The Abominable Showman, January 29, 2014

Will the actors in the Montreal premiere production of The Full Monty take it all off? (Photo by Tam Lan Truong, courtesy Beautiful City Theatre)

Much Ado About Dick
by Richard Burnett
@bugsburnett

CharPo sits down with theatre director Calli Armstrong to preview the “full-frontal nudity” in the Montreal premiere production of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical The Full Monty. Audiences lap it up – but what about the actors onstage?

There is going to be full-frontal nudity in the Montreal premiere production of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical The Full Monty.

That may be a bit of a yawn for Montrealers who can see cock in Montreal strip joints seven nights a week, 52 weeks a year.

But it is still the first thing everybody asks before they go see this show, from Broadway to London’s West End: “Are they really going to take it all off?”

Yes, they will.

In a Word... Calli Armstrong on staging The Full Monty

Mont(y) Royal
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Calli Armstrong is the co-founder and artistic director of Beautiful City Theatre. A director, actor, and drama therapist, she has worked with a number of theatre groups and not-for-profit organizations using theatre to build community (Centre for the Arts and Human Development, Montreal Playback Theatre, Third Space Playback). In addition to working with Beautiful City Theatre, Ms Armstrong is presently an adjunct professor completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Concordia University’s Creative Arts Therapies department. 

CHARPO: How concerned are you, when you go into a project like this, that the source material - The Full Monty - is just too well known to bring people into the theatre?

ARMSTRONG: While the script for The Full Monty - The Broadway Musical was based on the 1997 hit film, we’ve been pleased to discover that this has not deterred ticket-buyers. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Full Monty seems to be a show that people are eager to see live. The Full Monty is about a group of unemployed steel workers that are down on their luck and decide to form a male striptease act. In addition to being an enjoyable comedy, the show is a beautiful and thought-provoking story of struggle and acceptance. I think the storyline is one that resonates with many people.

To our knowledge, this show has never been done in Montreal. We’re excited to produce it here and we’re thrilled with the public’s expressed interest. 

I’m a fan of the movie myself, but I’ve made sure that the choices we made in developing this show are grounded in the text, as opposed to being inspired by the film. I would hope that there’s something in Beautiful City Theatre’s version of The Full Monty for fans of the movie as well as newcomers to the story. 

Some stories are just meant to be brought to life on stage, and The Full Monty is definitely one of those stories. I think this is a show you can see again and again.