Bruce O, going a little astray here, but it's the first time I've seen a printed reference (outside of nautical) of Brass Monkey. Did the musical have a maritime theme? On shipboard a monkey would be the tringle tray with cups in it in which iron cannon balls would be stored on, aside the cannon itself, the brass monkey would be dress for special occasions or in use on the flagship. Because the brass & iron are different metals & expand & contract at different rates, in frezzing weather the brass would contract faster than the iron forcing the iron cannonballs to pop up from their resting place in the monkey, hence "frezze the balls off a brass monkey". Out of place but I thought it'd be interesting. Barry