A great time at The Full Monty

 For all the curious. Let me tell you that the boys really do the “full monty.” That means that at the end of the play, Mark Bautista, Jamie Wilson, Arnell Ignacio, OJ Mariano, Niño Alejandro and Marco Sison get down to their undies, then to their sequined red thongs, onto their hats which they then drop with a flourish and finally down to nothing.

The strip to the tune of Let It Go made for a rousing finish to the musical The Full Monty.  By that time though, nobody really cared anymore if they will go all the way or not or if they will accidentally expose something. Everybody has become so occupied with rooting for these underdogs and wanting them to succeed. That they do is a triumph and made for a moving, exciting, terribly fun time for every one.

The movie was great. So I was sure the stage musical would at the very least, be good. Are you kidding? The Viva Atlantis Theatricals production of The Full Monty is such a treat that everybody leaves the show with smiles on their faces. You know how it is when producers, movie, TV, theater and everything else go in search of the perfect film or the perfect show? 

That is the one that will please all demographics because it will make people of all types laugh and cry and also give a peek at some forbidden body parts. And then they will go home happy. They got their money’s worth and bagged a moral lesson to boot. It seldom happens.  

But that is what you will get when you watch The Full Monty, which is currently running at Carlos P. Romulo Theater at the RCBC Plaza in Makati. Director Chari Arespacochaga did a marvelous job getting her motley group of actors off to acting glory and whipping them into shape as strippers, shapeless, shapeful, round, stringy, etc., etc.

Motley is the best word to describe Chari’s cast. Her actors range from Miss Saigon star Ima Castro, to balladeer Marco who made his theater debut in Nick Joaquin’s Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino ages ago.  But they all rose wonderfully to the occasion. I want to avoid being effusive or profuse with praise for the actors. I am looking for faults. There may have been one or two but I did not notice. So what can I say?

Singing champion Mark as the divorced father Jerry, Marco as the aging Horse, Arnell as Horrid Harold, Niño as the eager-to-please Ethan and OJ as the suicidal Malcolm with the angelic voice are absolutely delightful. These bunch of losers sing, dance and act their way into your hearts. And no way will I forget to mention Jay Valencia-Glorioso in the Big Mama role of Jeanette and Ima who is magnificent all the time. These women know how to own that stage.

This tale of unemployed steel workers who found rediscovered their self-esteem and found the courage to face life by putting on a strip show was a surprise box-office hit for Fox Searchlight in 1997. It was adapted for theater in 2000 by Terrence McNally (Ragtime and Master Class) and David Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and I must say that they turned in more great work for The Full Monty.

The writing is brilliant. Scenes segue smoothly from one to the next.

The dialogue crackles and snaps with punch lines in the right places. Best of all, nothing is ever mushy or begging for laughs. I had doubts about the music, as the songs were unfamiliar. But nobody cared if they were hearing the songs for the first time because the varied pop rhythms and witty lyrics enhance the scenes and further the story.

You will love the ballads, Mark’s Breeze Off The River for his son, the soaring love song You Rule My World by Jamie and Arnell, and the sweet You Walk With Me by OJ and Niño. Laughs abound with every line of Big Ass Rock by Mark, Jamie and OJ. Then there are Marco’s Black Man, Jay’s Showbiz Number and Ima’s Life With Harold, which are the solo turns that stop the show.

But of course, nothing beats Let It Go, which ties up the whole package. They start out in policeman uniforms. First go the jackets, then the shirts, the pants and…so on to The Full Monty. No blinking please. You cannot afford to miss this.