Toronto Star, July 20, 2001
Chris Diamantopoulos is off the wall
By: Rita Zekas
A running gag. That's Chris Diamantopoulos' gig in The Full Monty, running at The Elgin Theatre through Aug. 5. Diamantopoulos plays Ethan, the hapless fellow who tries to run up the wall. And he has the sore wrists to prove it.
Clearly Ethan has watched Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" routine from Singin' In the Rain way too much.
Diamantopoulos is already ensconced in a booth at the Senator. You resist telling him you don't recognize him with his pants on.
After all, as Diamantopoulos points out, his character Ethan drops trou twice: Once during his audition and again at the famous frontal finale.
The token Canadian in the cast, Diamantopoulos is a native Torontonian of Greek extraction (Greek is his first language). He's been living in New York for three years, where he's been playing Marius in Les Miserables.
It was the old story, cherchez la femme. He went to Manhattan to follow Sarah Litzsinger, who played The Narrator in Joseph And the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in which Diamantopoulos understudied Donny Osmond in the lead and in which he had a techinicolor dreamcoat, as opposed to the nude-coloured thong he wore to the Monty audition.
"We had to do an improv strip," he recalls. "They played 'Ragtime.' It was dip, turn, and slap your ass. I did Austin Powers, 'yeah, baby.'"
He describes Monty as his "best theatrical experience." It's one for all. You'd think they were playing The Six Musketeers.
During opening night, Diamantopoulos' father, siblings and 27 of his nearest and dearest saw the show. The other cast members donated their freebie tickets to him.
He admits he had apprehensions.
"I remember scoffing at the idea of Monty as a musical. That's like Planet of the Apes as a musical. But when I saw it in New York I was blown away.
"It's not about six guys who take their clothes off," he stresses. "We see grandfathers, kids -- it's not just about staying to see our asses. It's classily done. It's not a peep show."
Diamantopoulos is 26 and has been acting since he was 8, when he performed in That Scatterbrained Booky at Young People's Theatre.
"My brother (an aspiring screenwriter) gave me a speech from Salieri in Amadeus for the audition," he laughs.
He played Frankie/Smudge in Forever Plaid; toured in Music of the Night; and played Che in Evita at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.
Diamantopoulos made his film debut in The Adulterer, which was workshopped at this year's Santa Barbara Film Festival and is currently juggling Monty with filming the black comedy, Drop Dead Roses, in which he plays Trevor, the bad guy.
"I decided to give him tics," he elaborates. "As much as he is a verbally abusive bastard, he takes care of his skin and clothes. He colour co-ordinates his sunglasses and his clothes and if you touch him, he'll flick something off his suit. He's like Otto, played by Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda. He'd smell his pits."
A diehard film buff, Diamantopoulos does a dead-on impression of Sean Connery.
"The first movie I saw was Star Wars," he reminisces. "Harrison Ford and George Lucas made me feel like I was on a ride that would never end."
Indeed, running up the wall is good training for his career as an action hero.
"My wrists will heal by the time I replace Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones," he quips.
He gets recognized from Monty. Recently, he was approached by a helpful waiter who suggested: "Nice butt -- you might wanna think about flexing."
Sure enough, as we leave the Senator, our waiter addresses Diamantopoulos.
"You do a great Sean Connery," he says.
