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(L to R) David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin (holding the Chicken of Bristol), Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot, Christopher Sieber as Sir Dennis Galahad, Steve Rosen as Sir Bedevere, and Tim Curry as King Arthur in MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT. (c) 2004 Joan Marcus.
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If, as recent studies conclude, laughter has the power to heal then physicians should have Spamalot on top of their prescription list. With laughs piling up continually you leave either exhilarated...or exhausted (for those not in shape). This inspired lunacy is described as "lovingly ripped off" from the 1975 motion picture Monty Python & the HolyGrail by original Python, Eric Idle, musicalized by Idle and John Du Prez and masterminded by director Mike Nichols.
A show that cannot fail, the already ecstatic Python junkies offer spirited applause and unearned laughter at the mere sight of the curtain or a familiar character. But for the musical theater addicts a mere reproduction of the film would be unsatisfying since it has little plot and no ending. Act I stays faithfully on script but Director Nichols should be credited with Act II which takes the show out of the middle ages and lands King Arthur's Quest for the Grail squarely on the Broadway stage...literally, with nary a gimmick unemployed, a shtick unexploited as he crumbles the fourth wall, or a show unskewered: look for unmistakably irreverent references to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis, Stephen Sondheim, stage Divas. The Producers, Fiddler on the Roof, The Boy From Oz which make the show resemble a glorified Forbidden Broadway.
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(L to R) Christian Borle as Prince Herbert and Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot (c) Joan Marcus
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While the original elements are most recognizable: the clopping cocoanuts, Legless Knight, Killer Rabbit, Knights of Ni, Taunting Frenchmen, Catapulting Cows, etc., the savviest parts are the add-ons: the cutely cliche-d choreography (Casey Nicholaw) has the Knights soft-shoe-ing, the familiar sounding songs, and Tim Hatley's sets ranging from the original low budget cartoon-y to Vegas style razz ma tazz costumes and sets, mostly for Sara Ramirez, the Lady in the Lake, the show's vocally versatile, sexy new star, and her "girls". Hugh Vanstone's lighting goes from grim to glitzy in a flash.
Rocky Horror film cultists will adore Tim Curry as the stalwart King on the Quest, TV fans will go crazy for Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot, who likes to "dance a lot" (his coming "out": "if you have to have Jews for Broadway, you also have to have a few gays", a study in hilarity), and David Hyde Pierce, the cowardly Sir Robin, as Broadway's newest song & dance man. Broadway insiders will embrace Michael McGrath as Patsy, Arthur's woebegone sidekick, no mere second banana (when will this man get the lead he deserves?), blond tressed Christopher Sieber as the pompous Sir Galahad, Steve Rosen Sir Bedevere, Christian Borle as Not Dead Yet and others and the voice of Python John Cleese as God.
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(Top to Bottom) Thomas Cannizzaro, Christian Borle, Hank Azaria, and Greg Reuter as the French Guards. (c) 2004 Joan Marcus
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Idle, who has been referred to as "a philosopher who can write fart jokes" illustrates the Python's mantra "taste is the enemy of art".
Of the score he says "if it can't be in an Andrew Lloyd Weber show its in ours" and indeed the song titles themselves are jokes as in "The Song That Goes Like This" a generic love song requisite in every musical, complete with chandelier and boat, the Disney-like "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" or "You Won't Succeed on Broadway...if you don't have any Jews...there's a very small percentile who enjoy a dance that's gentile".
Spamalot is Python stealing from Python poking fun at not only themselves but the Broadway musical formula as well. Only Python can mesh Camelot with Animal House and paint graffiti and makeup on even the most noble events of history, leaving no reverence or mercy, just roaring laughs.
Don't miss it!
Monty Python's Spamalot Tickets
Shubert Theater, 225 West 44 St, 212 239 6200
Jeanne Lieberman (hrmjeannie@aol.com) is editor/senior reviewer of Theaterscene.net and can be heard on WFAS AM.
photos provided by Jeannie Lieberman
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