It’s a new phase of life for St. Albert actor Maureen Rooney. Along with husband, Paul Punyi, the duo has delighted young audiences with educational theatre since the 1980s.
But post-Covid, Rooney has focused more on film and professional theatre. It’s a great time of anticipation and new beginnings as she currently stars in Mayfield Theatre’s musical The Full Monty.
One of 17 cast members, she nabbed the role of Jeanette Burmeister, a straightforward piano accompanist who dispenses with polite niceties. She’s confident, blunt, outspoken and been married eight times. And the role requires a triple-threat performer at the top of their game who sings, dances and acts.
“I love Jeanette. It’s a really fun role. She is a seen-it-all entertainer. She’s eccentric and has quite a history of working in seedy clubs. And I get to sing Jeanette’s Showbiz Number where I get to ride a piano across the stage,” said Rooney.
Originally The Full Monty was a 1997 British comedy film set in North of England. It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease to pay the bills. The film was a huge success and in 2000 David Yazbek and Terrence McNally adapted the real-life issues wrapped in comedy to deliver a Broadway musical version.
The musical is transplanted to Buffalo, New York where once successful steel mills have locked their gates, and the lines are silent. Jobs are scarce unless one wants to accept a low-paying job. And the once productive male workers have lost their self-esteem.
The unhappy wives are now the families’ sole earners, and they celebrate by attending a Chippendale’s performance. While hiding in a club bathroom, two of the unemployed Jerry and Dave, hear how the wives are enjoying the show. They decide to organize their own striptease act to earn enough money to pay bills and child support.
“It’s about the shifting male role and the decline of blue-collar workers working in factories. It’s about self-image and self-worth. It’s about a father-son relationship that isn’t the nuclear family, and it’s about the male provider being challenged. At the beginning, the men criticize the female model but by the end, they’re terrified they will be judged. And for me that’s the moment, there’s a shift in their private lives,” Rooney said.
Instead of taking pride in their masculinity, the former factory workers are feeling the pressure society puts on them.
“They have a song called Scrap. They feel like scrap, throwaway metal. Even though they feel like scrap at the beginning, by the end, they know they are worth something, flaws and all.”
Director Kate Ryan, a St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumna and go-to musical director within the Edmonton region, shepherds her cast through a series of hit songs such as Big-Ass Rock, Big Black Man, You Rule My World and Let It Go.
“Kate directed this production in a way that brings out the true heart of each character. She’s created an atmosphere so actors could bring their best to the role.”
Two other actors with St. Albert connections are former St. Albert resident Karina Cox and Rachel Bowron, former St. Albert Children Theatre’s musical director. While Cox takes on a variety of roles, Bowron is an ex-wife and dance instructor who appears on stage teaching a dance class with a cigarette dangling from her lips.
“Rachel is a real comedienne. She keeps us in stitches all the time.”
Rooney encourages theatre patrons to see this tug-at-the-heart musical comedy.
“In this political climate scrolling through the shit-show south of the border has everybody fueled with fear. For me to go to work every night and hear so much laughter coming from the audience is mind-blowing and it’s just what the doctor ordered.”
The Full Monty is currently at Mayfield Dinner Theatre until March 30. For more information visit mayfieldtheatre.ca.
