this--THIS is the song that goes like this.
one of the best things i’ve ever done was to ask for what i want. which is when i reached out to the peace center and asked if they ever gave tickets to “influencers.” i’ve gotten to see four shows this season and i couldn’t be happier. #theatreblessed
and now for something completely different, although i suspect you weren’t expecting THE SPANISH INQUISITION… ;)
sorry.
monty python joke.
but that’s all SPAMALOT is.
which, not everyone in the audience at the peace center last week knew.
yes, SPAMALOT is a version of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. but a live & on stage musical version.
before the show began, i was brave enough to ask an usher if i could take a picture of the stage. (“as long as you don’t go up there.” “would never!” i replied. (“…without a contract, that is,” i added in my head.) ;)
the peace center is gorgeous: even if some broadway shows feel like they’re cramming in their production on our small stage. it’s a beautiful venue though, no? and i’ll never know how the orchestra can see when fog is rolling off the stage and into the pit, but i guess that’s why they’re pros? :)
i can still visualize what road i was driving on (orchard park drive, where like three new hospitals are now) as i belted along to “this is the song that goes like this” when i first acquired the o.b.c.r. cd for my car. so did ALL the lyrics come back to me* as i was watching this show? absolutely.
is this absurdist british hurmor? fer sure. do i love it? abso-posoi-utely!!
my first knowledge of this musical adaptation of the infamous and endlessly quotable 1975 film was when i saw that CLAY AIKEN** was joining the broadway cast for a limited run as is the celebrity stunt casting of broadway in the mid-aughts. (oh wait, they still do that, don’t they?)
anyway: i happened to recently read eric idle’s book THE SPAMALOT DIARIES because you know how i love to creatively procrastinate researching while writing a book… ;) anyway, while i probably learned WHY they brought SPAM into the title (silly product placement is my best guess?), i honestly don’t remember.
but, as i said: i DO remember all the lyrics.
but i’m beyond happy to have finally seen the show for context.
(although, even without the visuals, the cast album made more sense than HADESTOWN did without context! my recent blog about two hadestown productions here!)
*i promise i wasn’t that audience member that was singing along when you paid to hear the professionals sing. but i was singing and dancing on the inside. :)
**yes, i was made aware recently that i StiLL think of clay aiken than is necessary in the year of our Lord 2026. on a recent road trip he came up in conversation with my friend J, and she said she hadn’t thought of him in years. somehow he comes to my mind at least once a week. *shrug?*
so after the first warm-up guitar chord from the orchestra pit, my face was aglow.
live music, man. every time. especially when i know singing and dancing is to follow.
while the production did rely on screen projections for the top half of the stage set, i liked that the castle bottom was a rough-n’-ready stage design that coulda come from any high school play across the country. (although i’m sure it was more steady and more flexible. and i give these traveling shows lots of set design credit for how adaptable they need to be for dozens and dozens of different theatres across the country for such limited runs; they’re not in ONE theatre on broadway for years on end, you know? they move every five days or so!)
i also couldn’t help but think of darryl in the office episode “andy’s play” (season 7, episode 3) :
“shhh! if we don’t listen to the overture, we won’t recognize the musical themes when they come back later.”
so, yeah: the entire audience JumPEd when the gate Clanged and the auditorium lights dimmed to start the show. but we got the overture, and alllll the songs i used to sing along to came back to me.
the projection (with a few peekaboo animations before the show began and at intermission) as the curtain; me and my paper (hurray!) show program in my v. fancy row T “influencer” seats! :)
the show opens with sarcasm and a hollywood-esque broadway musical vibe, the fishschlapping song (a famous monty python sketch) in finland…. and “clear out everyone, we did the wrong number” as an historian narrator guides us through a map of plague-filled britain… and then we meet arthur. who claims to be king at the gates of a castle, although that conversation devolves into how a coconut (what his page is clamping together to mimic their non-existent horses) got to england.
it wasn’t until “i’m not dead yet” that the audience applauded anything, but by then, i think those who didn’t know what they were in for had to accept the kind of show they were watching, and joined along for the silly ride.
found myself obsessed with king arhur’s storytelling voice.
for some reason i wrote down the line (that i’m sure made me laugh):
“and for the tooth fairy, i’ll join the navy.”
i love all that smart/ridiculous/self-referential/punning of the english language/miscommunicaitons/pop-culture references and other broadway show nods in the script. i loved the tap dancing in vegas. (er, camelot, where SPAM makes its first appearance- again: i don’t remember why—) but the showgirls in this show (including jodi benson’s daughter!) were a bit too cast-to-type and very slim and non-body-diverse in curviness. (because it was a dude-bro-retro show, or because of talent available??)
the lady of the lake was incredible. and not just because i want all of her sequined gowns that shone so sParkLy brite in the stage lights… her vegas lounge-singer mash-up included nods to britney, cher, abba, elvis, babs, whitney, christina, and ariana. plus celine and bad bunny… and elsa.
did we have much of a plot before we gathered all the knights of the “very, very, very round table?” no. was i still entertained? of course.
were there a few jokes (and one song) i didn’t feel exactly comfortable laughing at? indeed.
there were (i’m estimating) three bits/jokes that could use some updating. [one ex: the mother of gallahad, er, “dennis,” was played by a man. so i thought the whole cast might be men, a lá shakespeare/original practice style? but then we had the lady of the lake (a woman) and her “laker girls” (all v. skinny dancer showgirl/cheerleader women)… so… why???]
(my favorite line of “God”’s though: “if you’re not careful, I’ll invent america.”)
the wooden rabbit (a failed attempt at the trojan horse) held up. and it was written by and had a cast of british characters, so the french stereotype jokes held up, too. (at least better than “you can’t succeed on broadway if you don’t have any jews.” yikes.)
“is it art?”
“we’re french, we’ll call anything art.”
(fine by me. i’m french, too.)
the show went so fast from one schtick to another, i think we only applauded three times in act I. (once was for the super-ridculous french guard on the parapet; he leaned into it and it got funnier. remember: audience vibes matter! i think this silly-pace was to make up for lack of plot or stakes until “God” intervened with a quest for arthur and his gathered knights- a literal projection of the deus ex machina.)
me and my notebook; of course i used my writech nebula pen which has a silent clicker. and yes, i’ve carried notebooks to shows and movies since high school. it made me feel like a newspaper critic and i still love that reporter-feeling. :)
the family behind me at intermission was a good eavesdrop. (“not everything needs to be a show.” i don’t think they were referencing This ONe; they couldn’t remember the last show they’d seen that’d been so unmemborable/painful to sit through… but i knew which one they were talking about… ha!) they commented on this one: “well, it’s not dragging!”
but hey: the dad was a HOLY GRAIL fan, and fear not: his quote-ables came up in act II.
the historian narrator opened act II with a “dark and very expensive forest” (also cue the fog rolling into the orchestra pit! whew!) where we met the knights who say NEE. we got the “brave sir robin” song we also get in the movie. we get an alms/arms for the poor joke when we come across the “tis merely a flesh wound” knight guarding the crossing the creek bit…
we got lines like: “broadway is full of very special people who can sing and dance. often at the same time!”
we met TIM. (the scary, two-story wizard warning us of the killer rabbit which is another movie bit. “this is no ordinary rabbit.” (honestly: that these performers could get us to laugh without constantly thinking “ugh, it’s not john cleese; it’s not as funny” was realllllly impressive, imho.)
and the last note i made in my notebook in the dark?
“oh, very clever, it was through the fourth wall.”
(no spoilers on that one. but yeah, audience participation beware if you’re on the front row!) ;)
i loved seeing it, even if i’d love to edit it to make it less patriarchal. eliminate the homophobic jokes. make it more female-friendly. (i know BOOK OF MORMON is still on b’way and touring; and it’s “edited” version is still AWFUL, so i can’t imagine the “before.”)
i know ALL ART IS A TIMECAPSULE. but if we’re presenting it to modern audiences, i think there’s room to ask a question: do we present it as it was written, or make it palatable and sensitive to modern audiences? especially if it’s theatre meant to purely ENTERTAIN versus a historic (or modern) play that DOES raise cultural issues and awareness, you know?
so i’m grateful i got to see it. the cast was talented and silly, the costumes and (most) songs super-fun. i got close to stage. i got to play theatre critic. i did some story-assessment and got a few great laughs out of it, too.
here’s to peace center’s next BROADWAY season…! first up and what i’m looking forward to the most: MAYBE HAPPY ENDING!
this week in greenville, sc is the south carolina new play festival! i have (free to the public!) tickets to all the staged readings- including the one i auditioned for- so stay tuned for more theatre blogs to come this week! yay! :D