BABY boomer tunes with Minion memes and a built-in advert for Promensil: you can’t say that Menopause The Musical doesn’t have a strong focus on its target audience.

Jean Linders' show is unapologetically hinged around hot flushes, memory lapse and alternatives to a middle-aged love life, so it’s not the most accessible show to a universal audience. Then again, you don’t expect “universal” from a musical with this title, and in terms of bawdy jukebox numbers and bum-wiggling they definitely deliver.

Act One doesn’t take its time and dives into the musical numbers without checking to see if you’re aware of who these characters are. There’s some nice character development later in Act Two which rectifies the hasty first act. The ensemble of Linda Nolan, Cheryl Fergison, Rebecca Wheatley and Ruth Berkeley all work nicely together, especially Fergison, whose comic timing is spot-on throughout.

York Press:

Flushed with success: Linda Nolan, Rebecca Wheatley and Cheryl Fergison in the hit show Menopause The Musical

In terms of acting it’s over the top but the cast really shine when belting modified musical numbers (although I was annoyed that Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff was renamed Night Sweats instead of Hot Flush, but that’s no fault of this particular production). Berkeley is a stand-out for her vocal performances, and her superb stint as a certain large-haired singer has the audience in fits of raucous laughter.

The subject matter in the songs becomes repetitive and it’s a shame that the show doesn’t do much to address the soap star’s battle against ageism or the housewife’s search for adventure, but it’s a night out you certainly won’t find anywhere else.

Louise Jones