he can get and start to grow up. After an unpleasant confrontation with Teddy, Jerry leaves more determined than ever to make his stripping plan work. Jerry and Dave are jogging (or rather, Dave is accompanying Jerry as he trains) when they come upon Malcolm attempting suicide by asphyxiation. They save him and offer him alternative ways to commit suicide. Jerry invites Malcolm to join him in stripping and, since Malcolm has a part-time job as the night security guard at the abandoned steel plant, they now also have a place to rehearse. Jerry engages Nathan to find them a dance teacher, and Nathan takes them to a dance school where they meet their old boss Harold Nichols and his wife Vicki. They're brushing up on their "cha-cha" for a trip to Puerto Rico. Harold hasn't told Vicki that he has been out of work for the past six months, and through desperation and the hint of blackmail Harold agrees to become the guys' choreographer. But before he can agree to that, Vicki tells them all about life with Harold. The guys hold auditions and they aren't going well. However, their showbiz-savvy accompanist Jeanette Burmeister -ho simply showed up "piano and all" - tells them they'll know when the right guy shows up. "He'll glimmer." Enter Horse, a gnarled, depressing and seemingly arthritic 50-year-old man who seems to fulfil a certain kind of fantasy. Later, the good-natured Ethan shows up and openly proclaims that he can't dance or sing, but that he has something to offer. He drops his pants and Jeanette simply says, "Gentlemen, put on your sunglasses. We suddenly have a lot of glimmer." That night, while Georgie sleeps, Dave confronts his body image with a love song to his stomach. And, at the same time, Harold reflects on his adoration of Vicki. At the first rehearsal the following day, Harold is having a rough time getting the guys to do anything together. While Horse is off in the corner rehearsing "the funky chicken," Ethan and Malcolm bond over an affection for the filmThe Sound of Music. However, it is only when Harold reminds them that choreography is just like basketball that Jerry picks up an idea, and suddenly their moves become teamwork - as long as they are imagining that they're playing with Michael Jordan's Ball. ACT TWO At rehearsal a week later, the mistress of understatement, Jeanette, sings that "things could be better." To no avail, Ethan keeps insisting he can do Donald O'Connor's flip up a wall from Singin' in the Rain. And any attempt at choreography brings about disastrous results. In order to perform at Tony Giordano's club, Jerry needs to come up with $1,000 as a deposit. He tries to get it from Pam but she'll have none of it. Nathan, however, has money from his college savings account and gives it to Jerry. Jerry's love of his son is all-encompassing and overwhelming. Harold persuades Vicki to leave the house so that they can hold a rehearsal there. Jerry has given their group a name - Hot Metal. This is the day that the guys are going to take off all their clothes in front of each other for the first time. They are fraught with anxiety. When they are hypercritical of the sexy women in a Victoria's Secret catalogue, they realise that their audience might be just as critical of them. Nathan has gathered a small audience from a nearby nursing home for the final dress rehearsal at the steel plant, but as they are taking off their first layer of clothing they're raided by the police. In the confusion that follows, Malcolm and Ethan successfully escape to Malcolm's home where their attraction to one another is almost acknowledged, until Malcolm senses something is wrong with his mother. Pam and Teddy arrive at the police station to pick up Nathan, and it's very clear to everyone that even if Jerry were to come up with the child support money, he wouldn't be able to share custody of Nathan. At his mother's funeral, much to the surprise of Jerry and Dave and a few other mourners, Malcolm expresses his loneliness and longing, and finds that both will be ended by the warm heart and hand of Ethan. Jerry was afraid to disclose to the guys that sales for the show weren't going well. When told by a few women that the Buffalo Bills are playing that night, and, asked why after having seen "the real thing," they should want to see a bunch of amateur local guys strip, Jerry quickly says (much to the shock and disbelief of the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODU3MzQ=