Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Change Happens


I’d like to answer that big question: How does TriArts — famously devoted to family fare, "Camelot," "My Fair Lady," "The King and I" — end its spirited production of "The Full Monty"?

But first — don’t worry, I’ll get to it — I’d like to say a few things about how "The Full Monty"


starts .

 

That’s with a rush of sparkly curtain blotting out Buffalo’s skyline, and a smartly muscled fellow (George Corso) who takes it off (well, not

all off, not the full monty) for cheerfully ululating women, playing after a day at work.

 

The women’s unemployed menfolk sulk outside as the gals drink beer, ogling this fellow, who twitches his pecs for them, alternately; and the natural order of things, which has always said men have power and can do as they like because they bring home the bucks, hits the wall.

These are hard times in Buffalo. Manufacturing has moved, probably to a different continent, and only service jobs remain. Women’s work.

The scene shifts fast to a union hall where those same guys are picking up their benefits checks.

"I want a job, I want to feel like a person," Jerry (Scott Laska) sings.

"I want to feel like the husband instead of the wife," Dave (Andy Lindberg) chimes in. And we’re maybe three minutes into the show. No ambiguities here. No subtle revelations. We get the full monty in the first five minutes. We know everything we are ever going to know about these people, right from the get-go. The rest is story, acting and, in the special case of TriArts, community pride.

Which brings us to David Bayersdorfer, a showman who also teaches social studies at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. He likes getting on stage. And he seems to like dropping his pants and shimmying around in red boxers, auditioning for the strip show, "the one-night killing" that will make life right for these guys again. The audience cheers one of its own up there. And he’s good.

Michael Britt, another familiar face, as Harold Nichols, the manager who hasn’t told his wife he lost his job six months ago, shakes it, loves it, is good at it, too.

And then there’s great, like actor Richard Waits, as Horse, who makes dancing lame a triumph. And Glenda Lauten, playing the hugely endowed Jeanette Burmeister, who, leaning into the keyboard, shows us how she played the piano, once, with all her fingers broken.

Some people were just born to be on a stage.

And that includes Laska, a professional whose rascally bumps and grinds we caught in TriArts’ "The Pajama Game" last year. It’s good to see them again.

And it’s good to see a story about ordinary people triumphing, which is what "The Full Monty" is about, triumphing over bad times, and fear, and change.

Director Robert Durkin brings out the right stuff in everybody, pros and amateurs alike, and his basketball sequence, where the guys dance, really dance, for the first time, takes us out of local pride and into awe.

As for the finish, Artistic Director Michael Berkeley says TriArts should be at least as brave as the "The Full Monty" ’s six heroes.

And it is.

 

 

"The Full Monty," the American musical by Terrence McNally with score by David Yazbek, is based on the 1997 British film. The TriArts production is directed and choreographed by Bob Durkin, with music direction by the company’s artistic director Michael Berkeley.

 

"The Full Monty" runs at the Sharon Playhouse through July 6.

For tickets and information, call 860-364-7469.

Latest News

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

BOND RESOLUTION DATED JUNE 15, 2026 OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE WEBUTUCK CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT AUTHORIZING NOT TO EXCEED $429,327 AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS AND/OR INSTALLMENT PURCHASE CONTRACTS TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION OF A SCHOOL BUSES AND VEHICLES AT AN AGGREGATE ESTIMATED MAXIMUM COST OF$429,327, LEVY OF TAX IN ANNUAL INSTALLMENTS IN PAYMENT THEREOF TAKING INTO ACCOUNT STATE-AID, THE EXPENDITURE OF SUCH SUM FOR SUCH PURPOSE, AND DETERMINING OTHER MATTERS IN CONNECTION THERE-WITH.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

Keep ReadingShow less

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

Keep ReadingShow less
An invitation to paint a community mural in Torrington

Community mural design by Macayla Muzzulin will be painted by volunteers on July 11 in Franklin Plaza in Torrington.

Provided

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Five Points Arts in Torrington will host a community mural project celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Volunteers of every age and artistic ability are invited to help paint a 20-by-6-foot mural designed by artist Macayla Muzzulin. The mural will be completed in one day, transformed from a numbered outline into a permanent public artwork along the river in downtown Torrington.

“We firmly believe art is for everyone,” said Five Points founder and executive director, Judith McElhone. “It’s so great to be able to do this with such talent, and with Launchpad artists, volunteers and staff there to help.”

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.