his job as a corporate high-flyer in the medical industry to care for their teenage children, Elle (16) and Jack (14), and work from home.

Ayers admits she struggled initially to get a hold on her character, a reserved housewife, far removed from her own life which has always revolved around performing. In the end, she based the character on her own mother.

What: Menopause - The Musical
Where and when: The Civic, Aug 11-Sept 10