Review: Short North Stage's THE FULL MONTY Delivers the Goods

THE FULL MONTY: THE MUSICAL has some pretty unlikely ingredients for musical comedy: divorce, unemployment, degradation, custody battles, suicide, alienation and Buffalo, New York in the economically depressed 2000. Yet somehow, Short North Stage director Edward Carignan makes all those ingredients work while bringing Terrence McNally's script and David Yazbeck's lyrics to life.

The two-act, two-and-a-half hour musical opened on March 31 and runs through April 24 at the Garden Theatre (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus).

The musical loosely bears a resemblance to the 1997 British comedy of the same name. McNally moves the setting from Sheffield, England to Buffalo where Jerry Lukowski (the talented David Bryant Johnson) has lost his job at a local steel mill, his wife to another man and, after failing to pay child support, his visitation rights to his teenage son, Nathan.

After seeing the sensation the Romeos, a traveling male strip revue, causes among the female residents of Buffalo, Lukowski recruits his beefy best friend Dave Bukatinsky (John McAvaney) and four other unemployed factory workers to provide local ladies with "real men" and raise $50,000.

"And you're through the roof, and you're in the zone," Lukowski sings in "Michael Jordan's Ball" as he tries to puff up the self-esteem of the other members of Hot Steel. "Two-hundred-proof testosterone. You're bad, you're hot, you're almost God!"

The problem is Lukowski and the rest of the troupe believes they rank somewhere between arctic and lukewarm on the hotness scale. Bukatinsky, Malcom MacGregor (Sean Felder), Ethan Girard (Patrick Walters), Harold Nichols (Ian Short), Noah "Horse" T. Simmons and Tony Giordano (George Bailey) believe they lack the looks, physiques, dance moves and "other talents" of the Chippendale counterparts.

Each one of the men harbors deep-seeded fears and insecurities. Malcom, for example, feels so friendless and alone that he attempts killing himself before being saved by Bukatinsky and Lukowski. The trio's song, "Big Ass Rock," shows the shallow depth of their friendship: "Let's find a rock, I mean a big-ass rock or maybe something like, a cinder block is better. I'll hoist it up and drop it on your face, my buddy. And just before the lights go out, you'll see my smile and you'll know. You've got a friend, with a rock, who cares."

Not all the songs are as caustic as "Big Ass Rock." MacGregor and Girard's duet "You Walk With Me" ranks up there among Broadway's most touching ballads and Felder and Walters' delivery of it was the emotional apex of the show.

THE FULL MONTY works because it is a great ensemble piece. As brassy piano player Jeanette Burmeister, Linda Kinnison Roth dispenses out many of the shows' best zingers. Gina Handy (Georgie Walsh Bukatinsky) and Jackie Comisar (Pam Lukowski) lead a contingent of strong female performers.

With THE FULL MONTY, the Short North Stage revealed one of its strongest sets to complement its new sound and lighting systems. Its stage shows the decay and renewal of Buffalo as foreclosed houses and closed businesses become renovated homes and coffee shops during the course of the show. Jim Kucera (keyboards), Larry Marotta (guitar), Richard Wesner (bass), Tom Regouski (reed), Brogan Reilly (trumpet), Ryan Starcher (trombone), and Joe Spurlock (drums) produced crystal clear sound that brought the songs to life.

There are some flaws within the script of THE FULL MONTY. Lukowski's transition from being homophobic in the first act to being completely understanding of MacGregor and Girard's relationship in the second is a little too smooth and some of the lines elicit groans more than laughter.

However, Lukowski's wrestling with his decision to go all the way and give the audience "the full Monty" creates enough tension to carry the show.

THE FULL MONTY will be performed 8 p.m. April 2, 7-9, 14-16 and 21-23 and 3 p.m. April 3, 10, 17 and 24 at the Garden Theatre (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus). Call 614-725-4042 or email info@shortnorthstage.org for ticket information.

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