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The Full Monty Director: Matthew Byrne Matthew Byrne Media Mayfair Theatre, Fri 14 Oct until Sat 29 Oct Matthew Byrne Media is likely to have full houses with 'The Full Monty.' At dinner before opening night in the excellent Korean restaurant across from the Mayfair Theatre in Goodwood, my partner and I met a couple from Tintinara who were rather weary from hosting their booth at the 4WD show, and they were looking forward to an early night. When I told them what we were doing, the four of us marched off to the theatre! Terrence McNally won an incredible four Tony awards in the '90s for 'Ragtime', 'Master Class', 'Love! Valour! Compassion!' and my personal favourite, 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman'. McNally's book, in which the setting of the famous movie is transposed to industrial Buffalo, New York, combined with David Yazbek's composition and lyrics, has resulted in a warm, funny, upbeat - just terrific - musical dealing with male identity, friendship, and transformational personal development. There is not a weak song; the music is fresh and the book is believable, except for the sudden and unnecessary clay feet of the lead near the end. I didn't see the movie but I heard all about it. Plot-wise, a bunch of blokes strip to raise money. What contributed to the pre-curtain opening night buzz was the single question on everybody's mind, "Will they take it off, you know, go all the way?". The anticipation of the final scene hung well through the night. This is one of the warmest casts I have ever seen on stage - you can tell they were having lots of fun with this one. Kurtys Ramond has all the prerequisites of a lead star: he set the pace and the standard of the production, amply exhibiting Jerry Lukowski's exuberance and drive to strip his way out of unemployment. Rohan Watts played his buddy, Dave Bukatinsky (don't you love these names? - kind of makes me homesick) with complementary warmth. Rohan Orlando Richards was the dark horse in the race. The strip script required a black American and lo and behold, next door to the Mayfair was Rohan running his restaurant, 'A Taste Of Jamaica'. The relatively inexperienced Richards, along with Watts and most of the cast, were inspirational - their collective self-respect extirpates media-driven views of what it is to be beautiful, and is a salient lesson of the work. But why did director Matthew Byrne permit designer Matthew Byrne to pour all this champagne into a paper cup? The set was barely fit for rehearsal, let alone production - the design budget as 50 cent coins would have fit into a male G-string. Also, the obtrusive personal mike system was decoupled from suitable amplification. Glenn Vallen ably led a tight and taut orchestra but Rose Vallen's choreography was a bit thin where it counted. The opening and final dance numbers could have been strengthened considerably as that's what all the excitement's about. Byrne did a great job with the funny business and pace - never, ever a dull moment. 'The Full Monty' is an exceptionally good musical with great songs and uplifting themes. The honest, right-out-there cast makes the characters accessible and real. Forget the movie and shuffle off to Buffalo.  |
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