Writers Bob and Jim Walton first presented “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical” as part of the prestigious annual, New York Theatre Festival where new musicals are work shopped and premiered for possible future production. This one premiered in 2006 at Chanhassen Dinner Theaters in Minnesota where it is still playing.

The fine cast consists of three men — Seth Abrams, Craig Davis and Andy Kopec — and three women — Francesca Amari, Jennie Hollander-Carosiello and Patti McClure — all of them running on a high energy cocktail of Geritol, Gingko–Biloba, and Viagra. …Not unlike the daffy songs and comic sketches seen on “Saturday Night Live,” everything about growing older is tackled and nothing is sacred in this wacky musical, everything is up for grabs, gets its guffaws and has the audience rolling in the aisles.

So, whether you’ve started to suffer from CRS, noticed your hair going gray, are developing fuzzy thinking and keep repeating yourself, if you’re suffering from constipation, nearsightedness and developing a double chin as well as a paunch, or you’re discovering you have more hair in your nose and ears than on your head and have started switching to the History Channel and C–Span instead of MTV, you might be in what is known as… Ta-Dah! …“the mid life crisis,” and this just might be the madcap musical for you.

There are some tender moments in the show sandwiched between the outrageously funny stuff. One that stood out for me was the cast doing a poignant number about senior parents playing the end game of life, slipping away a little more each day as their grown children bid the long goodbye. But the humorous stuff bubbles right to the top again to send us merrily into the night. After all, life happens anyway and we might as well have a good time enjoying ourselves by viewing, “Mid–Life! The Crisis Musical”now playing at The Off Broadway Palm. Slip on your glasses, put in your teeth, comb those few gray locks left on your head, suck in your gut, grab a couple of old buddies and have a heck of a good time seeing this far-out musical. Start the ball rolling by phoning the Broadway Palm’s Box Office at 278-4422. Do it now ’cause tickets are going fast. When you call remind ’em Marsha sent you!

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MID-LIFE explores all the issues that rear their ugly heads in that titular stage of life. In a series of comic and touching vignettes and musical numbers the cast of three men, Seth Abrahms, Craig Davis and Andy Kopec and three women, Francesca Amari, Jennie Hollander-Carosiello and Patti McClure tackle the physical, mental and social concerns of the middle age set.

This production covers a wide variety of topics and situations. In the first act biological clocks, mammograms, male pattern baldness and empty nest are highlighted, just to name a few. In act two divorcees, prostate exams and the many faces of menopause are put under the microscope. With humor and song MID-LIFE lampoons these many common side effects of getting older.

The creators of this musical are Bob and Jim Walton. This talented pair of brothers wrote the book, music and lyrics of the show together. They also served as co-directors and co-choreographers of the piece. Each of the brothers has extensive performance credits to their names. They have also written other works together for the theatre and cabaret stage as well.

As authors and composers the style in which they have crafted this production is reminiscent of other topically focused musicals like I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change and Menopause: The Musical. The music is fun and peppered with witty lyrics that tell each story well. The scenes and scenarios created all punctuate the material and create a nicely molded flow of ideas all relating the topic. Especially funny were the doctors office segments, the divorcees dishing on their ex-spouses at their reunion and the mid-life translator.

Their work as directors and choreographers was also very successful. The show is fast paced and filled with finely tuned performances resulting in an extremely enjoyable show. The staging and choreography make excellent use of the space and work well for the piece.

The cast of MID-LIFE, Seth Abrahms, Craig Davis, Andy Kopec, Francesca Amari, Jennie Hollander-Carosiello and Patti McClure have formed a very talented ensemble. They are seasoned performers all with great comic skills and strong voices that compliment each other well. Every solo, paring or group brought their all to the material resulting in standout performances from all.

The work of the production team for MID-LIFE was perfectly suited to the show. The set, designed by Kristian Perry, was elegant and effective with decorative entryways and playing spaces that could assume different locales without much effort. The lighting design, by Russell Thompson also heightened many moments in the show. The use of a projection turned the ordinary eye chart into a fun and surprising element that tied the production together.

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In some ways it reminded me of the dating musical "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," but it probably has as much in common with "Menopause: The Musical."

The show is structured as a series of vignettes built around original songs, and they cohere well under the Waltons' direction. The titles of scenes are projected on a screen like an optometrist's eye chart — a clever touch.

The score is a pastiche of Broadway styles, with a good variety of pacing. Most of the songs work perfectly well, with the possible exception of the tongue-tying "Turning Forty," which is hard to follow lyrically and clearly not easy to perform.

Three men and three women sing and dance 21 numbers in two hours on the small Off Broadway stage. The theater seats only 90, which makes for an intimate connection with the cast.

Seth Abrahams, Francesca Amari, Craig Davis, Jennie Hollander-Carosiello, Andy Kopec and Patti McClure each shine in their solo moments. Hollander-Carosiello gamely exploited the sexuality of "Biological Clock," while McClure found a sweet way to sing about Lasik surgery in "When He Laughs."

That tender song, about seeing your spouse in a new way, provided a marked tonal contrast to the broadly comical scenes around it. Like the poignant "The Long Goodbye," about elderly parents, it brought depth to a show that could have skated by on over-the-top humor.

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BDT Artistic Director Michael Duran enlisted old pal Jim Walton to direct the regional premiere of "Mid-Life!" in Boulder. Walton knows the musical inside and out because he wrote it with his brother, Bob.

The show consists of 21 vignettes done in a talk-sing style, and features a cast of six who portray new characters in each scene.

It's also a departure for BDT. "Mid-Life!" is not your typical book musical (think "Sound of Music" or "The Music Man"), where characters' actions or antics are pretty much prescribed to the actors by what's called for in the script or what's been done before.

Instead, Walton allowed the actors room to play through much of the rehearsal process and come up with many of the comic bits in a collaborative way.

So what you get is some of your favorite BDT actors Scott Beyette, Bren. Eyestone Burron, Alicia Dunfee, A.K. Klimpke, Brian Norber and Barb Reeves letting down their (graying) hair and having some (often naughty) fun. The actors' enthusiasm for what they're doing shines through the performances.

Midlife's foibles have been fodder for musical comedy before ("Menopause, The Musical" anyone?), but "Mid-Life!" feels fresh because it's filled with surprises.

Here, empty-nest syndrome isn't your typical maudlin look at a couple having more time on their hands than they want. Instead, Reeves and Klimpke lament the fact their adult son, Norber, won't leave.

Lasik surgery gives Reeves' eyes new vitality, but also brings some unwanted visions into focus like her husband's bulging mid-section. When Beyette turns 40, he realizes with horror he's turning into his dad. He's stricken with "Father's Tourette," a disorder that leaves him involuntarily shouting a weary dad's clichés.

A 30-year high school reunion finds Burron, Dunfee, Reeves as three divorced women kvetching about their loser ex-husbands, in hilarious fashion.

Other laugh-out-loud scenes include one in which, biological clock ticking like a time bomb, Dunfee sets her sights on a hapless Klimpke when the two near the end of their second date. Or, when Burron is bewildered because a routine trip to the doctor turns into a "Singing Mammogram."

Later, the stakes, and laughs, are even higher when Beyette and Klimpke take a trip to the doctor for an annual prostate exam.

Just when the laugh meter peaks, the show turns poignant, as Dunfee, Norber and Reeves meet at a park to keep an eye on their loved ones who are off playing. But the trio of mid-lifers are not watching their children, they're looking after their aged parents.

They say laughter leads to laugh lines. But people can't see your wrinkles when you're laughing out loud, can they? "Mid-Life!" is guaranteed to hide your wrinkles, if only for a couple of hours.

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My favorite numbers included the absolutely universal What Did I Come In Here For?, He Got What He Deserved where three divorcees discuss their newfound happiness at a 30-year class reunion, and Turning Fifty which means being accepted into AARP. The cast makes the most of music that is not familiar and requires a lot of energy. A. Scott Williams, musical director, didn't miss a beat in his accompaniment at the piano.

Everyone will enjoy this hilarious and sometimes touching musical about the inevitability of middle-age. The audience related most to the second act which moves into later years. The bottom line is, “Getting older might stink, but it sure beats the alternative.” The show has a happy ending that focuses on my motto, and that is “Enjoy life to the fullest as long as you can.”

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There are two acts, each act consisting of a dozen skits in which mid-life moments occur. From a sketch about “My Lost Love,” namely hair; to a scene for “Turning 5-0,” the harsh adages of old age are available for witness and wittiness, and I promise, you will laugh.

This musical was jocular, yet realistic and believable. The performance takes a turn from the funny and focuses a scene on the parents of the characters, who are now geriatric and losing touch with reality. There is one melody, “The Long Goodbye,” comprised of love, laughter, and loss, where tears are shed within the audience and reality bites, and it bites hard.

Playwrights Jim and Bob Walton are equipped with Broadway credentials and veteran experience. They have refined their comedic genius and displayed it with a Chanhassen twist. Artistic Director Michael Brindisi and the Walton Brothers joined forces ... giving birth to Mid-Life, The Crisis Musical.

Mid-Life, A Crisis Musical is a musical collage of witticism and adventure, verbally spelled out through song and choreography that paints the perfect picture of reaching that pivotal middle age.

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The list of irritations and indignities middle age asks us to endure is familiar, and “Mid-Life!” gives many of them their own, individual sketches. In one of the most amusing numbers, the old concept of the singing telegram is modified and moved to a clinic where women are subjected to singing mammograms. Later in the revue, that uniquely male experience, the digital prostate exam, is given its musical tribute. Single and childless women racing their biological clocks, middle-aged guys trying to maintain their basketball prowess, Lasik eye surgery and the never-empty nest are some of the topics explored. A trio of divorced women tunefully chortles over a husband who dumps his wife for a much younger woman, only to unexpectedly find himself a father again.

“Mid-Life!” also has its more serious moments. “The Long Goodbye” is a bittersweet number about the shadow of Alzheimer's disease falling over beloved parents.

Six singer-actors are equally featured in the Broadway Baby production, and director Elaine Parsons-Herro, who is also one of the performers, casts the show well. She is particularly funny in a broad range of characters, from the less than enthusiastic mammogram patient to a sugary blond cowgirl and a dim-witted divorcée. Mary C. DeBattista is the strongest singer in the group, and she contributes a great deal of sparkle, polish and energy. Her determined effort to find a father for the child she desires as her biological clock nears midnight sets a high standard for the production.

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