REVIEW: Charismatic cast keeps audience boisterous
How far would you go to provide for your family?
In these troubled times, it's a question more and more people are forced to face.
Fortunately, it's also a question that can lead to an abundance of laughter - and some revealing performances - as the Fine Arts Center's production of "The Full Monty" proves.
Based on the 1997 British movie of the same name, this musical version features the genial Nick Madson as Jerry Lukowski, a Buffalo steelworker who, after losing his job, begins to doubt his self-worth and, what's more important, his masculinity. Driven to desperation by his ex-wife's efforts to take full custody of their 12-year-old son, Jerry decides to make the money he needs to keep his son by stripping at a local club.
It's left to Jerry's overweight buddy Dave Bukatinsky, hilariously underplayed by Cory Moosman, to question the wisdom of two less-than-ripped guys trying to make a buck by taking off their clothes.
Still, Dave signs on to Jerry's unlikely scheme, and together they recruit four equally desperate guys to join them, including a suicidal security guard, an MBA who's hiding his lack of employment from his shopaholic wife, an aging arthritic who's convinced he's still got the moves, and a miraculously endowed lover of Broadway musicals.
As the newfound friends struggle with the prospect of baring it all to a club full of strangers, they find the courage to take an even bigger risk - baring their frailties and flaws to one another.
"The Full Monty" is one of those shows that needs an enthusiastic - all right, rowdy - crowd to make it work, but that was no problem for the normally sedate SaGaJi Theater on opening night. From the moment the house lights went down, the women in the audience whooped it up (aided by a few strategically placed cast members), and they didn't stop until the show was done.
And although the show is long - almost three hours with intermission - it doesn't feel like it at all. Terrence McNally's dialogue comes fast and funny, while David Yazbek's driving, pop-infused songs keep the energy - and laugh - levels high.
The cast is strong across the board, but it's the six main actors who really make this production shine. In their rapid-fire repartee as well as their energetic dance numbers, they mesh like a precision drill squad yet always maintain their hilariously distinctive personalities.
Other standouts include Karen Vasil Carolan as the boys' straight-talking accompanist, and Miriam Roth Ballard as Dave's sassy, self-assured wife.
And Mary Ripper Baker's spirited choreography is a star in its own right, giving the songs all the muscle their testosterone-laden lyrics deserve.
The only weak point was the theater's ongoing struggle with its sound system. A microphone dropped out at the beginning of one scene and the vocals were sometimes overpowered by the eight-piece orchestra.
So exactly how far are these guys willing to go to regain their self-esteem? To anyone who saw the show last weekend, the answer was clear.
As far as it takes.
DETAILS
"The Full Monty" by the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 15
Where: Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.
Tickets: $26-$35; 634-5583
GRADE: A
