Dimitri Shostakovich / The Full Monty

On this day in classical music: Dimitri Shostakovich’s ballet “The Age of Gold” received its premiere in Leningrad in 1930. A satire of 1920’s European political scene, “The Age of Gold” followed the escapades of a Russian football team whose visit to the West resulted in match rigging, police harassment and imprisonment. The team is eventually released from jail and the ballet ends with a dance of solidarity. Shostakovich later extracted a suite from the ballet and arranged the “Polka” for solo piano. Listen to Rustem Hayroudinoff perform the “Polka.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VimyIz-ldF8

On this day in the musical theatre: “The Full Monty” opened on Broadway in 2000. Based on the 1997 screenplay, “The Full Monty” focuses on six unemployed steel workers who decide to put together a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for “the full monty” and end the number in the buff. Featuring a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek, “The Full Monty” chronicled the men’s journey as they dealt with self-consciousness and stage fright. Despite their anxieties, they support each other to create a blue collar version of the Chippendales. “The Full Monty” was nominated for 10 Tony Awards but lost in every category. The big winner that season was “The Producers.” Watch the cast of “The Full Monty” Perform “Let It Go” on the 2001 Tony Award broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TqQ3M_4YXs

Musical musings: So what do you want to know first? Do they really take off all their clothes? Yes. Can you see, you know, everything? No, at least not from where I was sitting. And — oops, almost forgot — is it any good? Well, put it this way: the Eugene O’Neill Theater won’t have to look for a new tenant for a long, long time. “The Full Monty,” the hearty singing adaptation of the popular English film about a motley male troupe of amateur strippers, opened last night in a blaze of pure mass appeal. The show calculatedly pushes as many buttons as an elevator operator, but it mercifully doesn’t hammer at them. With a winning, ear-catching pop score by David Yazbek and a lively gallery of performers who seem truly in love with the people they’re playing, “The Full Monty” is that rare aggressive crowd pleaser that you don’t have to apologize for liking. Even those who go expecting to sneer are likely to be surprised by the smiles that keep sneaking onto their faces. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times

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