Delia Sainsbury, Shelly Adriaazen , Ntambo Rapatla and Kate Normington.

MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL. Directed by Hazel Feldman, with Kate Normington, Delia Sainsbury, Shelly Adriaazen and Ntambo Rapatla. At Theatre on the Bay until February 25. TERRI DUNBAR-CURRAN reviews.

FROM the moment a sultry voice suggests you switch your cellphones to vibrate, it’s clear Menopause The Musical is not going to be just another run-of-the-mill revue.

Likewise, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s aimed solely at the over 50s, who can identify. It’s a musical for every woman, no matter her age, anyone who has had a mother,and every man who may one day find himself married to someone going through The Change.

It’s an entertaining, often hilarious, sometimes poignant and, most importantly, honest look at the time in a woman’s life she’s often not keen to talk about.

From hot flushes to night sweats, weight gain and medication, there are no sacred cows. Under the direction of Hazel Feldman, Kate Normington steps into the role of the ageing soap star once again, joined on stage by Delia Sainsbury as the Iowa housewife, Ntambo Rapatla as the businesswoman and Shelly Adriaazen as the earth mother.

The four women meet by chance over a black bra at a Bloomingdales lingerie sale. Suddenly there are three others who understand exactly what they’re going through, and it’s not long before they break into a rousing rendition of Change Change Change, a cheeky take on Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools.

So many other classic songs get a middle-aged makeover in this musical, from the witty version of Night Sweating (Night Fever) and Stayin’ Awake (Stayin’ Alive) to the utterly hilarious Puff, My God I’m Draggin’.

The individual characters are what make this production all the more entertaining and the actresses shine in both the songs and normal dialogue.

Both Rapatla and Adriaazen have extremely powerful and beautiful voices, which they use to full effect throughout. Sainsbury nails the comedy of her uptight housewife learning to come out of her shell and Normington portrays the paranoia of an soap star terrified of losing her looks perfectly.

Together they are a powerhouse. Despite some technical difficulties on opening night, which were corrected during an impromptu interval, the energy on stage was electric.

It makes a huge difference that the quartet are obviously comfortable with the material and able to have a jolly good laugh at the ups and downs of ageing.

Even the handful of men in the audience relaxed after only a few minutes, once they’d realised it was actually okay to admit they recognised their own wives and mothers onstage.

First staged 10 years ago after writer Jeanie Linders realised there was a gap in the market, the musical has grown in popularity and draws a wide variety of audience members simply because it is something so many people can identify with.

There are some priceless moments on stage which had the audience crying with laughter on opening night.

Especially when Sainsbury’s housewife is left alone in the lingerie section and spies a little black lacy affair she fancies. She takes the humour to the very edge of ridiculous and it’s marvellous. And when they all sang out “In the guest room or on the sofa, my husband sleeps tonight” there were delighted shrieks of laughter.

Each new clever twist on a classic leaves you eager to see what the next will be.

The set is a department store interior which is dressed up with various wheel-on props.

It changes simply from lingerie department, to bathroom and restaurant in seconds.

This is the perfect musical to see with a group of girlfriends. It’s also a great way to start a conversation with those you love.

There’s really no need to keep your experiences quiet. Let it all out in the open, have a good laugh and remember, “this is your day”.

l Tickets are R120 to R240. To book, call Computicket at 0861 915 8000, or the theatre box office at 021 438 3300.