Selected quotes from The Denver Post review by John Moore:

"Hats!" is also an affirmative and joyful celebration of later womanhood. An untapped, ever-flowing goldmine filled with tender moments and endearing songs.

It’s event theater. It's catharsis and cake. It's a support group. It's a costume party. It's Friday-night bowling. It's a revival. It's a rite of passage.

It boasts 12 original songs, seven affectionate and accessible characters and a big, beating heart as red as the hats worn by the thousands of Red Hat Society.

They assembled a legendary creative team, starting with director/cheerleader Lynne Taylor Corbett ("Swing!") and an array of songwriters whose score ranges from pop tocountry to calypso to doo-wop. You know about Melissa Manchester, Pam Tillis and Kathie Lee Gifford, but there's also Carol Hall ("Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"), Amanda McBroom (who wrote Bette Midler's "The Rose") and more - even some men.

And this adorable cast? They're all heavyweights, and we're not talking dress size. We're talking Sondheim. Pamela Myers ("Another Hundred People") and Teri Ralston were in his original "Company" company, while Joy Franz was Cinderella's first evil stepmother in "Into the Woods." Leslie Alexander was in the first "Mamma Mia" and "Boy From Oz" Broadway casts. And so on....

I have never seen an audience so affected in the course of watching theater.

They left feeling better about themselves, with renewed confidence that they are part of a larger community, emboldened that it's never too late to start living again. If 90 minutes of theater can do all that - sister, that's as real as it gets.

That's a real audience emitting real belly laughs and crying real tears, dancing, singing and celebrating.

***

What comes after the BIG Five-O for Mary Anne? Fun, friendship and forgetting about things that simply don’t matter anymore. Featuring original music by a team of Grammy®, Golden Globe® and Tony® Award winning songwriters. This joyous,provocative, hilarious event is for everyone who is 50, knows anyone who is 50...or plans to be 50.

Inspired by the stories, experiences and mission of The Red Hat Society, HATS! is about a 49.999 year old woman who reluctantly faces the inevitable BIG Five-O... until she meets several remarkable women who show her about fun, friendship and forgetting about things that simply don’t matter anymore.