The Full Monty is a musical with book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek.
In this Americanized musical stage version adapted from the 1997 British film of the same name, six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers, low on both cash and prospects, decide to present a strip act at a local club after seeing their wives' enthusiasm for a touring company of Chippendales. As they prepare for the show, working through their fears, self-consciousness, and anxieties, they overcome their inner demons and find strength in their camaraderie.
Plot
While relocated to Buffalo, New York, the musical closely follows the film.
Act I
In depressed Buffalo, New York, the once-successful steel mills have grown brown with rust, rolling equipment has been removed, and the lines are silent. Best friends Jerry Lukowski and Dave Bukatinsky, along with the other unemployed mill workers, collect unemployment checks and ponder their lost lives ("Scrap"). Elsewhere, Dave's wife Georgie and her friends are celebrating their newfound independence and wealth as the sole earners of their families by attending a Chippendales performance ("It's a Woman's World").
While hiding in the bathroom of the strip club, Jerry and Dave hear how unhappy Georgie is over Dave's insecurities (in part because of his weight) and Pam, Jerry's ex-wife, laments the loss of her marriage and her plans to take court action against him for the child support payments that he's failed to make since losing his job. Compromising the situation further is Jerry's son, Nathan, who reluctantly spends time with him; he has grown tired of his father's seeming lack of motivation.
After talking to the stripper in the Chippendales act, Jerry and Dave are intrigued by the women's willingness to pay for a striptease act. Jerry is convinced that his ship has finally come in: he decides to organize a similar act of his own, with the intent to earn enough money to pay for his child support obligations ("Man").
The first to join the act is gauche and lonely Malcolm, a security guard at the steel mill where Dave and Jerry once worked. Malcolm tries to commit suicide by asphyxiating himself in his car through carbon monoxide poisoning. Dave pulls him out, and Jerry and Dave discuss various methods to commit suicide ("Big-Ass Rock"). Malcolm ultimately joins in and with the reassurance of his new-found friends behind him, he joins the fledgling lineup. His rescue and inclusion in the group gives him a newly optimistic and confident outlook on life. He also starts to grow more independent from his domineering, invalid mother, Molly.
Next on Dave and Jerry's list is their former foreman, the middle-class aspirant Harold Nichols, who is taking a ballroom dance class with his immaculately groomed wife, Vicki. While Harold explains that he has concealed his unemployment from his materialistic wife, Vicki blithely sings about their marriage ("Life with Harold"). Dave and Jerry tell him of their scheme; with literally no options left, Harold agrees to be the act's choreographer.
In a sequence of scenes, former co-workers perform strip-tease auditions. One of the auditionees is invited to sit down after he flunks; he declines, saying that his children are outside waiting 'in the car' and that 'this is no place for kids' before glancing over at Nathan before leaving. Other auditioners are, hired: Noah 'Horse' Simmons, for his comprehensive dance knowledge (while overlooking evidence of advanced arthritis), and Ethan Girard, who longs to dance like Donald O'Connor in "Singin' in the Rain" and has a jaw-dropping, euphemism-inducing penis ("Big Black Man"). They are also joined by Jeanette Burmeister, a tough, seen-it-all showbiz musician who "shows up, piano and all" to accompany the boys' rehearsals.
Elsewhere, Dave contemplates his weight and Harold contemplates Vicki's spending habits ("You Rule My World"). At the first rehearsal, Harold feels the men are hopeless, but Jerry fires them up, encouraging them to think of it not as dance, but as sports moves ("Michael Jordan's Ball").
Act II
As the men practice, doubts continue to creep in about whether this is the best way to make some money, due to their individual insecurities over their appearances. Jeanette is particularly straightforward ("Jeanette's Showbiz Number").
Requiring a deposit at the club, Jerry tries to get seed money from Pam, which she denies. Nathan eventually provides some college funds, and Jerry is moved by Nathan's growing belief in his father ("Breeze Off the River").