Three of my colleagues and I recently had the most wonderful and entertaining evening in Orlando. Our mission was to experience a restaurant and a show to add to our agency's Day Trips Calendar. That we did! We chose to check out the recommended eclectic White Wolf Caf'located in the Center of Orange Avenue's Antique Market. Surrounded by antiques, memorabilia, and live plants, the White Wolf Caf' a former antique shop offers a wonderful array of Soups, Salads, Gourmet Sandwiches (the chicken salad was to die for), Espresso and Wine. The entrees include Homemade Quiche and Chilled Poached Salmon as well as Spinach Lasagna. This we all agreed had the perfect fare for our planned group trip. The walk around the antique shops was a great way to wear off some of the wonderful meal before heading to the theater just a few blocks away.
The Darden Theatre is located inside the Orlando Science Center on Princeton St. There is easy access from the second floor of the parking garage by crossing an enclosed bridge to the OSC.
The performance of 'Menopause the Musical' was an absolute hilarious adaptation of women going through 'THE CHANGE'. The Off- Broadway smash-hit comedy has just returned to its birthplace ' Orlando after making a tour around the country including New York, Boston, and Chicago. The 90-minute show is a Celebration of the Woman & the Change!
Before the show, we met with the group coordinator to set up our planned group and were introduced to Jeanie Linders, the creator and producer of this fun-filled evening of laughter and song. She gave us a brief rundown as to how this all came about and where it has gone (many US cities, plus UK, Korea, etc.) and where they are going next (opening in Australia soon). It is quite a phenomenon. Jeanie says it was inspired by 'hot flashes and a bottle of wine' which might give you an insight as to what to expect.
The entire audience, young and old (as far as I could see) was laughing hysterically at the four women celebrating the change with familiar songs of the 60's & 70's. The women - an aging soap star, a lost-in-the sixties hippie, a high-powered executive, and an Iowa housewife that meet at a Bloomingdale's lingerie sale. They sing of night-sweats, hot flashes, memory loss, sex (or no sex ' not sure as I was laughing too hard), and chocolate cravings, etc., all to the upbeat music of very familiar songs with word replacements.
There were four of us - three ladies and a man. Now although I believe we all laughed equally as much ' I believe that we all laughed for different reasons. The ladies - forty something (me), thirty something, and twenty something, the gentleman, well he was a man, age probably doesn't come into this picture since he would be an onlooker at any age, but his opinion would be worth something (to anyone but a women going through menopause)
I happen to be The Forty Something person in the group ' and although I certainly am getting to be all too familiar with some of the symptoms; I conjured up the pictures of my mother, my older siblings, my aunts, and their friends over the years going through the change and talking about the different aspects of it. We laugh one moment, we cry the next, we make a joke of it'and we laugh some more. All in all ' it is part of life and it is good to laugh, especially when you can laugh at yourself.
My experience from Thirty Something''.It almost made menopause something to look forward to. I definitely saw my mother in each one of those ladies. She must see it!!'.Adrienne Anderson
My Twenty Something experience'.. I had a chance to eat at the White Wolf Caf'before the show, the food there was sensational. It is an intimate and eclectic environment. I thought Menopause the Musical was GREAT! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. This show is definitely worth seeing, I actually wouldn't mind seeing it another five times. At the end of the show everyone had a chance to get up and dance on stage with the cast, the whole experience was a lot of fun! '''Karrie Torok
The Male review: Very entertaining; I would recommend both men and women see this show. It is a relief to see a performance that highlights symptoms that we can laugh at and not get into trouble'''Donnie Torok
Overall we had a wonderful evening and certainly would highly recommend both. It was definitely more than just a dinner and show'it was an experience!
(Patty Toppa, Adrienne Anderson, Karrie Torok, Donnie Torok all work at Gadabout Travel in the Suntree and Indian Harbour Beach offices.)
