Review: CFTA's SPAMALOT is Good For What Ails You

Terrific performances across the board, sprightly direction that keeps the action moving at a quick clip-clop and a no-holds-barred sense of ridiculous theatricality all come together in Center for the Arts' production of Monty Python's Spamalot, the hilarious stage musical based on the irreverent troupe's 1975 film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With a slate filled with stage favorites - of both the musical and "straight" variety - still to come in 2018, Murfreesboro's CFTA will likely have a banner year.

Directed by Seth K. Gregory with a whole lot of punchy pomp and circumstance - which is befitting of the tale about King Arthur and his iconic knights of the spherical table and their search for the Holy Grail, fraught with all manner of farcical hijinks and broad comedy - with strong music direction by Sam Hagler and serviceable, if uninspired, choreography by Elizabeth Krebs, Monty Python's Spamalot proves that the show can deliver, no matter the budget for bringing it to life onstage. The key to success is imagination, a zany sense of humor and a cast willing to go to any lengths to entertain their audience. And CFTA's Spamalot is nothing, if not entertaining.

Clocking in at about two-and-a-half hours of mirthful merrymaking (which includes a 15-minute potty break midway through the shenanigans), it's amazing how quickly the story is told onstage. Replete with stinky cheese-eating and altogether superior Frenchpeople, killer bunnies, wacky knights and show-stopping Laker Girls, Spamalot follows the inane misadventures of noblemen as they seek to create a world of chilvary and charm from a miasma of dreadfully poor people who are ignorant in the ways of the world.

With plenty of requisite over-the-top and generally hilarious humor in the vein of the erstwhile Monty Python's Flying Circus troupe, it appears that there are laughs galore with a little something for everyone, no matter their station or education or attention spans, to be found in Spamalot. One need only to cast their troubles away, sit back and allow Gregory's extraordinary ensemble of actors - led by Matt Smith, Haley Ray, Spencer Germany, Robby Craze, Greg Ray, Nate Paul and Rob DeHoff - to whisk you backwards about 1,000 years to the halcyon days of Camelot. (Get it? Camelot = Spamalot?)

Clearly, if you like your humor broad and your jokes almost achingly sophomoric, Spamalot is the show for you. It's good for what ails you (whether it's the bubonic plague, an upper respiratory tract infection or a weekend hangover)!

Smith is terrific as the regal, if rather daft, King Arthur who is forced to travel the highways and byways of Great Britain before it was, well, "great" in search of a coterie of knights to sit around a large, round table and do their duty to ensure Britain's place in the world. Smith maintains a posh British accent throughout the play's proceedings and displays a razor-sharp sense of comic timing blended with more than a little stage presence to create a character who is both appealing and somewhat off-putting (in the manner we hope all our royals to be when we happen upon them, whether in Camelot or Harrod's).

He is paired with the delightfully arch Haley Ray who makes the role of The Lady of the Lake her own with a superb performance that is wonderfully, charmingly divaesque. Ray pulls out all the stops to play her character to the hilt, showing off her own amazing comic sensibilities in the process, and she delivers some of the show's best musical moments ("The Song That Goes Like This," sung with Robby Craze's Sir Galahad, is exceptional, and her Act Two performance of "Whatever Happened to My Part" is every Broadway diva's lament that literally stops the show) and she looks like a million bucks in the sparkly beaded and sequined gowns that she cavorts around in throughout the production.

Spencer Germany is thoroughly likable as King Arthur's loyal and obedient body man Patsy, supplying some of the production's better comic moments with elan and his own impeccable timing. He sings and dances with confidence, all the while creating a character who is eminently lovable and sympathetic.

The aforementioned Craze is well-cast in a trio of roles, including Dennis Galahad, the uproarious Black Knight and the comically homophobic father of a singing gay prince, easily creating a different persona for each of his onstage doppelgangers. Nate Paul's onstage versatility is seen throughout the musical, playing Sir Robin (the knight who's likely to crap his pants at the suggestion of confrontation), Maynard and a clumsy guard with equal ease - his gorgeous voice ain't too bad, either - and he delivers "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" with all the power of a stage-struck powerhouse. As Sir Lancelot, a taunting Frenchman, a Knight of Ni and Tim the Enchanter (even the character names are enough to elicit guffaws and chuckles when reading the show's playbill), Greg Ray very nearly steals the show, particularly late in the second act when we learn Lancelot's true nature in the appropriately fey and fabulous "His Name is Lancelot." And Rob DeHoff proves himself an adept comedian/musical theater star as Sir Belvedere, also eliciting his share of laughs as Mother Galahad.

Russell Forbes proves a convincing Prince Herbert and Not-Dead-Fred, and Todd Seage seems every inch the erudite historian he plays onstage. Among director Gregory's ensemble, strong performances are delivered by T. Josiah Haynes, Joseph Biggers, Jesse Watts and Dakota Green, with Kaitlyn Dennis, Heather Gardner, Sarah Farrell and Katy Majors as "the Laker Girls."

E. Roy Lee's scenic design provides the players with the ideal background for their onstage exploits and shows off the designer's own tongue-in-cheek humor throughout the proceedings. Alex DeHoff and Donna Seage clothe the actors in some swell costumes and the show's stage crew (psm Allie Collins, Miranda Johnson, Sky Dupree and Kennedi Chriske) are given their own onstage moments during which to shine, and assistant director Lauren Duarte makes a couple of memorable cameo appearances, as well.

Monty Python's Spamalot. A new musical lovingly ripped off from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, from the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Book and lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. Directed by Seth K. Gregory. Musical direction by Sam Hagler. Choreography by Elizabeth Krebs. Presented by Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro. Through February 18. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (including one 15-minute intermission).

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