Here it is in a “nut” shell:
HotPhlash is a rock-n-roll comedy about two hot, sexy moms who have been lifelong friends that had an all-girl punk band in the 80’s. They are trying to survive menopause and their mid-life crisis by getting their band back together. The two main characters are Bertha, who is the guitarist and Zelda, who is the “drummist”. This is a show about P.M.S., Punk Menopausal Syndrome.
Oh…ok….you wanna know the rest of it, huh? OK, fine! Here goes….
Bored with life and in the midst of menopause, Bertha and Zelda get their all-girl punk rock band back together and go through the trials and tribulations of being in a band with two other menopausal band-mates while still trying to maintain their family life and their day jobs as a dominatrix/children’s author (Bertha) and a pet psychic (Zelda). Bertha is the pot smoking, beer swilling, fiercely opinionated, guitar player. She is happily married and has a teenage daughter. Zelda is a vegetarian, peace loving, pot smoking, earth momma, happily divorced from a multi-millionaire, mother of twins; a boy and a girl…both are gay. She is the eternally optimistic drummer.
Bertha and Zelda rejoin forces with their old keyboard player, Carolyn Manson, who is living in a mental institution that only lets her out to play with the band if she wears her house arrest ankle bracelet and is chaperoned by her 70 year old, chain-smoking, alcoholic, psych nurse. Carolyn is an arrogant, delusional, psycho-nut case, but is tolerated because she is a good keyboard player. They are joined by their brand new bass player named Shithead (pronounced “sha-theed”). She is an extremely confident, jovial, loud, warm-hearted, 6 foot tall, 300 pound, black women with a strong Minnesota accent who was adopted and raised by Chinese midgets.
HotPhlash is constantly trying to find an audience that understands them, punk clothes that still fit them and clubs that have plenty of air conditioning. They endure simultaneous hot flashes and mood swings that lead to misunderstandings between them as well as their families but they always make up in the end.
HotPhlash is Absolutely Fabulous, meets 80’s MTV, meets The Runaways in menopause. It has quirky, surreal, campy over the top set designs and funky outfits. There are unexpected fantasy dream sequences, like cheesy 80’s music video scenes to segments of them playing in a medieval forest to Spinal Tap type fog-filled concerts as well as intermittent interaction with the camera and the viewer, similar to Malcom in the Middle. Who thought menopause could be this much fun!
