I chose Medal as today's fractal mainly because Spamalot has now taken the prize as my favorite musical. Besides--I really couldn't think of a better fractal for this review and I had no idea what to make for a new image.-
Seeing Spamalot live on stage was one of the first items on my personal "Bucket List": I would have loved to see the show on Broadway and I was scheming to make a trip to Las Vegas when it took over from Avenue Q in Las Vegas at The Wynn Resort. That never quite happened but the inclusion of this year's Broadway Season at the Orange County Performing Arts Centre was the main reason we bought season tickets this year. On Saturday October 17 we finally got to see the show.
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Spamalot is basically a re-telling of Monty Python and the Holy Grail--a low budget comedy movie that was made back in the early 1970s. It's a comedic retelling of the legend of King Arthur filtered through a peculiarly "Pythonesque" lens. All the humor fans loved is still here--along with a whole range of production numbers that bloom literally out of nowhere. (It IS a send-up of Broadway as well as the Arthurian legend after all.) All the scenes you loved from the movie are here--the French Taunters, the Vorpal Bunny and the Black Knight all turn up. So too does the music from the movie--Always Look On The Bright Side of Life and Brave Sir Robin.
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With the exception of King Arthur (played to pompus perfection by John O'Hurley) and the Lady Of The Lake all the Actors play multiple roles. With the exception of O'Hurley they are all "no names"--or at the very least names I don't recognize. Still, they manage to make that "Python" convention work for them: they keep the pace lively so you never quite get a chance to fixate on the show's weak points. (More on that later.)
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The Broadway Musical gets the Python treatment as well: huge production numbers pop out of literally nowhere (but at least that gives them an excuse to get a collection of scantily-clad chorus girls on stage.) The Song That Goes Like This exposes the structure of the "big" ballad that has anchored virtually every Broadway Musical since 1980 (and even manages to take a few shots at Andrew Lloyd Webber). In the end the "Fourth Wall" is gleefully shattered as the cast realizes they are IN a Broadway Play and a big, gushy "Broadway Wedding" finishes off the show.
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There are a few spots that expose this as a "touring" production. Effects that were HUGE on the New York stage come off as small and a little cheap--but maybe that was an homage to the original material. (After all, the "Pythoners" only had a shoestring budget to work with.) Still, these moments are few and far between so you can forgive the show that. I also could have done with the cast waiting for the audience to finish laughing before they went on with their lines--but if they had the show probably would have run for an extra hour.
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Spamalot is a must see for fans of Python and Broadway both. Yes, it's just a whipped-up confection of nothing but it's just FUN and a wonderful theatrical divertisment. GO SEE IT!!!
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FINAL GRADE: A
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