The Full Monty

It's been a whopping twenty years since ‘The Full Monty’ burst on to the big screen, becoming something of a phenomenon in the process, the film was made into a stage musical in 2000, uprooting its setting from Sheffield to Buffalo, New York before being adapted into a play in 2013 bringing it back to its native land! …From where it never should have strayed!

The musical is written by Terrence McNally and David Yazbeck who have both written other musicals inspired by successful screenplays such as ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’ though ‘The Full Monty’ is the only one the pair have collaborated on thus far.  

Despite being Americanised, the musical is an absolute hoot with a terrific score which, to the delight of some and displeasure of others, does not feature any of the recognisable Donna Summer, Tom Jones or Hot Chocolate tunes which prominently feature in the film.

Following suit from the likes of ‘Footloose’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (films with an iconic soundtrack) which have also been presented on the stage and subsequently feature their iconic songs, ‘The Full Monty’ may have had more commercial success if it did so too. However, this show certainly paved the way for ‘Sister Act – the musical’ demonstrating that stage musicals don’t necessarily need to rely on a legendary soundtrack to be a successful crowd pleaser.

Many punters and followers of PADOS will indeed be entertained by this production – it’s playful, upbeat and witty.

We’re presented with a wide range of performance styles, some playing up to the humour with lofty, over animated and caricature performances while others are trying for a more genuine and naturalistic delivery. This story is gritty and needs the heart to be exposed if we’re to care, and we need to care if it’s to take off.

Leroy Liburb injected terrific energy as Noah (horse) and Chris Addington gave us a genuine Dave - the insecure best pal and strongest vocal delivery of the production.

We’re presented with varying levels of experience from this principal line up, the female leads were exposed as being more inexperienced then the guys, particularly as actresses who delivered many of their lines all on the same tone which gave the impression of lacking passion and didn’t connect their physicality with what they were saying.

David Livesey understood the character of Jerry, he gave us a likeable wide boy and was wholly believable though his voice was evidently giving him difficulties on the performance I attended. Jerry is a big sing for a baritone and it was unfortunate that David was experiencing voice trouble.

The band were being channelled through from another room into the theatre which is not an easy task to do successfully. It was a shame we lost the experience, feeling and energy of a live band in the auditorium, I missed the oomph which the music needs to supply.  

Director Mark Rosenthal had scaled the production down to be presented at the MET theatre as well as it could be done, my foremost criticism would be to uncover how he wanted the characters to be portrayed as a group and on what level as some of the guys characters jarred against each other with the style they were being presented.

‘Walk With Me’ was a definite highlight and the fun factor was in full force during ‘Let It Go’ (if you’re not familiar with the show, this is nothing to do with ‘Frozen’)

This was a terrific choice of show, such great fun and a box office pleaser too! Sadly, this type of show does seem to attract those who need some lessons in theatre etiquette but it didn’t hinder the enjoyment too much!  

Many thanks, PADOS!

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