Fast track for the new 40s to 50s-plus: ‘Cougar the Musical’

Part of the ongoing intrigue for a critic is to track down questions raised by a new play or musical. I vaguely knew the meaning of the term “cougar”— but Wikipedia confirmed it as “the slang term” that came “to connote women (typically over 40) who seek sexual relations with considerably younger men.”

I further discovered its usage first surfaced somewhere between western Canada and Vancouver, British Columbia at the dawn of the 21st century, as a put down of older women who went bar-hopping in search of younger men. But over a decade that has been more positively refined to now describe 40 to 50-plus women (the “new 30s and 40s:) likely to be financially stable and independent — and prefer the pleasures afforded by a liaison with a younger man (by at least 7 years and counting!)

The best news is you don’t need an encyclopedia because the above is spelled out — actually, mostly sung with delicious verve and passion — in Donna Moore’s pithy, comic and poignant insights into today’s emancipated women; and how they go that way! Titled “Cougar the Musical,” (a decade in gestation!) this 90-minute ride to female fruition puts a spotlight on a trio of emotionally unfilled women who release their inner cougars (and find fulfillment and self –esteem) through relationships with younger men