The doors of protection

Ross Elementary April Students of the Building

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Do you remember Dusty Springfield&#8217;s Top Ten hit about &#8220;wishin&#8217; and hopin&#8217; and thinkin&#8217; and prayin.&#8217;?&#8221;</p><p>Take the melody that&#8217;s dancing through your head right now and substitute the words &#8220;drippin&#8217; and droppin&#8217; and plinkin&#8217; and ploppin,&#8217; &#8221; as a reference to the sweat that might suddenly begin to cascade down the face of a woman of a certain age.</p><p>As the Earth Mother character in &#8220;Menopause: The Musical,&#8221; Megan Cavanaugh sings that parody, and as a menopausal woman prone to hot flashes, she can relate.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m absolutely drippin&#8217; and droppin.&#8217; It&#8217;s like art imitating life,&#8221; said Cavanaugh, 54, who will be in Wilkes-Barre when the show comes to the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24.</p><p>Set in a department store and featuring more than 20 parodies of songs from the &#8217;60s, &#8217;70s, and &#8217;80s, Cavanaugh said the musical is so funny, &#8220;We will make you laugh until your cheeks hurt.&#8221;</p><p>But the touring show has a serious message, too, as its cast of breast-cancer survivors prove there can be life and resiliency, singing and dancing and sisterhood after a cancer diagnosis.</p><p>&#8220;All of us were worried we&#8217;d never be able to go back on stage,&#8221; Cavanaugh said, explaining she had already been touring with &#8220;Menopause: The Musical&#8221; before her January 2014 diagnosis. &#8220;It&#8217;s very gratifying to know we can still do this.&#8221;</p><p>There were concerns about stamina, and about appearance as well.</p><p>&#8220;When I first came back to the show I had had chemo and radiation and my hair was growing back from being bald. It was so short it looked like it had been shaved. I was wearing a wig initially, but my head was so hot. They said, &#8216;Megan, don&#8217;t wear the wig.&#8217; I went on with teeny, tiny little hairs on my head,&#8221; Cavanaugh said. &#8220;I was very worried about how I looked but people were so embracing, not just my cast mates but the audience.&#8221;</p><p>At the end of one show, when the cast invited cancer survivors to join them onstage, Cavanaugh said it seemed as if the entire audience came up on stage for hugs and camaraderie.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re all in this together; it is such a sisterhood,&#8221; she said, adding she is glad a portion of the proceeds of ticket sales will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation for research.</p><p>The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 300,000 new cases of breast cancer this year and 40,000 breast cancer deaths.</p><p>Cavanaugh&#8217;s cancer was discovered during a routine mammogram, and a subsequent MRI showed additional lobes were affected. She learned she had invasive interlobal carcinoma, which she describes as &#8220;sneakier&#8221; than other kinds of cancer. &#8220;The cells don&#8217;t necessarily grow in a clump but in a line,&#8221; she said.</p><p>&#8220;I had to have a partial mastectomy, so my breasts are uneven,&#8221; she said. But, she noted, her bosom appears to be in balance after all because she developed lymphodemia, an inability for fluid to drain naturally and that condition causes swelling in the affected breast. &#8220;I am so grateful to have part of a breast, I can put up with any (discomfort),&#8221; she said, explaining she can feel an achiness similar to pre-menstrual breast tenderness.</p><p>Before her diagnosis, Cavanaugh said she was in menopause because she had a hysterectomy and she was using an estrogen patch. She doesn&#8217;t know if that contributed to the cancer. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t have any breast cancer in my family, except for my grandmother&#8217;s sister. It was nothing since then, and I have a big family.&#8221;</p><p>Among the actor&#8217;s other credits, audiences may remember her appearance as a World War II-era baseball player in the 1992 movie &#8220;A League of Their Own&#8221; and as Brunhilde in the 1993 Robin Hood spoof &#8220;Robin Hood: Men in Tights.&#8221; She also gave voice to Judy Neutron in 2001&#8217;s &#8220;Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TAGGED-Aurora-2015-Cast.-clockwise-Linda-Boston-Judy-Blue-Megan-Cavanagh-Teri-Adams1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Megan Cavanaugh, front and center, portrays the Earth Mother in &#8216;Menopause: The Musical.&#8217; Cast mates include Teri Adams, Linda Boston and Judy Blue. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TAGGED-Aurora-2015-Cast.-clockwise-Linda-Boston-Judy-Blue-Megan-Cavanagh-Teri-Adams1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Megan Cavanaugh, front and center, portrays the Earth Mother in &#8216;Menopause: The Musical.&#8217; Cast mates include Teri Adams, Linda Boston and Judy Blue. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TAGGED-Aurora-2015-Cast.-Teri-Adams-Megan-Cavanagh-Linda-Boston-Judy-Blue1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The characters in &#8216;Menopause: The Musical&#8217; meet in the lingerie section of a department store. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TAGGED-Aurora-2015-Cast.-Teri-Adams-Megan-Cavanagh-Linda-Boston-Judy-Blue1.jpg</photo1><caption1>The characters in &#8216;Menopause: The Musical&#8217; meet in the lingerie section of a department store. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Menopause: The Musical&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Starring a cast of breast-cancer survivors</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> F.M. Kirby Center, Public Square, Wilkes-Barre</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24</p><p><strong>Tickets: </strong> $58 (pit), $48, $42</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-826-1100.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Cast of survivors proves there is life after cancer diagnosis in ‘Menopause: The Musical,’ coming to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Sept. 24