Theatre Project production in the renovated auditorium.

Aaron Springston/Daily Inter Lake

Theater company bares all

Alpine Project reveals new digs

By HEIDI GAISER/The Daily Inter Lake

Holding its first production in the renovated Whitefish Performing Arts Center has liberated the Alpine Theatre Project in a whole new way.

Some of the men in the cast will be feeling so liberated, in fact, that they're going to bare it all onstage.

It's all part of "The Full Monty," which opens Tuesday and runs through July 27.

The story follows the same lines as the movie of the same name - six unemployed male steel workers who decide that stripping could be the way to earn money and respect - but it's now a Tony award-nominated musical by leading playwright Terrence McNally.

It's also been Americanized, with the location moved from the film's setting of Northern England to Buffalo, N.Y.

"One of the things they did right with the musical is how much heart it has," said Luke Walrath, Alpine Theatre Project executive director. "It's really a sweet show."

Even though it is an adult-oriented production - Walrath recommends it for ages 14 and older - he said it's also a classic story of rooting for the underdog.

"Though it's on the adult side and a little raunchy in places, by the end of the show you really want these guys to do something for themselves," he said. "The funny thing is it happens to be stripping."

The Alpine Theatre Project, still Montana's only professional Equity theater in its fourth season, previously had held all of its productions in the O'Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish.

The theater company always made things work in the O'Shaughnessy Center, though its seating configuration and stage setup had its limitations.

The 454-seat, $4.7 million Whitefish Performing Arts Center opened in October 2007 after the 1938 Whitefish Middle School auditorium was gutted and transformed into a first-class performance hall.

And in "The Full Monty," the Alpine Theatre Project takes advantage of what the new facility has to offer.

An 11-piece band, featuring musicians from New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, will play from the orchestra pit in front of the stage, a luxury the company never has had.

"It's one of the best-sounding bands I've ever heard," Walrath said.

The performing arts center's fly loft has allowed for bigger, more-complex sets, with frequent scene changes. Pieces of the sets can be pulled upward and out of sight with just a touch of a button, while props and scenery also can be rolled in from the sides, creating potential for a dynamic, three-dimensional set in every scene.

And because the story is about steel workers, the set features "a ton of metal," Walrath said.

"The Full Monty" offers the Alpine Theatre Project's biggest cast to date, with 17 actors telling the story. The actors come from New York, Seattle and Denver. Walrath, director Betsi Morrison and the third Alpine Theatre Project founder, David Ackroyd, are in the cast as well.

Walrath believes actor Nora Mae Lyng, who has been in at least eight Broadway shows, will "steal the show," as the piano player for the strippers in rehearsal.

The strippers, Walrath said, do go "the full monty," but he said the nudity is inconsequential.

As the auditorium is darkened, a sign, lit by 1,000 light bulbs, drops down behind the strippers "right at the moment everything is revealed," Walrath said, throwing the actors into a modest silhouette.

"The Full Monty" runs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and at 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $30 and $35.

The Alpine Theatre Project moves back to the O'Shaughnessy Center on Aug. 5-17 for the two-person show, "Pete 'n' Keely," starring film actor David Naughton. The company then heads back to the performing arts center for "The Other Side of the Island," an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," written by and starring Olympia Dukakis, Aug. 26-Sept. 7.

For tickets to any performance, or for more information, visit alpinetheatreproject.org or call 862-7469.