BWW Reviews: Candlelight Presents a Deliciously Sturdy FULL MONTY

The Full Monty/book by Terrence McNally/music & lyrics by David Yazbek/choreography by John Vaughan/directed by John LaLonde/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through June 16

Since the 2000 Broadway musical, which endearingly moved the action of the popular 1997 film from Great Britain to the United States, The Full Monty has become as popularly American as apple pie. Well...almost! It does use basketball and Michael Jordan as the motivation for one of its great dance numbers. And much more than that, it represents the struggling middle-class that is still plagued with unemployment, but whose citizens also continue to dream the American dream, whereby anything is possible. And, even more to the letter, it shows down-to-earth, down-on-their-luck men, who may be overweight or possessing only average endowment - far from perfect, with pimples and all ... who try to make a difference...differently ... by risking it all and doing a Chippendales strip show to earn some money. Factory workers on one side; the corporate world on the other, dictating what you should do and should not! And who says we do not live in a fascist state? Present day die-hard Republicans will hate the show for its so-called immorality and more to the point, for its suggested promotion of community involvement in the arts, and of course, for its display of breaking the rules. Thus the production now at the Candlelight Pavlion Dinner Theatre, replete with such dynamic direction and cast - I had to pinch myself to make sure I was at a dinner theatre - is ever so timely, a wake up call for Americans to take action against ignorance and inhumanity.

The risky creativity that the show suggests cannot be denied. Hell, I'd get up and strip - but there's too much violence in the world already - if I thought it would make a difference in the way people think! Jerry Lukowski (Louis Pardo), Dave Bukatinsky (Sheldon Robert Morley), Malcolm MacGregor (Nick Tubbs), Ethan Girard (Kristofer Sundquist), Noah "Horse" T. Simmons (Paul David Bryant) and Harold Nichols (Neil Dale) are hugely different personalities who unite for a common purpose, staying true to one another and most importantly to themselves.

The Full Monty may speak to you or me about this or that, but it's primarily a fun evening of theatre with a sensational score by Dave Yazbek, so deliciously jazzy yet with two of the most beautiful ballads of the last decade: "You Rule My World" and "You Walk With Me". They signify comraderie and love, which is pretty much summed up by the show in the last scene when those onstage pull the audience in jubilantly. The women laugh at first at the thought of their pimply-assed mates taking it all off, but then they cheer them on, so vive la difference!

Under LaLonde's slick direction, this is a deliriously enjoyable cast. All the guys play their roles with intelligence and verve. Pardo is intensely aggressive; Morley really feels Dave's sense of self-loathing; Tubbs brings out the reserved nature of mama's boy Malcolm and Sundquist as Ethan is fiercely funny. Bryant makes Horse direct and likable and Dale is a sturdily disciplined Harold. Stephanie Draude creates a typically no-nonsense Pam. Jennifer Lawson makes the sarcastic yet caring Jeanette unforgettably original. Stacy Huntington is genuine and loving as Georgie; Michaelia Leigh, fresh and feisty as Estelle. Praise as well to Jackson Tobiska, Tanner Davis as Nathan, and Chelsea Emma Franko, adding such charm and beauty to the ensemble. Kudos as well to John Vaughan's dextrous choreography.

I never tire of The Full Monty, because quite frankly it's a musical that has it all: great music and dancing, an infectiously bold sense of living... and real contemporary American sass and nerve. Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre's great production could not be better!

http://www.candlelightpavilion.com/

photo credit: Isaac James Creative