The sellout crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts was exposed to a new kind of musical Sunday night.

The NETworks Presentations production of “The Full Monty” came to town and stripped musical comedy down to its essentials – song, dance and humor, with a little social commentary thrown in.

Adapted from the 2000 British film of the same name and transplanted to Buffalo, “The Full Monty” is about the impact of unemployment on a town. In a fun way, of course.

The musical focuses on a group of steelworkers and the effects unemployment has on them and their romantic relationships. Most of all, it’s about the extreme measures the men take to regain their self-esteem.

The show’s catalyst is Jerry Lukowski, played by Jeremiah Zinger. Jerry is divorced and in arrears with his child-support payments, to the point where he’s at risk of losing co-custody of his son, Nathan. Yet he won’t take a minimum-wage job; he considers it beneath him.

Jerry comes up with a brainstorm when he and his best friend, Dave (Brad Nacht), see the reaction of the city’s women to a visiting troupe of male dancers. If the women would pay to see that, how much more would they pay to see some “real men” from the city take it all off?

There are only a few flaws with this plan. First is finding “real men” who can dance and be sexy. The sextet that Jerry gathers includes the fat, the skinny and the old.

Then there’s another small problem: Why would the women in their lives pay to see what they’ve already seen? That’s when Jerry declares that his dancers will go “the full Monty,” and take off everything.

The production builds to the natural climax, right through the doubts of the various dancers, until, in a flash, it’s all over, and the pumped-up crowd is on its collective feet.

The all-ages (fortunately adult) audience enjoyed the PG-13 rated book by Terrence McNally, naughty bits and all. The music and lyrics by David Yazbek included several show-stopping numbers, including “It’s a Woman’s World,” “Big-*** Rock,” “Big Black Man” (featuring showstopper Troy Scarborough as Horse) and “The Goods.”

“The Full Monty” is no tease. It delivers.