“The Full Monty”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - August 2010

While this is certainly not the best of the four productions of The Full Monty that I have seen, it is by far the funniest, and that is because director Michael C. Mensching has emphasized the humor to the detriment of the really charming and touching human stories at the heart of this show. In fact, Mensching has really directed this piece remarkably badly, and the fact that it is as fresh and funny as it is is proof of the strength of the material and the talents of the cast.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Full Monty is NOT a show about men taking their clothes of, although of course they do in the finale which is always a hoot. It is a show about what makes human beings feel worthy of love.

I saw this production literally in the middle of seeing the theatrical marathon that was Tina Packer’s Women of Will: The Complete Journey – fifteen hours of discourse on Shakespeare’s female roles interspersed with performances of scenes from the Bard’s canon. Packer’s thesis was that until the male and female are equal partners sexually, spiritually, and politically we cannot move forward as a society. Historically, it has been the female voice that has been repressed and silenced so that the males could establish and maintain the societal structure, but in “The Full Monty” we see the recent phenomenon of the male being pushed outside the economic power structure while the women take over.

And they literally do early on in the show when, at the Chippendales performance, the female characters storm the men’s restroom because the line for the ladies’ room is too long. They entire shouting “Look out, boys, this is a hostile take over!” and proceed to sing the wonderfully rowdy song It’s a Woman’s World.

“Who’s got power?
Who’s got juice?
Who’s got the money?
It’s a woman’s world.”

- David Yazbek

Conversely, in the song entitled Man, the central character, Jerry, sings:

“You’re out of work, your pride is missin’
They call you jerk but you don’t listen
You haven’t got a pot to piss in
But you’re a … man.”

And later…

“What is a man? Why does he bother?
‘Cause he’s a man. ‘Cause he’s a father
He wants his kid, he wants his life
He wants to…
He wants to be
A man
A real man”

- David Yazbek

The genius of Simon Beaufoy’s original screenplay, neatly Americanized and translated to the stage by Terrance McNally, is making Jerry (Andy Hassell) an unemployed father desperate to earn the child support money that will enable him to retain join custody of his son. Jerry is no saint, but he loves Nathan (Zack Marshall). Surrounding him is the motley crew of variously flawed but sympathetic guys who are also desperate enough to take their clothes off for some cash. As they prepare to expose themselves physically, they must also strip away the emotional clothing with which they cover their true selves and confront their pain and their desire head on.

Unfortunately, it is exactly this pathos that Mensching fails to communicate. This is especially apparent in the character of Malcolm who should be pathetic as well as sympathetic, and who is played strictly for laughs by the talented but woefully miscast Edward Tolve. Looking like a cross between Seymour Krelborn and Julia Sweeney’s Pat, Tolve’s comic façade makes it impossible to connect with the character during the crucial funeral scene in which Malcolm deals with the loss of his mother and the acceptance of his own homosexuality and new relationship with Ethan (Steven Cardona.) Mensching has also staged this scene without any of the subtlety that usually makes it so moving. This is the first time I didn’t tear up at Jerry and Dave’s exchange about Malcolm and Ethan’s holding hands at the funeral.

There are four love stories in The Full Monty – Jerry and Nate’s father/son bond, Malcolm and Ethan’s coming out and coming together, and the relationships between the two heterosexual married couples – Harold (Sky Vogel, who also played this role in the Cohoes Music Hall production last year) and Vicki (Amy Fiebke), and Dave (Brian Sheldon) and Georgie (Alison Rose Munn.) Both of the latter are very much in love, but the men’s unemployment has put them under serious strain. Harold, who was the rest of the men’s boss at the steel mill, has not had the courage to tell Vicki that he was laid off, and she is continuing to spend money lavishly. Dave’s unemployment and subsequent loss of self-esteem has rendered him impotent, much to Georgie’s frustration. Dave also suffers from the constant feeling of failure that all fat people must endure in this society.

All of these performers – along with Chaz Rose as Horse; Carol Charniga as the feisty old piano player Jeanette and Malcolm’s mother; Jerielle Morwitz as Jerry’s ex-wife and Nate’s mother, Pam; Trey Compton as Pam’s fiancé, Teddy, and other roles; Courtney Nolan Smith as Estelle, Jerry’s current girlfriend; Eddie Maldonado as Keno, the professional male stripper, and other roles; Lynn Andrews as Susan and the Policewoman – are talented and attractive folks. They sing, they dance, they make you laugh.

I got a special kick out of Fiebke’s kooky Vicki and Charniga’s eccentric Jeanette, a role she is reprising from the 2005 production of this show at the Barn. I think that Marshall is one of the best young actors I have seen in the role of Nathan. Rose brings down the house with his Act I star-turn in Big Black Man.

I was delighted to see beautiful women of different shapes and sizes in the cast. This is a show about finding the beauty in average folks, and laughing at the wobbly bits we all have. Confidence, intelligence, and a sense of humor are all much sexier that physical perfection. (Although regular bathing helps too!)

But frankly any show where Act I opens with Eddie Maldonado taking his clothes off and Act II opens with Carol Charniga making me laugh myself silly is a good show in my book. I had FUN! And fun is highly underrated.

Christine Marcella is credited with the choreography, which has the good, masculine energy it needs. This cast is not particularly strong in the dance department, but they get their act together for both the Act I and II finale’s – Michael Jordan’s Ball and Let It Go. I saw the first public performance and there were some rough edges to the final striptease that will hopefully be smoothed over in subsequent performances. It is NOT easy to strip, even with the assistance of cleverly concealed hunks of Velcro in the costumes by Michelle Bohn. And these guys have to do it while singing, dancing, smiling, and looking like they are enjoying themselves. I hope that professional strippers do enjoy their work, but these are actors, not ecdysiasts and I am sure that that finale is one of the most nerve-wracking stage experiences they will ever have.

The band – Musical Director and keyboardist Victoria Casella, along with Walter Bauer on bass, and percussionist Ian Tucksmith – provide solid musical support from their perch offstage left. Abe Phelp’s set was about as ugly as those dead steel mills in Buffalo and an odd elevated rolling unit kept getting in the way. Allen Phelps’ lighting design is unobtrusive when it needs to be and does what it must at the bitter end.

I would definitely recommend this as a fun outing for families with kids 10 and older, There are plenty of dirty jokes in this show, but its nothing your kids haven’t already heard on TV or in the movies. And there is NO nudity, although most of the male members of the cast do strip down to g-strings at some point. This is a show about what gives people – male and female – a sense of dignity so that they can love and be loved. The bonds of family, marriage, and friendship, and the loyalty and compassion they require, are at the heart of this show.

The Full Monty runs from August 26 – September 5 at the fully air conditioned Theater Barn located at 654 Route 20 in New Lebanon, NY. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 5pm and 8:30pm and Sundays at 2pm. The show runs two hours and forty-five minutes with one intermission. Tickets are $24 for the evening performances and $22 for the Sunday matinees. For reservations call 518-794-8989.

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