One of the first commonalities that Alison and I discovered
was a mutual appreciation for British Humor, and a particular affinity for
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” This has long been a staple of my DVD
collection and I have even been known to recreate scenes from the film for
comedy shows at church.
In 2005 I heard tell of a new rendition of the story (if it
even deserves to be so designated) in the form of a Broadway show called
“Spamalot.” Ever since I have wanted to see this show, but have not had the
opportunity to do so.
While we were in Colorado after Christmas this past year I
received an email that informed me that the show was coming to Washington, DC
in April and giving me the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets. It was
too good an opportunity to pass up, and Alison consequently received two tickets
to “Spamalot” for her birthday a week later.
We had to wait three months,
but this past Sunday, April 14, we attended what turned out to be the very last
show, not only in DC, but of the entire National Tour.
The show was just as absurd as we had anticipated, but that
is a large part of the appeal. I was quite impressed by how much they were able
to do with very minimal set changes. The two towers you see in the picture
below were on stage the entire time and everything else occurred between them.
Many of the most memorable scenes from the film found their
way into the show. Included amongst them are the French taunting (complete with
a wooden rabbit), the knights who say “ni”, the black knight, the death cart in
the village, Lancelot rescuing Prince Herbert, the killer rabbit and, of
course, the “Knights of the Round Table” song.
Each of the elements taken from the movie had unique twists in the stage
production, and the scenes that didn’t make it (the witch scene, the castle
anthrax, and the bridge of death being the most notable), though missed, were
replaced by scenes that helped to tie together a more cohesive story than the
original.
I was not a fan of all the changes (eg. having Lancelot turn
out to be gay after his successful rescue of Prince Herbert—who is also gay)
but many of them were very much in the
spirit of the original while also serving to create an actual story that has a
beginning middle and end.
They did a lot of clever things to connect disparate
elements like having the guy pushing the death cart turn out to be Sir Robin
and the man who brings out the man who is “not dead yet” be Lancelot. Likewise
Dennis the Peasant turns out to be Sir Gallahad. It is kind of funny really
because the only knight that gets a backstory in the movie is Sir Bedevere, and
in the show he is the only one who doesn’t.
They also incorporated additional elements of the Flying
Circus into the show and, in my opinion, it is an excellent addition to the
Python genre.
If you don’t find Python humor funny, you aren’t going to
like this show, but if you appreciate “The Holy Grail” for what it is, you too
should join Arthur’s Court at Spamalot!
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