'Waist Watchers' packs theater in Manalapan

"Waist Watchers" cast: Katie Angell Thomas
(in blue), Missy McArdle,  Shelley Keelor,
and Jeanne Bennett (provided)

Even in the 21st Century, most women still wrestle with their body image.

South Florida styles magnify the insecurity because they reveal more of the body shape than in colder climes where sweaters and coats can hide extra pounds.

And then there are slender women here who believe they are too fat as they obsess about how much they eat.

It's no surprise, then, that "Waist Watchers The Musical!" resonates with audiences at the Plaza Theatre in Manalapan. The show is held over until May 12.



"It's absolutely a commercial success," says Missy McArdle, who plays Connie, a middle-aged woman who struggles to lose weight.

"It's light-hearted entertainment, not art," she says, adding that the real-world struggles of body image are part of the show.

She always had a Rubenesque figure, with fat thighs and knees, but she is quick to call herself a "big girl," not a fat one.

Trainer seeks to lose weight

"I started working out more than usual before the show started," admits Katie Angell Thomas, who plays the sexy fitness instructor Carla. Thomas, who never had a weight problem, tried to channel the aerobics classes she taught in her 20s.

The rehearsals are more demanding than the show itself, McArdle says, "because you have to go through the dances 100 times."

She originated the role of Connie in 2007 when the musical was called "Food Fight," and played at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

McArdle, who recently was named general manager of the Plaza Theatre, steals the "Waist Watchers" show with numbers, such as "If I Were a Size Two," sung to the tune of "If I Were a Rich Man" from the musical, "Fiddler on the Roof."

McArdle, Thomas, Bennett and Keelor at the barre (provided)

Audience loves it

After the show, the cast goes out and talks with the audience.

Invariably they hear: "You guys hit on everything-- Someone who obsesses about weight but is thin, the woman who's had a life-long struggle with weight, food being everywhere but having to work it off, woman who is thin in her younger years but balloons when she hits the middle-ages and then the relationship problems when spouses and boyfriends say: 'How could you let yourself go?' "

Thomas adds, "Everybody has body image problems."

So gentle readers, I am wondering how each of you reign in your internal critic. And what would you say to your significant other if that person asked: How could you let yourself go?

Please answer in the comments section below.

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Sunday, April 7, 2013, when I walked:

Steps: 11,402
Miles: 5.7