SOUND OFF: Land Ho! GALAVANT Sails, Sings & Zings In Its Second Week

By: Pat Cerasaro Jan. 11, 2015

Today we are recounting the highlights of the second hour of new episodes of ABC's new musical comedy series GALAVANT.

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Jackass In A Can
"The conquering hero returns!" the glad townspeople excitedly exclaimed upon the re-entry of gallant GALAVANT (Joshua Sasse) along with Sid (Luke Youngblood) and Isabella (Karen David) to town following last week's epic jousting match. Unfortunately, they meant Galavan't squire, Sid, not GALAVANT himself. Oops. Yet, no Broadway baby could deny the rich opportunity to enjoy Tony Award-winning Broadway leading lady Faith Prince as Sid's big-hearted mother - and a delectable chance to see her sing and dance, a bit, as well. And, VICTORIOUS does GALAVANT return to our TV screens this week after having amassed an impressive 7+ million viewers for its debut hour - right up against no less than a massively-viewed NFL game - and earning a replay during the week to get new viewers caught up on the action if they managed to miss the premiere for whatever reason. "What A Night" was not only the title of the first song of the two new eps tonight, themselves titled "Two Balls" and "Comedy Gold", but also fitting verbal recap of last week's events - both on the series and in the ratings themselves. It's a hit.

Allowing for an amusing change-up from last week's proceedings, tonight's twofer started with an episode centered largely at a ball and ended with an ep depicting the hero's journey to Valencia on no less than a pirate ship. "I trade in monologues, not poetry," Isabella passionately revealed to GALAVANT - with tongue firmly in cheek - following a particularly lengthy diatribe, and the growing relationship between the fiery princess and the charming knight continued to give off considerable sparks in their various interactions as depicted on tonight's show. Could Galavant's betrothed, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), fall by the wayside and GALAVANT gain new romantic appreciation for the princess or shall their relationship remain agamic? Time will tell - and, since this is a limited series, we will only have to wait two more weeks maximum to find out. Meanwhile, bubbly and bouncy group production numbers along the lines of tonight's guffaw-worthy "Jackass In A Can" will more than merely satiate our desires for engaging entertainment - off-color and ribald as it and they may be. Truly, those who are offended by such sentiments are well-advised to seek other avenues on Sunday nights this month, since the type of show being served up by creator Dan Fogelman and songwriters Alan Menken and Glenn Slater is decidedly blue - and sometimes a little green; and occasionally a little red, too. If an unsuspecting, off-handed joke about a "Lilith Fair at the island of Lesbos" isn't for you, then perhaps neither is this series. Oh, well - more for all of us. Plus, with unexpected musical sequences such as "Dance Til You Die" popping up every so often - or, given the preponderance of songs on the series: quite a lot - there is certainly no dearth of production value and memorable mise en scene on display to experience. And, what a motley, marvelous crew of guest stars! All told, GALAVANT may very well be too rich a feast in its sheer bedecked, bejeweled conception and action, let alone the quick-paced and fast-moving presentation as it exists, than many among us are ready to warm to since it is a mere comedy - but, then again, who can justifiably complain that there is too much to see and hear to possibly TAKE IT ALL in in one viewing? True, the jokes may be shockingly risqué and the physical humor frequently a tad immature, often coming in quick succession with lots of other activity occurring onscreen, but that is precisely the goofy, well-worn Monty Python-meets-Mel Brooks vibe that the creators have set out to emulate - SPAMALOT crossed with ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS with a hearty TANGLED tangent or two popping up every so often. And, without any question, the creators have succeeded spectacularly in achieving just that - a frothy, festive capper to our weeks during the dark days of January. I would also add: boasting even better tunes than any of those other aforementioned properties, to boot. A treasure chest.

The second half of this week's hour-long continuation of the limited series was kicked off by a breathtaking view of the landscape heading towards the oft-discussed KINGDOM of Valencia, with GALAVANT leading his trusty compatriots in a catchy trio tune - a whimsical, harmonious, pop piano-based bop titled "Together". Bonus points go to the inventive internal monologues of the characters revealed in the individual verses of the song as well as the appealing melody in general. Indeed, the subtle artistic flourishes - to say nothing of the countless comedic accents throughout - are what help GALAVANT immeasurably in achieving a higher level of entertainment value than at first would be immediately perceived from a series ostensibly about a bunch of medieval lords, ladies, knights and the rest singing it up and cutting a rug - and, given the copious gallows humor and frequent swordplay, slicing it all up, as well. Case in point: Hugh Bonneville made his first appearance on the series this week as the swarthy, eye-patched character referred to as the Pirate King in a delicious cameo turn. Lending a heretofore unheard musical theatre skillset to a hilarious group production number called "Lords Of The Sea", Bonneville gamely joined the kickline with visible relish and made a mark as his daffy seaworthy character, showing off some considerable comedy chops all the while. Who knew Lord Grantham of DOWNTON ABBEY had this musical comedy hero (or villain, as the case may be) hidden somewhere within him?! Such are the joys of the series - and there are many.

On the other side of the kingdom, King Richard (Timothy Olmundson) continued to pine for his persnickety paramour Madalena to little avail - though perhaps he is starting to catch on that the reason for her disinterest in him could very well lay between the legs of his very own court jester. Or, given the dim-witted king as we know him, maybe not... yet. Speaking of the jester, Steve (Ben Presley) - yes, he has a name after all, despite the queen's protestations - was given a tongue-twisting patter song about the fine art of making people laugh in the rapid-fire and rambunctious "Comedy Gold" musical sequence, intentionally meant to distract the king in the early scenes of the second half-hour, ending with a Broadway-ready showstopper coda complete with a pie in the face - with no, ahem, pie shot, alas. Never fear, the pie shot came soon enough thereafter to appreciably cap the climax (and yet another song, as it happens) - on the top of the head of an unsuspecting knight; to the rapt amusement of the queen. On the topic of the queen, could her time with the king be coming to an end? That slow-motion sequence during the ball certainly showed the king is suspicious of something awry - maybe even rotten - in the state of Valencia. Furthermore, when and if GALAVANT ever arrives on the scene to rescue her (again), will he accept her back in his strong, rugged arms anyway given what has come to pass? She definitely has not made it easy to love her judging from her past actions - and, given what we have seen come to pass, she does not seem worthy of his passionate, death-defying devotion anyway. Or anyone's.

A pirate-populated reprise of "Together" acted as a winning 11 o'clock musical moment near the close of the music-packed hour, coming before a doozy of a dramatic reveal by the princess - ostensibly admitting her whole persona and sad story is a rouse meant to entrap GALAVANT for King Richard - only to have it fall on deaf, goofy ears. "I'm coming, my love," GALAVANT says as he gazes out over the vast sea towards Valencia at the episode's close - and, just as quickly, GALAVANT is coming into its own as one of the most easily enjoyed and painlessly digested new TV series of 2015 and one of the most seamless and outright fun musical series to date - it certainly makes recent Broadway-centric NBC musical SMASH look deadly serious and the most recent GLEE outright spurious in its pursuits, that's for damn sure. GALAVANT is definitely a dessert course as far as the contemporary TV menu is metaphorically defined, but it has some highly respectable culinary substance to it below the whipped decadence, tasty sauces and nutty toppings - with the musical numbers themselves coming as the prized cherry. So, too, GALAVANT also possesses some chefs well deserving of praise for daring to do something so outrageously unique - and doing it so well.

Photo Credits: ABC

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