Actors let it all hang out this weekend at ‘The Full Monty’
Twenty-two years after its premiere on Broadway, the beloved musical “The Full Monty” is making its way to Virginia Beach for three days, April 29 through May 1.
Based on the British film of the same name, the movie was converted into a musical and the setting moved to Buffalo, New York, by the legendary playwright Terrence McNally. It went on to be a huge hit, playing on Broadway for two years and nominated for 10 Tony Awards. Translated into multiple languages, the production was taken internationally to 20 countries spanning nearly every continent.
“The Full Monty” follows a group of ordinary — and unemployed — guys looking to support their families.
The men’s “aha” moment happens when they are spying on their wives enjoying a girls’ night out at Chippendales. Seeing the women ecstatic made the steelworkers feel emasculated and jealous. To gain some cash and bring their sexy back, the guys devise a plan to coordinate their own strip tease at a club. How far, the audience wonders, laughing, will they go?
After a tough year and continually uncertain times, “The Full Monty” is the perfect play to
cheer folks up for Virginia Musical Theatre’s final show of the season.
“Right now, if you ask a room of a thousand people to raise their hands if they need a good laugh, you are going to get a thousand hands in the air!” executive director Mark Hudgins wrote in an email. “‘The Full Monty’ has everything you need to escape into the theatre, infectious music, a feel-good, unabashedly sentimental story that works because it is told from the heart.”
“The Full Monty” uses humor
to delve into deeper themes. Coming with the ridiculous yet vulnerable premise of average Joes becoming strippers is commentary about body consciousness and anxiety, topics that are widely disregarded within the sphere of toxic masculinity and often are shameful for straight men. In this story, the characters — and by extension, the audience — are allowed to explore this subject matter.
“As the guys work through their fears, self-consciousness, feelings of worthlessness and anxieties, they come to discover that not only are they stronger as a group, but that the strength they find in each other gives them the individual courage to face their demons and overcome them,” Hudgins wrote. “Real human dilemmas and conflicts” are levied with “comedy-rich context” that allows folks to explore somewhat painful topics with an open mind.
Though the source material is “a little over 25 years old,” he said, “the messages need no updating.” He believes the themes of keeping families together, keeping husbands and wives smiling, and keeping children healthy and happy are “universal themes that stand the test of time.”
In the play’s signature (and always eagerly awaited) closing number, the cast is sure to let it all hang out on stage — but just enough to keep the audience wanting more, Hudgins said: “We can guarantee no one will leave completely scandalized.”