Raunchy stars of Broadway musical The Full Monty were last night planning to strip off their G-strings and bare their crown jewels to the Queen.

The six-strong male troupe - whose show opens in the UK next year - were due to go a step further than usual on stage at the Royal Variety Performance by whipping off their undies.

However, special lighting should have preserved the stars' modesty, if all went according to plan, by putting them in silhouette.

Earlier, cast members said they were excited at the prospect of playing to royalty as they rehearsed at London's Dominion Theatre.

Andre de Shields, 55, said: "We thought we were doing well on Broadway and now we're going to be doing the show in front of the crown heads of Europe. "We wear a modesty G-string in rehearsals, but tonight it will be the Full Monty."

But the all-American cast have already had bitter experience of a lighting disaster which left them exposed for all the audience to see - and prompted a box office frenzy

"The back lights didn't work and only the front lights were on, so we were seen in all our glory - much to our chagrin and the delight of the audience," said de Shields.

Headlining last night's performance was Sir Elton John, making his first appearance at the show for almost 30 years.

Jennifer Lopez had jetted in from the US, and other stars included Cher, The Corrs, Hear'say and Denise Van Outen. The show will be screened on ITV1 tomorrow at 8pm.