If you think getting up on stage before an audience of hundreds sounds scary, spare a thought for the six actors starring in the Hong Kong Singers' latest musical, The Full Monty, who'll be doing just that - in the nude.
Inspired by the 1997 British striptease movie of the same name and adapted from David Yazbek's Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical from 2000, the story has moved from Sheffield in England to New York. Set in a depressed, industrial city, six unemployed steelworkers decide to make some fast cash by performing a strip-act at a local club after seeing their wives in near hysteria during a Chippendale-style show. For the one-night event, the men believe dancing a few sexy moves will solve a bunch of their problems. And how hard could stripping be?
Rob Archibald tries not to think of the moment when he will have to do it for real. At a photo shoot, the actor reacts like Dave, the chubby, body-conscious best friend character he plays: he isn't prepared, mentally, to take off his shirt in front of the camera and declines to be photographed shirtless.
'Dave's a loveable loser and a good friend, someone who's willing to do what it takes to help out his friends, but he's insecure about the way he looks,' says the Canadian. 'And he doesn't want to be in the show because he doesn't want to take his clothes off in front of screaming women. He doesn't even like to take his clothes off in front of his wife.'
With nude performers on stage, for first time in the Hong Kong Singers' 76-year history the production will be limited to an audience of 16 years or older. However, it's the amount of swearing that has produced the rating, not the nudity.
The two-act contemporary production with choreographer Mandy Petty is a departure from the company's usual lineup of classic musicals such as Oklahoma! and The Boyfriend. Music director Ian Gale leads a live orchestra with pianist David Knowles Jatvardsson.
