‘Six Women’ a hilarious romp through cultural decline> Penobscot Theatre musical tackles tabloid tales

It’s tough being a woman. Just when you think you have a handle on raising the kids, they go and dye their hair green. Or when you think you can really depend on something, there’s a plot twist in your favorite soap opera. And is it possible your husband is sleeping with your best friend?

Oy, the trials. But at least that 18-pound baby that was born pregnant isn’t you. And the severed head that lived six weeks isn’t you. And the woman who boiled her son and ate him isn’t you.

The only problem is: Who ARE you?

When you get right down to it, that’s the question behind the musical revue “Six Women With Brain Death, or Expiring Minds Want to Know,” which opened over the weekend and runs through Aug. 14 at Penobscot Theatre. Developed by six women and two men, with music and lyrics by the late Mark Houston, “Six Women” germinated during a road tour of “Side by Side by Sondheim.” Each late-night stop the cast made at a gas station or convenience store was accompanied by new tabloid headlines on the newsstands. Eventually, the creators realized they could write a whole show based on the wacko stories of alien monsters and bizarre humans.

The result is an irreverent and riotous musical revue performed by six women who use tabloid oddities as a launching pad for commentaries on modern life. The show premiered in Kansas City in 1985 and quickly built up a cult following.

Artistic director Mark Torres won the Dallas Theatre Critics Circle Award for his production of “Six Women” years ago when he ran a theater there. When he was considering ways to expand summer offerings in Bangor during the Maine Shakespeare Festival (which officially opens July 22), he decided to remount the show as a comic addition to the program.

And comic it is. Torres shows that winning directorial talent of his with production values that are simple and entirely effective.

Performed with bright ensemble spark by Tina M. Cote, Monique Gibouleau, Leslie K.A. Michaud, Elena DeSiervo, Catherine LeClair and Laura Schutzel, “Six Women” works up a sweat over the collapse of culture and the demise of meaning. They take on Disney, Barbie and Ken (in an X-rated doll scene), the high school prom and the dreaded class reunion. Their observations are filtered through champagne, Valium, anger, wit and a deep disappointment in the lies fed to consumers by advertising and media. And they get mean. Very mean.

Just for the record, this production is quickly amassing crowds. The few performances that have taken place have been packed with audiences howling with laughter and jumping to their feet at the end. The performances by the six cut-loose actor-singers and three festive musicians — Phil Burns, Brian Cook and Chris Downes — are truly terrific. And that’s the kind of news that travels fast.

But it’s worth noting that much of the humor in “Six Women” might have been funnier in 1985 than it is today. Torres has updated topical references, but that doesn’t completely save the script from being outdated and banal in places. And, yes, banality is the point. But its shelf life is short, and sometimes the writing slips from ribald to ridiculous during the two-hour performance.

Nevertheless, this production of “Six Women” is the type of loony theater — complete with a suggested PG-13 rating — that adds some zip to the summer lineup of live theater. You will laugh and laugh and laugh and, by the end, you’ll be ready for a little Shakespeare.

“Six Women With Brain Death, or Expiring Minds Want to Know” will be performed 7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday through Aug. 14 at Penobscot Theatre, 183 Main St. in Bangor. For information, call 942-3333.