Review: The Full Monty with Book by Terrence McNally; Music and Lyrics by David Yazbeck based on the film by the same name, screenplay by Simon Beaufoy. Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Dixon. With Dane Stokinger, Kevin High, Bob De Dea, Terence Kelley, Michael Nicholas, Troy L. Wageman and Ellen McLain. Now through October 24 at The Village Theater/Issaquah and October 29-November 21 at the Everett Performing Arts Center.
Let’s cut to the chase shall we? The Village Theatre in Issaquah is a professional theater company that knows how to put on superb productions of largely well-known musicals and straight plays and they are amazing. They spend the money and the time and the effort to hire professional actors, directors, designers and crews to stage these plays and the quality of their productions always reflect this. But, they are a suburban theater company with a conservative audience base and they tend to feature seasons with safe, well-proven shows. There’s nothing wrong with that and I love seeing new interpretations of classic works put on by professionals. But sometimes, they pick shows that are not worthy of “classic” status…works that are safe and with a built in recognition factor, a problem that Broadway has been encouraging for the last ten years; an over reliance on musicals either based on pre-existing cultural properties, usually films, or “jukebox” musicals that use familiar catalogues from pop musicians like ABBA, or Queen, or Billy Joel, or one of a dozen other iconic musical acts from the last 40 years. Occasionally, these shows are amazing; usually they just sorta/kinda suck. In my opinion, “The Full Monty: the Musical” falls firmly into the latter and not the former category…
The original 1997 film was a sweet, simple little feel good film that struck a chord with audiences and managed to become a huge hit and receive multiple Oscar nominations. It’s a charming, but slight film; (does anyone really pop this into their DVD player for annual viewings?) It was also 91 minutes long, an ideal length for a film of its nature. The musical is about three hours long. The music is banal and bland and generic. The characters and plot are still sweet but they don’t hold enough interest or dramatic/comedic conflict for a three hour running time. “The Full Monty” is a prime example of a piece of art that was fine in its original version but doesn’t necessarily translate to a different artistic or entertainment format. It’s like forcing a Ding-Dong to be a rack of lamb. Just. Doesn’t. Compute.
Getting that out of the way, let me emphasize that the Village Theatre has done an excellent job with its production…as usual. The money and talent they’ve utilized is apparent. The rough, industrial set is full of rich visual detail; the costumes are period correct and fabulously just over the top enough to keep your visual interest. The sound and lighting design is excellent. Again, the usual professional job from the Village. But, all that love and attention seems wasted on a trivial show like “Full Monty”.
The actors were fine and seemed to be having a good time with the meager material, pulling out all the stops to sell the songs. Dane Stockinger makes an appealingly sexy leading man as the the raffish ringleader Jerry Lukowski. He’s a blue-collar big mouth and a bit of a bum, but he’s a blue-collar big mouth/bum with a heart of gold and Mr Stockinger is obviously relishing his star turn. Kevin High was also fine as the depressed, “full-figured” sidekick Dave Bukatinksky though he seemed to be a bit old for the part; Dave and Jerry are supposed to be similar in age, I believe. Terence Kelley has a great number, “Big Black Man” as the misnamed character “Horse” but not really enough to do in the rest of the show. He’s largely wasted.
As for the gay couple, their plotline is pretty forgettable and meager. Michael Nicholas as the depressed Mama’s boy Malcolm and Troy L. Wageman as the hyperkinetic Ethan do a fine job with very little material to play with. Their passionate embrace is weakly staged and their big “gay” moment consists of hand-holding during a dreary song in a funeral scene. I’ve seen more homoeroticism at a Casey Treat church revival.
The Full Monty is a show that female audiences enjoy, for obvious reasons, (almost naked men on stage) but sadly, all the female characters in the show are either crones, dingbats or bitches…it almost borders on misogyny. Audiences love the character of Jeanette, the feisty, chain-smoking old vaudevillian who plays piano for the men. It’s a great character and Ellen McLain is a delight in the role (and obviously the character most beloved by the audience) but it’s really a one-note joke, (the character, not the performance). The other women in the show either come off as: 1)Bitches; 2)Horndogs; 3)Stupid and materialistic; or 4)A combination of all or some of the above. The actresses playing the parts are fine, but does feminism mean that progress requires actresses to play characters as ugly and one-dimensional as ones played by actors in similar roles? I hope not.
Summing it up. Hate the show. Really hate the score. Like the original film. Love the talent.
– Michael Strangeways
