On Friday, Coastal Repertory Theatre opens Terrence McNally’s uproarious and meaningful musical comedy, which closely follows the 1997 film (except for music and a Buffalo, N.Y., setting.)
It has salty language and brief male nudity — almost incidental next to messages of renewal and insights into everyday people.
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When a cost-effect analysis leads to layoffs in the local steel factory, the men find themselves cut adrift from livelihood and manhood. With their identities bound up in their jobs, they face depression and plunging self-worth.
“This show hits home closer than we think,” said Appel. “Look how many mortgage brokers were taken over in the last month.”
“A lot of the guys feel really emasculated and don’t know what to do with themselves,” said San Francisco resident Matt Ingle, who plays Jerry Lukowski, who has the most to lose: he’s let people down and was an irresponsible father about to lose custody of his teen son Nathan (Alex Muzio) to angry ex-wife Pam (Jennifer Martinelli.)
But he’s the one who comes up with the idea that the now-idle men stage a potentially lucrative strip show. Nettled by images of their wives lusting after Chippendale dancers, they agree.
Jerry starts recruiting, even getting Nathan to hand out flyers. He approaches buddy Dave Bukatinsky (veteran stage actor Mark Drumm of Belmont, last seen locally in “Godspell,”) whom Drumm calls “a common guy” so tied to his role as provider that unemployment is driving a wedge into his marriage. And Harold Nichols (Joey Delmar of El Granada, a Bay Area community theater veteran and blues harmonica player,) who is recruited because he is a ballroom dance instructor, with a secret: he’s the one who did that cost analysis. Delmar saw the movie and says he “left with such a feeling of hope.”
Noah “Horse” Simmons is played by Stephen Kruger of Half Moon Bay, a lifelong Coastsider active in high school musicals and choirs. Homeless and despairing, he still wows the auditioners. “I’m trying to mirror his transformation ... rebuilding confidence,” Kruger said.
And there’s Malcolm MacGregor (CRT veteran Dominic Falletti) so depressed over losing his job that he’s attempting suicide when Jerry finds him, and klutzy Ethan Girard (CRT regular Evan Saunders.)
The six rehearse in the shadow of neighbor and professional stripper Buddy (Keno) Walsh (Coastsider Travis Fenech,) to piano music pounded out by salty-tongued Jeannette Burmeister (Pam Fornesi of San Bruno, who did theater in high school, left it to work and returned after a relative’s death gave her an epiphany.) She’s the men’s female counterpart — older, out of work, feeling worthless.
“We all have hangups. The show evens it up — these aren’t pretty boys,” she said. “There’s hope for us all, if the guys can get out and take a chance for a good purpose and believe in themselves and the power of the group.”
During rehearsals, layers and roles for men and women, self-images, relationships, interactions, are affectionately stripped from first blush to bottom line.
“All the guys in the play are in the same boat” around body image, but bond while baring themselves in their commitment to reach their goal, Kruger said. “Anyone can end up in a bad place, lose confidence and get it back.”
“If you lose your job, what happens to you? It makes you think about, what are we all about?” said Ingle. “Their attitudes are old-fashioned but we live in a changing world and everyone is trying to figure out, where do I stand?”
Key to the story is the solidifying relationship between Dave and wife Georgie (played by Appel, who stepped into the role when the originally cast actress had to leave the show; fellow CRT actress/director Roxane Ashe took over directing) and Harold and wife Vicki (Lisa Claybaugh.)
After sometimes-stormy rehearsals, the men face their community in a lively denouement with their wives scattered in the real audience, spurring viewers to cheer along. The instant of male nudity is well stage-managed for taste — and impact. “It’s no accident that the final song is ‘Let It Go’,” said Drumm. “All the worries, all the preconceived notions of what should be, just let go.”
“It’s not stripping for the sake of stripping. The essence of the play is in that moment,” said Kruger.
Choreographer Kimberly Christian Krol says the songs guided her in creating the moves.
“The Full Monty” runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, from July 25 through Aug. 16 at the theater at 1167 Main St., Half Moon Bay. Tickets are $15 to $30. To reserve seats or for information, call 569-3266.
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