The Full Monty

The English film of “The Full Monty” released in 1997 and a box office favourite, soon became the subject of an Americanized version with music by David Yazbeck in 2000. Again, a very popular choice of musical for both professional and amateur societies, Worthing was able to have the chance to see this iconic show with the talents of a gifted group of actors and singers belonging to the Worthing Musical Comedy Society.  

This was the first time I have seen the musical and at first I had to acclimatise myself to the American accents and the change of character names as I must admit, I was expecting it to be based in Sheffield. Once over that small hurdle, the production was a full on enactment of a story about hard times and relationships.

The “family” part of the show was the Lukowskis - Jerry (Tom Brennan), wife Pam (Kristen Deeley) and son, Nathan (Lenny Kerr).  Jerry had, apart from the dialogue, much singing throughout and coped with it with ease. Pam was the separated wife and the two worked well together as they argued about son, Nathan. This twelve year old had a wonderful part and played it perfectly.

After “family”, we have “friends”. Another couple coping with financial difficulties were Harold Nichols (Lee Payne) and wife Vicki (Amy Marchant). Again, quite a lot of singing involved but done so with total confidence and conviction. The third couple was Dave Bukatinsky (James Witt) and wife, Georgie Bukatinsky (Lamorna Webb). These parts were also cast well and they interacted with one another and with their unemployed colleagues. Georgie’s song was performed with pzazz and was a great opening number for the show. Lamorna Webb played the part for the first performance and the role was then covered by Faye Reeves for the rest of the week.

The three remaining work colleagues were Noah - better known as Horse - (Abbi Abdullah), Malcolm MacGregor (Peter Galloway) and Ethan Girard (Simon Newman). Horse’s song “Big Black Man” was a very comedic song and enjoyed by all. For me, the most tuneful and ballad type song was the duet “You Walk with Me” by Malcolm and Ethan.

Nigel’s and Anne’s musical directorships and their seven band members accompanied the soloists and the ensemble numbers with their usual expertise. Choreography, particularly in the glitzy scenes, was outstanding. The scenery was well contrasted between the home and work scenes and the showbiz side. Costumes also aptly supplied.

As usual, this company has a talented production team, a wealth of good actors and an efficient backstage crew, all which makes up a enjoyable experience of a theatrical production. Congratulations.

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