By Brock Radke (contact)
Monday, Aug. 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Kathi Glist likes to describe “Menopause the Musical” as the “little show that could,” an appropriate title since the musical comedy at Harrah’s Las Vegas has been entertaining audiences for 16 years.
“You would not expect a show with four characters singing and dancing about this subject matter to be this successful in Las Vegas or anywhere else, but it just strikes a chord,” she says. “Those girls onstage are talking to that woman in the audience and she takes ownership of it. It becomes more than entertainment, empowering for them, and they feel like they’re not alone.
“On the surface it seems like just a great musical comedy that’s so entertaining, but then something happens where those four ladies are forming a sisterhood and the audience member becomes the fifth girlfriend. It’s very unique in that it’s so uplifting.”
“Menopause” is currently the longest running scripted musical on the Las Vegas Strip, playing six nights a week at the intimate Harrah’s Cabaret space after reopening after the pandemic shutdown on July 22.
But it’s also the show that first brought Kathi and Alan Glist to Las Vegas from Florida and New York, where the couple had already established a long career as Tony Award-winning theatrical producers. Among the epic shows they worked on are “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Oliver,” “The King & I,” “9 to 5 The Musical,” “La Cage aux Folles” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and off-Broadway sensations “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and “I Love You Because.”
As co-founders of GFour Productions, the Glists discovered “Menopause” and have been producing touring and resident versions of the show since 2001. It was originally installed in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton, the property now known as Westgate Las Vegas, where the couple’s other show will reopen on September 20—the concert spectacular from talented family band the Bronx Wanderers.
“We felt really good about that show when we first brought it here six years ago and everybody from hotel people to locals, concierges to restaurant people, everyone embraced that show,” Alan says. “It has a great following and fanbase and people come back over and over, and audiences feel the same way about ‘Menopause.’ We feel so blessed that we have two shows that no one sees just once.”
The Glists sold their home in Florida and moved to Las Vegas full-time a few years ago to oversee their entertainment business, and also parted ways with the GFour company, which continues to operate touring productions of “Menopause.” Glist Entertainment is now focused on “Menopause” at Harrah’s and the Bronx Wanderers at Westgate.
The Glists also brought the unique interactive show “Thomas John: Celebrity Psychic Medium” to Caesars Palace prior to the pandemic, and while there are no current plans to revive that production, the couple is developing two new projects for Las Vegas that could come to light next year.
“We have a very big project for spring of next year, assuming everything gets straightened out with the pandemic, and another for Vegas hopefully happening in spring or summer of 2022,” Alan says.
Despite the struggles of the last year and a half and the return to certain restrictions during the current COVID surge, the Glists are bullish on Las Vegas entertainment and ready to roll with the punches of changing guidelines.
“Midway through the pandemic we were very concerned and thought there would be a very slow return, and we were not one of the first shows to reopen when there were [limited capacity requirements,” Kathi says. “But from what we’re seeing, people were so restricted for long, the first thing they want to do is get out and celebrate life, and I think we have two great shows that will help you forget about your cares and your woes for 90 minutes. The lighter the show, the more entertaining and uplifting, that’s the show people need to see right now.”
