'Full Monty' gets down to bare essentials of musical comedy
AUGUSTA -- Outside the expected striptease in the Tuesday debut of "The Full Monty" at Augusta's Barn Theatre, there was an extra, unintentional "wardrobe malfunction."
That goof just added to the zany pluck of the delightful musical, however, and prudes probably ought to pass on "Monty," regardless. The language is easily PG-13, and an obscenity uttered by the talented beyond-his-14-years Nich Mueller (a Kalamazoo Civic Theatre regular) brought belly-laughs only from a few younger audience members and jaw-drops from the rest. Still, the show is radically less edgy than writer Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christi," a 1997 play in which Jesus and his disciples were portrayed as homosexuals.
Easily more engaging and a bit less bleak than the 1997 film of the same name, musical "Monty" moves the characters from their original England to a steel-working sector in Buffalo, N.Y. Also, the players are more likably drawn than in the film, despite their character flaws and physical foibles. Still intact, though, is the storyline of a group of six out-of-work men who seek a quick buck and ego boost by letting it all hang out in a Chippendales-like inspired.
While so much musical theater stitches together flimsy storylines with so-so songs, "Monty" is as tightly woven as 600-thread-count sheets.
More than a decade of sharing the Augusta theater's stage together creates chemistry among "Monty" men Scott Burkell, Eric Parker and Joe Aiello, who work as well together as ever. Yet visitors Allen Hale and Parrish Collier and first-year summerstocker Jamey Grisham join the varsity team with finesse.
Collier, fresh off Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre's "Monty," particularly delights in his number "Big Black Man." Hale and Parker's chummy pairing makes the show, and Hale's interaction with his character's wife Georgie (Penelope Alex) in the song-cycle "You Walk With Me"/"You Rule My World (Reprise)" is especially touching.
"Monty's" easily at its best when it's shaking its true moneymaker -- its comedic elements -- but the dramatic bits are a blast, too. Only one song (lullabylike "Breeze off the River") seems trite, despite being perfectly delivered in Parker's trademark songbird falsetto.
On the comedy side, the gals (particularly Erin Elizabeth Coors) sizzle in such numbers as "It's a Woman's World," "The Goods," and guest artist and Kalamazoo theater director Mychelle Hopkins' "Jeanette's Showbiz Number" is a riot. The men show their best sides on such funny numbers as "Scrap," finale number "Let It Go" and "Big-Ass Rock" -- during which Burkell so perfectly delivered a one-liner on opening night that the singers had to pause for a full 30 seconds of laughter and applause midsong.
Director/choreographer Charlie Misovye wears both hats well, making for a terrific comedy about a group of unlikely studs. Altogether, "Monty" makes for a more riveting night than a Chippendales cabaret any day.
Everyone roots for these 'Monty' men
If you're looking for a good evening of musical theater, don't settle for OK. Go "The Full Monty."
That's the British term for strippers who take it all off, but it's also a Tony Award-winning musical that has it all: hilarious lines, heart-tugging songs, lovable characters -- and, yes, the guts to bare all.
The production at Augusta's Barn Theatre adds one more element -- a friendly familiarity that sets it apart from the national tour that visited Grand Rapids a couple of years ago. These are actors we know; we've seen several of them year after year in various shows, so on some level, there is more at stake. It's not just, will these characters actually take it all off; it's, will these actors?
To make it even more personal, Barn actors spill down the aisles shouting at the stage and leading the audience in chants of "Buffalo men go all the way!"
Tuesday's full house of about 480 didn't need much encouragement. Early in the show, when guest artist Parrish Collier started dancing and singing, audience members were clapping and hooting even though he was fully dressed and feigning a bum hip. And their applause stopped the show when Barn regular Scott Burkell delivered a line with perfect deadpan.
Written by Terrance McNally and David Yazbek, the musical is based on a British film about some out-of-work steelworkers who devise a strip show to raise money and their spirits. The musical transports the story to Buffalo, N.Y.
Barn regular Eric Parker really pours his all into the lead role of Jerry, a good-natured, fun-loving guy who is about to lose visiting privileges with his son if he can't pay child support to his ex-wife. Allen Hale gives an excellent performance as his buddy Dave, who wants to join in the striptease plan but is embarrassed because he's overweight.
Joe Aiello, another Barn regular, is convincing as Harold Nichols, a supervisor who hasn't told his free-spending wife he's lost his job. Burkell is Malcolm, a suicidal night watchman who still lives with his mother. Collier and Barn intern Jamey Grisham complete the striptease act.
As you might expect, the vocabulary and subject matter aren't really suitable for children, but this is in no way a bawdy show. There's a lot more talk about stripping than actual doing. What's really stripped away is sham and stereotypes, revealing some very ordinary, realistic people.
Yazbek's music also has a very ordinary, real-people appeal, with witty rhymes and nice minor-key harmonies to spotlight the characters' frustrations. "Big Ass Rock," an irreverent examination of suicide methods, was one of the funniest songs of the evening.
In contrast, "You Rule My World," was both funny and touching as Dave sings about his stomach ruling his life and Harold laments his love for his expensive wife. In a second-act reprise, the wives respond with their support.
Many of the secondary characters are standouts in this production, particularly Erin Elizabeth Coors as Harold's wife, Vicki, and her jazzy treatment of the number "Life with Harold," Kevin Field as a very artful professional stripper, Nich Mueller as Jerry's tough-talking son Nathan and Mychelle Hopkins as the wisecracking pianist.
When it comes to the critical final moments of the show, the striptease act is not quite polished yet with the split-second timing of the touring show. But by that point, the audience is so supportive of these six men, as characters and as actors, that it doesn't matter.
Elkhart Truth
'Full Monty' is a sure thing
Published: Thursday, July 28, 2005 -- The Truth, A7
Last updated: 7/27/2005
AUGUSTA, Mich. -- Turning a film comedy into a theatrical musical is not always a sure thing.
In 1997, a British film about unemployed steelworkers in Sheffield, England, was nominated for an Academy Award. Four years later, it came to Broadway, now set in Buffalo, N.Y., but with the same theme -- unemployment and what it does to a family, inside and out.
It was an instant hit and the production of "The Full Monty" that opened Tuesday evening at The Barn Theatre is definitely proof of why.
From brief, up-tempo overture to triumphant finale (let's hear it for the lights!) "The Full Monty " is definitely a feel-good musical, albeit not necessarily one for the pre-teen crowd.
The score, although probably not familiar to most theater-goers, is definitely a winner and makes the three-hour production fly by.
The story of six out-of-work factory workers who, watching working wives and girlfriends spend money on a Chippendales show, decide the way to come up with some quick cash is to let the ladies of Buffalo have a look at "hometown talent." The degree of "show" is escalated in the final moments by the necessity of offering something more than Chippendales -- i.e. The Full Monty -- a euphemism for stripping to the buff.
The journey from "Scrap" frustration to "Let It Go" triumph is marked by lots and lots of laughs -- the "audition" scene itself is worth the price of admission -- but aside from the humor, the Terrence McNally script also says a lot about acceptance, love and the importance of communication.
Heading the talented cast are three of The Barn's top guns -- Scott Burkell, Joe Aiello and Eric Parker. Along with Allen Hale, Jamey Gresham (who literally has a "bang up" time) and Collier, they form Hot Metal.
Burkell is an uncanny actor, who, as "loser" Malcolm MacGregor, stops the show with one line and mixes pathos and a bit of the absurd to create a wonderfully sympathetic winner. Aiello, as the shirt-and-tie member of the group, delivers just the right mix of stuffed shirt and scared spouse as former executive Harold Nichols, determined to keep his unemployed status from his seemingly materialistic wife.
Parker is Jerry Lukowski, instigator of the group, divorced and about to lose custody of his son to his ex (played with empathetic stoicism by Bethany Wood) for failure to provide support. His Jerry is angry and frightened and hurt and defiant, in the end, a man headed for change and the hero of the day.
Parish Collier, reprising the role of Noah (Horse) T. Simmons which he played at the Drury Lane Water Tower Theater, is a gem and literally stops the show, several times, with his interpretation of "Big Black Man."
Rounding out the sextet are Hale as Jerry's best friend, Dave Bukatinski, who finally overcomes his avoirdupois, and Gresham as Ethan Girard, the last recruit who has only one redeeming feature.
With Michelle Hopkins, who is appropriately feisty but a bit too young to really be a '40s pianist, they struggle, rehearse, retreat and, finally, step into the spotlight on a journey that brought the opening night audience to its feet.
As "We've got the power" women, Penelope Alex, Erin Elizabeth Coors and Ellen Schneir more than do justice to their solo and ensemble numbers, especially hitting home with "It's a Woman's World" and "The Goods."
Nich Mueller plays Nathan Lukowski, Jerry's young son, with the stage presence of a seasoned veteran and a warm, fresh quality that is totally delightful.
The Barn ensemble does well, as usual, in quadruple duty in a variety of roles.
The set design, which must encompass a variety of locations, is done primarily in chain-link fencing and movable platforms which ultimately are too distracting. And I kept waiting for the Sharks and the Jets.
The choreography tends to be routine and, in "Life with Harold," disappointingly absent.
Contact Marcia Fulmer at mfulmer@etruth.com.
Augusta's 'Monty' is rollicking fun
By Lamont E. Clegg
For the Lansing State Journal
The finale of "The Full Monty" tells the audience to "Let It Go," and that sums up the spirit of the performance of the Barn Theatre's current offering. The American stage musical version of the 1997 British film brings cheers, laughs and the requisite flesh to the Augusta theatre.
Not straying far from the film's story, this Americanized retelling takes place in Buffalo, N.Y., where the mill has closed and many of the town's men have been out of work for 18 months. With hopes of a big payday, six of the unemployed Average Joes decide to become strippers for a night.
The primary reason the show works is the six leading men. They are able to capture the heart of the story. Eric Parker's Jerry Lukowski is the ringleader. Parker's beautiful tenor voice shines on the ballad "Breeze Off the River" sung to his son (played by Nich Meuller). Scott Burkell (Malcolm) and Jamey Grisham (Ethan) also demonstrate their substantial pipes on the duet "You Walk With Me," in one of the show's most genuine moments.
However, it's Parish Collier's performance as Horse, singing "Big Black Man," that takes the audience over the edge. He belts out the tune while gyrating, bumping, grinding and even splitting. Adding to the stripping fray are Allen Hale (Dave) and Joe Aiello (Harold). The six team up for the rollicking Act I finale "Michael Jordan's Ball," easily the most clever and fun number in a show without a lot of memorable songs.
Adding wonderful support to the guys is Mychelle Hopkins as Jeanette Burmeister, their rehearsal pianist. Reminiscent of a younger Irene Ryan, Hopkins is a real find. Possessing impeccable comedic timing and energy, she is a joy on that stage.
Director/choreographer Charlie Misovye has crafted a fun (albeit a little naughty) reason to scream "take it off."
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