BWW Reviews: SPAMALOT an Evening of Great Grand Silliness

The labeled ingredients in the canned mystery meat known as Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, ham meat, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, sugar, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. There are almost as many ingredients in the Georgetown Palace Theatre production of Monty Python's SPAMALOT, which includes a hard-working cast, clever songs, and a script featuring the witty and politically incorrect British humor of Monty Python. Monty Python's SPAMALOT is a musical comedy adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail which was a highly irreverent parody of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Monty Python is considered both parody and satire. There are abundant examples of both at work in this production. Among the things parodied are Broadway musicals (in general) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (specifically) repeatedly. The original production was the winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical.

The Georgetown Palace production of SPAMALOT is quite funny, overall, but lacks sharpness. While the choreography by Jesee Smart is quite good, the execution is sloppy. People are executing her detailed moves, but there is no synchronization, no crispness, which makes the end result appear under rehearsed. The direction, by Ron Watson, makes it appear that the stage is too small to hold the action. The musical direction by Austin Kimble is very good and the singing is arguably the best part of this production. The costuming by Ramona Haass is imaginative and works very well. The lighting design, by Faith Castaneda, is problematic. Overall, everyone appears to be in the dark and actors frequently are standing outside of the spots designed to accentuate moments like Arthur and Excalibur. Hopefully, these problems are related to opening weekend jitters and will resolve themselves quickly.

There are some very good performances in this production: Aaron Crowley is delightful in multiple roles, particularly as Not Dead Fred, Minstrel and Prince Herbert. Matt Gauck is excellent as Patsy, Arthur's dogsbody and coconut horse. Emily Niswonger is sheer perfection as the Lady of the Lake, knocking it out of the park with both her singing and acting. Phil Rodriguez gives multiple superb performances as Sir Lancelot, French Taunter, Tim and Knight Who Says Ni. David Sray gives us excellent renditions of Dennis, Sir Galahad and Herbert's Father.

While there are elements of the production that are still a little shaky, overall, this is a funny rendition of great, grand silliness... and who among us doesn't need a little more of that in our lives?

SPAMALOT Book by Eric Idle, Music by John Du Prez, Eric Idle & Neil Innes, Lyrics by Eric Idle

Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.

SPAMALOT, produced by Georgetown Palace Theater (810 S Austin Ave, Georgetown, TX, 78626). Performances run weekends, 04/17 - 05/17: Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm.
Reservations: https://www.georgetownpalace.com/secure/buytickets.php?eventID=405 or 512-869-SHOW.

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