The smash stage hit Menopause: The Musical â„¢ was originally entitled Menopause Out Loud! â„¢ before it went on to achieve its enormous popularity across the US, with sold out runs which lasted for months. But the name Menopause Out Loud!â„¢ belongs to a very special entertainment devoted to the admirable task of helping women actually improve their self-esteem as they progress through menopause and bid farewell to their reproductive years.

It is a cruel fact of life in the 21st century that youth is worshiped. Entertainment, fashion, and advertising all focus on the young and trendy, and the bias toward youth has even spilled over into the employment arena. Middle-aged women are finding it harder and harder to win jobs commensurate with their experience, and many women approaching menopause view it as the end of their lives as productive human beings.

One of the unfortunate results of this negative attitude toward their own menopause is that many women refuse to discuss it, condemning themselves to needless isolation. Those women who can share openly, and find humor in, their struggles with menopause, can make it just another part of life, and one they might even learn to embrace.

How It All Began

Jeanie Linders is the driving force behind Menopause Out Loud! â„¢ and her story is that she came up with her brainchild while indulging in a glass of wine and simultaneously having a hot flash. While most menopause diets encourage abstinence from the fruit of the vineyard, the wine she drank on that particular day bore its own fruit in the form of twenty-five side-splitting musical parodies which became suitable anthems for the menopausal women of the world. "Heat Wave" becomes"Hot flash/I'm havin' a hot flash" and "Stayin' Alive" becomes "Stayin' Awake."

The setting for Menopause Out Loud!â„¢ is a lingerie boutique in which the play's four female leads (and entire cast) engage each other in songs and dances devoted to the lighter side of menopause. The play has become a huge hit not only among middle-aged women, but among boyfriends, husbands, and children who finally understand what the menopausal fuss is all about.

More Than A Good Time At The Theater

The success of Menopause Out Loud! â„¢ has enabled Jeanie Linders to establish the Entertainment to Empowerment Foundation, financed by the proceeds of her play. A non-profit foundation, Entertainment to Empowerment is a place to which women over the age of forty can apply for grants to finance their own businesses, health or art projects, or where they can submit ideas which may be of use to other women of their generation. Entertainment to Empowerment also has a campaign to encourage awareness of ovarian cancer, and is a big financial supporter of cancer foundations in both the US and Canada.

While Menopause Out Loud!â„¢ is a delightful look an unavoidable part of life, and leaves its audience members with a feel-good attitude towards growing older, it is also a tremendous money-raiser for many worthy charities and has helped countless middle-aged women find a new purpose in life.