"Hats" Opens In New Orleans This Week

Manchester And Gifford Contribute Songs To Show About The Big 5-Oh!

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NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2007 | by Judy Faber

(CBS)  Taking a break from its successful run in Denver, "Hats! The Musical" is bringing its 50-is-the-new-30 philosophy to New Orleans on Jan. 25.

The musical is inspired by The Red Hat Society, an organization of fun-loving women who are out to change what it means to be 50-plus.

Directed by Lynne Taylor Corbett ("Swing!), "Hats!" includes music by several celebrities, including Kathie Lee Gifford, Melissa Manchester and Pam Tillis. The libretto was written by Marcia Milgrom Dodge and Anthony Dodge.

"Hats!" follows the story of a woman reluctant to face turning 50 — until she meets several women "who show her about fun, friendship and forgetting about things that simply don't matter anymore."

The Red Hat Society, which refers to itself as a "DIS-organization" was started by Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, Calif., and a group of her friends. Drawing inspiration from a poem entitled "Warning" by Jenny Joseph about ladies of a certain age, the friends began gathering regularly for tea wearing the red hats and purple dresses mentioned in the poem.

The little gathering eventually grew into an international organization which now has more than 40,000 chapters in all 50 states and more than 30 countries worldwide.

On Jan. 26, the day after the show's New Orleans preview, members of the Red Hat society will lead a community parade through the French Quarter, with a Mad Hatter-themed community party on Fulton Street.

"The musical, 'Hats!,' is all about celebration, so it is extremely fitting that it come to New Orleans, a city long known for its enthusiasm for celebrations," said Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Exalted Mother and founder of The Red Hat Society. "Just as the characters in this play learn to leave their struggles behind, so the people of New Orleans are doing the same — marching into the future with joy and optimism. This is a marriage made in Heaven!"

A spokeswoman for the Red Hat Society tells The Showbuzz that there are plans to expand the musical into several cities. The show will reopen in Denver on March 16, and will open in Chicago on a yet-to-be scheduled date this spring. The society hopes to eventually bring the show to New York.

By Judy Faber
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