NICE ASSETS ROAD-SHOW `FULL MONTY' HAS THE GOODS.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

Of course, we knew there would be a ``The Full Monty,'' the musical. Given musical theater's tendency to recycle the familiar and the cinematic, how could any self-respecting producer (or seven) resist the urge to repackage the 1997 Fox Searchlight comedy about stripping steel workers. And of course, ``Monty'' would need a facelift to become bigger and brighter for its Broadway close-up.

But there was never a guarantee that the finished product would be both a remarkably smart show and a mega crowd pleaser. Or, for that matter, that the Terrence McNally-penned, David Yazbek-scored ``Monty'' could withstand being twice remounted into a tour and still get well-dressed people in 2,000-seat auditoriums to act like a Super Bowl crowd at Hooters.

Guess what? ``The Full Monty'' - to borrow a Yazbek lyric - has got the goods. Always has. At the Ahmanson, where the reconfigured national tour began this week, the show has the energy to match.

Yazbek's genre-spanning tunes sound marvelous, and the construction of McNally's script shows that its author has an awfully good handle on bringing other people's works to the stage (see ``Ragtime''). Most importantly, the sextet that plays the blue collar would-be Chippendales squad by no means comes off as a bunch of low-rent road replacements. The only sour performance Wednesday night came from a too-petulant Brett Murray as Nathan, the 12-year-old son of Jerry Lukowski (Christian Anderson), the ringleader. (Murray shares the role with Bret Fox).

That dad and kid don't always connect isn't a show killer. More thematically ambitious than many musicals, ``Monty'' has much on its plate, including parenthood, self worth, fidelity and gender identity. But McNally's script is playful enough to turn his own eighth-grade sexual philosophizing (``women can be just like men'') on its ear for entertainment purposes.

Early in the play, several wives at a ladies-only Chippendales evening get wild and crazy in the men's room while two of their husbands are trapped cowering in a stall. The song: ``It's a Woman's World.''

The action has been moved from rural England to Buffalo, N.Y. Otherwise, the plot follows the film. Jerry needs child-care money, while everyone else in his ragtag group of laid-off steel workers needs a life, an income or a companion.

Dave Bukatinsky (Michael J. Todaro, a veritable voice double for John Goodman) is overweight and a bit stooped from too many months of not being a breadwinner. Former foreman Harold Nichols (Robert Westenberg) has never gotten around to telling his purchase-happy wife (Heidi Blickenstaff) that he no longer has an income.

Security guard Malcolm (Geoffrey Nauffts) lives lonely and unhappily with his mother. Noah Simmons (Cleavant Derricks) harbors a secret that nobody with a nickname of ``Horse'' should have to carry, and carefree Ethan (Christopher J. Hanke) is hellbent on perfecting that Donald O'Connor wall-climbing dance from ``Singin' in the Rain.'' Joining the boys is a once-hard-living pianist named Jeanette, played by a seen-it-all - and frequently scene-stealing - Carol Woods wearing pink curlers and hot-colored outfits.

Obviously, there is male flesh to be seen, both comely and otherwise. That none of the principals is especially hunky is precisely the point. Choreographer Jerry Mitchell takes them from dance klutzy to kinda graceful in the ingenious first-act closing number, ``Michael Jordan's Ball.''

Director Jack O'Brien expertly handles all the crowd-pleasing elements, as well as the tender moments, without making the shifts seem uncomfortable. ``The Full Monty'' is a rousing evening more than a poignant one, and that's precisely how ``Monty'' is handled. Still, it's tough not to feel for Todaro's beaten-down Dave when he sings ``You Rule My World'' ... to his belly.

THE FULL MONTY - Three and one half stars

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, some 7:30 p.m. Sunday performances; through June 8.

Tickets: $25 to $75. Call [phone].

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Giving their all in ``The Full Monty'' are Cleavant Derricks, left, Robert Westenberg, Christian Anderson, Geoffrey Nauffts, Michael J. Todaro and Christopher J. Hanke, kneeling.