The sextet of laid-off upstate New York factory workers with plans to offer Buffalo gals a night they’ll never forget are at it again, but this time round they’re doing it in the round in The Nocturne Theatre’s inventively staged revival of Terrence McNally and David Yazbek’s 2000 Broadway hit musical The Full Monty.

Gerry Tonella stars out-of-work Jerry Lukowski, who could soon find himself minus shared custody of 12-year-old Nathan (William Morrow) if ex-wife Pam (Taylor Renee Castle), now happily partnered with dutifully-employed live-in lover Teddy (Tyler Angier), doesn’t get paid the months of alimony he owes her.

David Gallic returns to the Nocturne as Jerry’s hefty best bud Dave Bukatinski, frustrated by days spent doing housewifely chores and by nights spent incapable of performing husbandly duties to his loving but increasingly frustrated wife Georgie (Tommi Jo Mongold).

When the women of Buffalo go gaga for a touring Chippendales revue, Jerry, Dave, and four of their fellow cash-strapped and unemployed steelworkers decide to stage their very own strip extravaganza, and given their less than stellar bods, the only sure way to insure a full house is to give their audience The Full Monty.

Joining Jerry and Dave in their adventures in bumping and grinding are momma’s boy Malcolm MacGregor (Thomas Adoue Polk); Ethan Girard (Truman Bjarke), embarrassingly inept at replicating Donald O’Connor’s Singing In The Rain wall-climbing trick; Noah “Horse” T. Simmons (Lonnie Jones III), a “big black man” whose “break-dancing days are probably over;” and Harold Nichols (Wes Morrow), an out-of-work mill supervisor who’s been hiding his six months of joblessness from his luxury-loving wife Vicki (Kate Clarke).

There’s also male stripper Buddy “Keno” Walsh, (JeanPaul Acocella) whose pelvis-thrusting, buns-baring solo at the local strip club inspires Jerry to recruit the men henceforth known as Hot Metal, the better to put on their one-night-only strip show and pocket a hefty $50,000 take.

Completing the cast of principal players is rehearsal pianist Jeanette Burmeister (Pat Sibley) a bawdy retiree who brings with her plenty of sass along with story upon story to tell of her checkered showbiz past.

The Full Monty marks not only a change of pace for The Nocturne (there’s a single fantasy element or fantastical costume in sight) but a challenge as well, in particular because a bit of lighting wizardry on a traditional proscenium stage has heretofore allowed the Hot Metal men to go commando without the audience actually seeing “the goods.”

Fortunately, this turns out to be the only staging challenge that director Andy Meyers can’t manage to solve, because in all other respects, this The Full Monty works quite splendidly indeed with audience members seated on all four sides.

Kudos too to Meyers for having two of the characters save another’s life without need of an onstage car, and for making Ethan’s attempt at replicating Donald O’Connor a sound gag rather than a sight one.

Not  only that, but casting actors who look like they could be Buffalo factory workers adds authenticity to a musical that has too often featured a Jerry or a Malcolm or an Ethan almost as buff as Keno.

Sensational Nocturne newcomer Tonella so vanishes into Jerry’s blue-collarness that you forget he’s playing a role until he bursts into song with rock star pipes, and the same can be said for the fabulous Gallic’s salt-of-the-earth, self-esteem-lacking Dave. (Hard to believe this is the same actor who played Belle-obsessed hunk Gaston just two years ago.)

The doubly-terrific Polk and Bjarke not only prove that opposites attract but Meyers has restaged their gorgeously sung and deeply moving “You Walk With Me” as a bona fide love song minus the usual distractions.

Morrow (Nathan’s real life dad) and Jones will have you rooting for the former’s lovingly duplicitous Harold and the still-can-bust-a-move Horse, Clarke and Mongold are on fire as two very different but equally loving spouses, and a scene-stealing Sibley makes “Jeanette’s Song” every bit the showstopper it’s meant to be.

Castle, Faith Berrigan (Estelle Genovesse), and Jennifer Karraz (Joannie) sizzle as Georgie and Vicki’s fellow Buffalo housewives and young William Morrow is a sweetheart as Nathan,

Last but not least, Acocella and Angier are not only topnotch as an especially hot Keno and Jerry’s “replacement” Teddy, they get to play every other male character as well.

Dean Bais earns major snaps for choreographing dance sequences (“Michael Jordan’s Ball” in particular) that don’t look like Broadway dancers showing off their stuff, and the entire production benefits from a sensational four-piece live band headed by Alonso Malik Pirio that brings out the best in Yazbek’s jazzy, horn-based score.

Finally, Jay Michael Roberts’ minimalist scenic design, Tanya Cyr’s blue-collar costumes, and Justin Meyer’s alternately realistic and flashy lighting design suit the Nocturne’s The Full Monty to a T.

The Full Monty is produced by Melissa and Justin Meyer. Chris Wade is music director. Matt Merline is sound engineer and Julia Vollstedt is assistant sound engineer. Micah Delhauer is stage manager and lighting engineer. Pam L. Veis voices Molly MacGregor.

Though The Full Monty’s R-rated language and nearly naked male flesh make it adults-only entertainment, it’s hard to imagine a musical with stronger family values than this one, and since the Broadway smash has largely been absent from local stages for a dozen years now, its arrival in Glendale proves all the more welcome.

As entertaining as it is risqué, The Full Monty is both contemporary American musical theater and the Nocturne at their very best.

The Nocturne Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale. Through August 16. See website for detailed performance schedule.
www.TheNocturneTheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
July 30, 2026

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Tags: David Yazbek, Los Angeles Theater Review, Terrence McNally, The Nocturne Theatre