★★★★★
We open with a juxtaposition – a stage drawn in shades of pink, a live band that trots out a jazzy tune, an arch that’s ringed by light bulbs like a mirror in an actress’s dressing room. It feels like stepping onto the soundstage of a 1950s television show.
Yet, above the arch is a QR code. It invites the audience to submit photos of themselves with loved ones. We stand at a crossroads, caught in a moment between the old and the new.
Middle Raged – A Musical Meltdown is a stunning new musical that exploded onto Canberra’s stage in the second stop of its first tour. Created by Queenie van de Zandt and Tiffany Noack, it’s a show that found its beginning over drinks among friends.
In a tight 90-minute performance, featuring songs by Missy Higgins, Gillian Cosgriff, Tim Minchin, Sia and P!nk, this marvellous show posits that menopause and womanhood are things to be experienced together.
In the spirit of that, we begin as all good things do: with a karaoke singalong. Middle Raged is not your typical musical. At every turn, it invites audiences to be a part of the story, and it deftly incorporates multimedia storytelling in a way that is seamless, surprising, and fun.
Audiences are treated to a history lesson with projections and old-timey narration, interjections of sports journalists commentating on menopause like it’s a race, and a hilarious conversation that imagines the experience of losing your train of thought as a literal thought bubble that pops before you can get the words out. It’s delightful.
At the same time, we follow the journey of four women as they stumble through the growing pains of mid-life. Zuleika Khan delivers a powerhouse performance as a woman grappling with perimenopause and a marriage that’s fraying at the seams.
Valerie Bader is the calm in the storm – a member of the friend group who’s on the other side of menopause. She’s a fount of knowledge, warmth and dry humour.
Queenie Van De Zandt is the glue that holds the musical together. Her solo, which is interjected with monologues cataloguing the mental load of women and exhausting societal expectations, is devastating.
Finally, Carita Farrer Spencer is hilarious in her role as a witty, scatterbrained academic. She brings down the house when she transforms into an overwhelmed mum in a hospital waiting room, drowning in a mountain of family emergencies, bereft, overwhelmed, and missing her kid. The performance is a stunning tribute to mums everywhere.
Middle Raged – A Musical Meltdown begins and ends with wine glasses in hand, singing along to an iconic pop song. As a member of the audience, it at once transported me to a party singing with my friends. But also to sitting on the living room floor of my childhood, listening to my mum and her friends scream ABBA lyrics at the top of their lungs.
I found myself thinking I had never experienced a performance that made me feel so held, so grateful for my mother, and so aware that I stand on the shoulders of giants.
Middle Raged – A Musical Meltdown ran at the Canberra Theatre Centre from 8-11 July as part of an Australian tour.
See full dates below.
Tickets are available at the website.
Website: https://middleraged.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/middleragedau/
Photo credits: Philip Erbacher
Produced by Women with Pockets and Andrew Kay & Associates.
2026 Australian Tour Dates:
Penrith 3 -4 July, The Joan
Canberra 8 – 11 July, Canberra Theatre Centre
Wagga Wagga 14 – 15 July, Civic Theatre
Wyong 18 July – 19 July The Art House
