The Full Monty
Prince of Wales Theatre 2002

The Full Monty is a happy, bouncy and thoroughly enjoyable evening out. That's what it promises, and that's what it delivers, and any minor criticisms (which I will undoubtedly get around to before the end of this review) are irrelevant. You go to a show like this to have a good time, and you'll have it.

I write as the only person in the Western World who has not seen the film, so questions of whether the musical is better, worse, different or not are irrelevant to me. I know that, as a Broadway product, it has been Americanized, its setting moved from Sheffield to Buffalo, New York (if anything, a more depressed fading industrial city). A couple of characters have been added, and a few plot details shifted to allow for songs.

But essentially it's the same story: unemployed steelworkers, running out of money and feeling emasculated, decide to form a male stripper act and, after some ups and downs, give a triumphal performance. In the new book by playwright Terrence McNally, they are led by Jerry (Jarrod Emick), a divorced guy at risk of losing visitation rights to his son, and Dave (John Ellison Conlee), his chubby married friend. They recruit four others: a former executive whose wife doesn't know he was fired (Marcus Neville), a suicidal mama's boy (Jason Danieley), an old guy who just happens to dance better than anyone else (Andre de Shields) and an accident-prone but impressively-hung klutz (Romain Fruge).

The six men are all from the original Broadway production, while the rest of the cast is British - assorted wives and girlfriends, Jerry's son, and ­ the one major new character ­ an old vaudevillian who joins the boys as pianist and mother confessor (Dora Bryan, doing her feisty-old-broad shtick and almost stealing the show).

The songs, by David Yazbek, are always serviceable and occasionally rise above that level. The men's first song, "Scrap," is a strong expression of the anger and frustration of being unemployed, and the climactic strip number, "Let It Go," rocks the house. In between, there are clever lyrics to a song in which Dave and Jerry prove their friendship to Malcolm by offering to help him kill himself, and another in which the guys' ogling of women leads to imagining what the girls think of them. If a few other songs - "Life With Harold" performed by Rebecca Thornhill, say, or Danieley's "You Walk With Me" - aren't quite the show-stoppers they clearly want to be, they're still pleasant.

And the cavils? There are no real production numbers, and the show frequently looks lost on the big empty stage. The plot and structure are a bit by-the-numbers, with predictable complications and resolutions on the way to the happy ending, which is a achieved only by sweeping a lot of still-unresolved problems under the rug. Direction by Jack O'Brien is crisp and fluid but Jerry Mitchell's choreography shines only in the first act finale, in which the boys use basketball moves to learn to dance, and in the big final number.

From time to time, in the slower moments, you might sense that The Full Monty is good without ever quite becoming great. But the performers are uniformly attractive and charming, and there's more theatrical life to this show than to such stillborn projects as The Beautiful Game or the recent revival of Rent. If what you want is the traditional good night out, you'll get full satisfaction.

Gerald Berkowitz

Footnote: After writing the above, I've seen the film. As you may have guessed, the musical follows it almost scene-by-scene, with a couple of key exceptions. But in every case, the added songs enhance the moment, enrich the characterisations and deepen the drama or comedy. This is the rare case of a musical that actually improves on its source, however excellent that was to begin with. G.B.

SEPTEMBER 2002: Major cast changes, with some gains and losses, leave The Full Monty still one of the most polished, entertaining good-nights-out that the West End has to offer.

The musical by Terrence McNally (book) and David Yazbek (songs) is, of course, based on the hit film about unemployed men who cobble together a Chippendales-style strip act. The original London cast combined the men from the Broadway cast with British actresses, and the Broadway contingent has now been replaced by an all-British cast.

The only significant falling-off is in the lead role of Jerry, the divorced father who puts together the strip act to raise the money so he won't lose contact with his son. Ben Richards sings well, but his acting is purely mechanical, doing little to draw us into his emotional journey and keeping his more dramatic songs from registering.

On the other hand, Tony Timberlake as the former boss recruited to choreograph the act and Cornell John as the old guy who is the only one who can actually dance are marginally better than the originals. I saw an understudy - Alex Gaumond - as the suicidal Malcolm - and he easily outshone most of the others.

McNally's one key addition to the movie is the role of the show biz veteran who volunteers as the boys' pianist and den mother, and one British feisty-old-broad icon - Dora Bryan - has been replaced by another - Lynda Baron - who plays her as even more gruff-but-heart-of-gold to great effect.

Only someone who saw the original cast will notice any of these changes, and no one need be bothered by them. As my original review indicates, the show is not perfect, but it remains as sure a thing as you could ask for in light entertainment.

Gerald Berkowitz

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Review - The Full Monty - Prince of Wales 2002