By Mark Gregory
Editorial Director
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
A veteran actress of theater, television and movies, Megan Cavanagh grew up in Oak Park, onky 50 miles from Joliet, yet she had never visited the City of Champions.
That will end Nov. 27 when Cavanagh and the cast of ‘Menopause The Musical’ comes to the historic Rialto Square Theater for one night only.
Courtesy GFour Productions
“I grew up right outside Chicago and I don’t think I have ever been to Joliet, isn’t that crazy?” she said. “I am going to visit family when I am home, which I am excited to do.”
Joliet is just one more stop on a long list of places Cavanagh has performed her role of ‘Earth Mother’ in the production.
“I have seen the entire country, including Alaska, doing this show,” she said. “And Singapore and Malaysia, so I have had a chance to see the entire country and go to places I have never been just because of this show.
“If we can, we always try and eat locally and find those little spots that the locals like to eat at. We like to go on fact-finding missions. We try and find fun things that are about the area and go to them when we have days off.”
Now in its 17th year, the musical comedy about women who deal with life adjustments after 40 by embracing each other and the road ahead.
The musical parody about a group of women going through different stages of life’s changes, is set to classic tunes from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and will make the audience laugh, Cavanagh said, but will also inspire.
“I love it. So many of the women we perform for are just so touched by the message of the show and it being uplifting and about love yourself with all of your wrinkles and whatever you have going on because you are wonderful and you are worth it even though you are past making babies,” she said. “That is a great message and there are not a lot of messages like that out there. If we don’t make your cheeks hurt from laughing so much, then we haven’t done our job – that’s how I feel. It is just a good time and good times are needed in this world right now. The more good times I can help provide, I feel like I am doing my part in the world.
“We invite all the women to come on stage and do a kick line with us. For many of them, it is like an Andy Warhol ’15 minutes of fame’ moment. It sounds cliché, but it is a sisterhood and it is a positive, funny night. I hope the people who come see it in Joliet can let their troubles stay at the door and laugh and have a good time, because that is what it is. When the men come to the show, they leave smiling and they have learned a lot. One guy said that if he saw it before his divorce, he wouldn’t have been divorced.”
Playing a character that inspires women is nothing new to Cavanagh, who is most recognized as ‘Marla Hooch’, where she starred alongside Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Lori Petty in ‘A League of Their Own.’
“I feel so honored to have been a part of ‘A League of the Own.’ That felt like an amazing lotto win. To be able to play the character I played, Marla, who is really the every-woman who doesn’t really believe in herself and doesn’t have confidence and feels less than,” Cavanagh said. “She gains her self-esteem with the help of her teammates and being part of something and being appreciated and I have found that I am in a lot of stories where I am helping women with self-esteem – and we all need help with that.”
Cavanagh is also known as Trudy, Al Borland’s girlfriend and eventual wife, on ‘Home Improvement.’ She also starred with Tim Allen in ‘For Richer or Poorer’ and was in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, among others.
No matter how many TV shows she is on, movies she is part of or cartoon characters she is the voice of – theater is, and always was, Cavanagh’s passion.
“I grew up in theater and theater is my first love, but theater doesn’t pay. The television and film stuff is where the money is and theater is where your heart is. I just love acting – I even do cartoons,” she said. “TV, film and theater are all so extremely different and way the acting is different. In film, it could take all day to film five minutes of a movie, so the acting style is different. In theater, you do the whole thing in front of a live audience and there is nothing like that.”
Some actors may fear the live aspect of theater where mistakes can happen and there is no second take, but Cavanagh said she enjoys the problem moments.
“I am terrible, but I love when stuff goes wrong,” she said. “I am from an improv background and I think it’s hilarious and I am confident enough in being on stage in front of an audience. Stuff does happen and getting out of that is sometimes the best thing.”
Fans can purchase tickets and see for themselves if Cavanagh has to work her way out of any mistakes, or if the production is a perfectly acted night of laughter and inspiration.
Tickets are available at the Rialto Square Theatre Box Office, online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 815-726-6600.