Center to give its regards to Hollywood

Tom Titus

Theatergoers who generally turn up their noses at movies but flock

to the Orange County Performing Arts Center with each new show in the

Broadway Series may find themselves somewhat conflicted the first

week of September. In a rare occurrence, the Center is opening two

major shows the same week -- one in the main theater and the other in

Founders Hall. And both give their regards not to Broadway, but to

Hollywood.

The first show, opening Sept. 3 in the main Segerstrom Hall, is

“The Full Monty,” a musical comedy about working-class Brits who take

up the fine art of stripping. If it sounds familiar, you may remember

the original movie version of five years ago.

The next day, Founders Hall will welcome another dose of wicked

satire from the gang who made “Forbidden Broadway” so popular. Only

this one is titled “Forbidden Hollywood” -- same sort of satire, only

aimed at the silver screen.

Guiding “The Full Monty” from screen to stage was four-time

Tony-winning writer Terrence McNally, who added his own brand of

American comedy to the story.

“The show is about friendship, about being a parent,” McNally has

observed. “It’s also about an image-obsessed society that says you

have to look like Brad Pitt. This show says quite the opposite. It

celebrates everybody for exactly who they are.”

For the benefit of American audiences, McNally transplanted the

scene of the story from Sheffield, England, where the original movie

took place, to Buffalo, N.Y., so you won’t have to worry about

deciphering British accents.

Sheffield or Buffalo, it’s still the raucous and heartfelt story

of six unemployed steelworkers who go to great lengths to make some

cash and help out a friend in trouble. When a local male strip show

-- whose dancers venture down to their G-strings -- is a hit with the

local women, the cash-strapped factory workers figure they can cash

in big time, if they go the “full Monty.”

When it opened on Broadway in October 2000, “The Full Monty” was

hailed by critics on this side of the pond. It’s still playing to

sold-out houses at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theater.

“Forbidden Hollywood” needs little explanation to theatergoers

familiar with Gerard Alessandrini’s outrageous musical satire

“Forbidden Broadway,” which sold out Founders Hall last year. These

constantly updated potshots at the latest musicals on the Great White

Way have been tickling audiences’ ribs for the past two decades. So

why not give the movies the same treatment? Why not, indeed.

“Forbidden Hollywood” promises to cut through Tinseltown’s bombast

and star power with surgical precision. The bigger the production or

more glamorous the star, the harder they fall.

The versatile cast of “Forbidden Hollywood” will revel in the

wicked destruction of box-office blockbusters like “Titanic,”

“Braveheart,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “The Bridges of Madison County”

and even will go as far back as “Gone with the Wind.”

“The Full Monty” will play through Sept. 15 at the Center, while

“Forbidden Hollywood” will stick around a little longer, through

Sept. 22 -- both extended engagements, since most shows not titled

“The Phantom of the Opera” only last for a week. Be advised, however,

that “Forbidden Hollywood” curtain time is 7:30 (with 9:30 shows

added Saturdays and Sundays). Ticket information for both is

available at (714) 740-7878.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.