SPAMALOT

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL SINGS

Guest Theater Review by Mike Flores

SPAMALOT, A musical version of my favorite Python film. First question, will Python fans like it? Second question, will non Python fans like it enough to make it a Broadway hit where the show is destined to go? Third question, will the limb chopping and rabbit attacks still be present? Final question, will it work without the Python’s themselves on stage?

The standing ovations this show is getting at every performance even in its preview first time run are well deserved. This show grabs the audience and does not let go. You sense the relief in the crowd in the opening bit of the show- they are staying true to the vision, and having fun. As Finnish dancers are shoved off stage I waited to watch Tim Curry and David Hyde Pierce to appear but I’m telling you the dazzler in the show is Sara Ramirez who plays several roles but her Lady Of The Lake is quite wonderful. Monty Python the group may not have found a way to work with women, but this character actually provides the way in for non- Python fans. This woman held the room in the palm of her hand several times and it was quite exciting to see. If this charisma transfers over to film, good lord.

The show’s attacks on the saccharine theatre fare that has grandparents all over rushing to Broadway also make it a crowd pleaser. We’ll see if that Phantom of the Opera movie doesn’t stink…… frankly one wonders why this show is taking the expensive and exhausting travel to Broadway and presumably beyond route. This show has something no other major traveling show has, the Monty Python name. Why are they going to Broadway? There were lines of people standing to get into the area selling show souvenirs, frankly this show should be in Vegas. It would run forever, and make a lot more money. Vegas is no longer considered unhip, not by a country mile. Why travel and end up with hits like Andrew Lloyd Webber and broke and in the red? Theatre needs new thinking, when a guy like Andrew is broke!

Is the show worth traveling for? Building a vacation around?

Hell yes. The show itself, like Python, is influenced by the Marx Brothers theatre, the Goon Squad, pub humor and Python itself. The ideas alone carry the show, with or without the taped Cleese as God moment. Frankly, it is nice he did it, but this show is the actors on stage show. 

I am glad I got to see Tim Curry live and singing; that was on my list of things to do. Michael McGrath who is also a powerhouse on stage as “Patsy” and Curry hit it off quite well, it’s fun watching the two of them on stage. At first I wondered why David Hyde Pierce took a part in the show, but that becomes quite apparent in the second act with the show-stopping bring down the house numbers he is involved in. 

Eric Idle has brought back the spirit of Python. Ha has created a terrific addition, not a footnote, to the Python legend. Fly, swim, walk, get on eBay for tickets but see this show.  

Decapitation, Sara Ramirez in her undies (hell yeah!), limbs chopped off, P- favs John Cleese audio cameo, P-Fav: Tim Curry, Spam, bunny rampage!

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