By Bill Hirschman, FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, July 16, 2015 – Like Hamlet, Madama Butterfly and the Terminator franchise, the indestructible entertainment phenomenon that is WaistWatchers: The Musical has returned to South Florida in a new production at Broward Stage Door that word-of-mouth likely once again will make a success through the summer.
This homegrown entry in the lighthearted-women’s-musical-using-parodies-of-Baby-Boomer-songs sweepstakes has been a popularMenopause-style hit in this region since it debuted at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in 2007 under the title Food Fight.
When author Alan Jacobson opened his own venue, The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan, it ran for five months in 2013 and closed only because the theater had a subscription season planned. Jacobson has been exploring various deals to license the show and/or tour it.
For the uninitiated, WaistWatchers is a series of workout sessions at a women’s gym where four winning middle-aged women bond in sisterhood as they wage a battle of the bulge. There is dialogue and even backstories, but mostly the show invests two dozen iconic pop songs and show tunes with original lyrics that cover everything from plastic surgery to yearning for a sugar binge to the joys of an all-you-can-eat buffet.
