Fine Arts Center says it won't shy away from ‘The Full Monty'

Admit it. All you really want to know about "The Full Monty," which opens tonight at the Fine Arts Center, is whether they're really going to do IT on a Colorado Springs stage.

That's right. A "full Monty," which is slang for stripping to one's birthday suit.

When I ask him the question, director Alan Osburn laughs and then responds as any good showman would.

"Come see and you'll know."

Ba-dum-dum.

You probably know the story of the 1997 movie, if not the 2000-02 Tony-nominated musical by composer and lyricist David Yazbek and librettist Terrence McNally.

Although some details have shifted in translation (for instance, it takes place in Buffalo, not in Sheffield, England), the heart of the story is the same.

When six unemployed steelworkers see the enthusiastic reception a Chippendale revue receives at a local club, they decide stripping might be a route to some quick money.

Whether they can deliver a full Monty is a pivotal question for the characters as well as audiences and, in some cases, for the frequently performed play's directors.

"To come here and say, ‘For this audience, we might want to adapt this a little' would be a stake in the heart to these brilliant people," he says of Yazbek, who also scored "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and McNally, a four-time Tony winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee.

"If there's an issue in the piece, then let's not do it. There's a bazillion other shows we could do. The purity aspect to this is much more important for me."

And Osburn says that pieces such as "Monty" and last season's irreverent "Fuddy Meers" speak to a segment of Springs theatergoers looking for something different from the roughly 20-year-old repertory company.

When, some ask, is Osburn going to do edgier pieces?

"I've had people say ‘I'll start financing if you do something that's not so mainstream,'" he says.

Still, he's expecting that a community that expects fare such as "Oklahoma" and "My Fair Lady" might not be comfortable with "The Full Monty."

"I've almost got the stationery ready for the people who are going to write," he says, laughing. "But thousands of people are going to love it. It's the balancing act that goes on."

To head off potential problems, he's taken a few steps.

• Warn ticket-buyers with prominent disclaimers. This one appears on a flier for "The Full Monty": "This production contains graphic adult language, adult situations, partial nudity, and is not suitable for anyone who is easily offended or for children under the age of 17."

• Give subscribers an option to exchange their tickets for seats at another production.

It's funny, he says, but this show brings ticket-buyers back again and again.

They know what to expect.

While stories have circulated that audience members wear sunglasses to sidestep any lighting tricks to obscure the goods, Osburn saw something different when he appeared in the production years ago: They get seats closer to the stage, he says, anticipating those final moments.

"Again, people talk about the last 30 seconds of the show," he says.

"For me, it's the humanity of the piece. Shakespeare wrote ‘Hold a mirror up to nature.' These are real people and they have real problems and the way they find release is through friendship. It's about the fellas."

Right, sure, but do they do IT?

"Let me put it this way," he says.

"There's no question as to whether or not they do."

DETAILS

"THE FULL MONTY"

When: 8 p.m. tonight and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Feb. 15

Where: Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.

Tickets: $26-$35; 634-5583, www.csfineartscenter.org

Something else: A Thursday "Girls Night Out," which offers each female ticket holder a free drink at the FAC's Deco Lounge.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Since there's no stage direction in the script as to how to deal with potential nudity at the end of the musical, companies have taken different tacks. Here are a few.

• The movie freezes the action at the crucial moment.

• Some companies use strobe lights.

• Some companies go to black.

• A touring company changed to a black light that only illuminates the G-strings, director Alan Osburn says. When they come off, it's total black and no doubt the actors are naked.