Review: MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT at Arizona Broadway Theatre

BroadwayWorld/Phoenix is again delighted to welcome David Appleford as a guest contributor to its pages ~ as always, featuring his distinctive, well-balanced, and intelligent perspective on theatre. In this case, he shines the light on Arizona Broadway Theatre's production of MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT.

Here now ~ From the keyboard of David Appleford:

The funny thing about Monty Python's Flying Circus is this: If PBS had never aired the irreverent late-night British TV series after its run ended on the BBC, there would be no Monty Python movies. In the UK, the series was done, and the Pythons, as the cast was known, went their separate ways. John Cleese had already departed before the final Python season concluded. But, surprisingly, during the seventies, PBS bought the shows and ran the series stateside, resulting in a brand-new American audience that suddenly became instant Python fans. And, of course, as often occurs when America becomes part of the equation, the movies called.

Now playing at Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria until November 5th is the result of that unexpected American direction; a live, splashy, Broadway musical based on a Python film. As the marketing ad states, MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOTis a musical 'lovingly' ripped off from the 1975 motion picture, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where all of its supreme Brit silliness and idiocy remains intact, even if hardcore fans may consider it somewhat scrubbed cleaned for general audience consumption. ABT's lively, colorful, energetic production of SPAMALOT, directed by Danny Gorman, while streamlined somewhat from the original production, remains undeniably great fun.

Interestingly, it was only one of the Pythons who brought SPAMALOT to the stage. With a background in musical theatre, it was no surprise that Eric Idle would rip off his own material and write a Broadway/West End-styled musical. The remaining Pythons took a back seat. Their reaction to the show after seeing it on Broadway was muted. They called it Monty Python Lite, which is true; Idle's adapted script doesn't have the adult bite or any of the naughty bits that the series or the films contained. What he's done is adapted the absurdist Python style and made it palatable for all audiences, even for those who have never seen either the TV series or a Python film.

With an intentionally silly title based on King Arthur's Camelot and the line from the Knights of the Round Table song that declares, "We eat ham, and jam, and spam a lot," MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT loosely tells of King Arthur's quest to gather his knights and search all of Britain to find the Holy Grail. And, of course, being a Python show, none of it makes sense. However, here's the good news: it's not supposed to.

The silliness begins at curtain's rise as a tweedy-looking, bow-tie-wearing historian with an overly clipped English accent (John Cardenas) sets the scene of life in England, 932 A.D. and delivers news of disasters sweeping across the land in the form of a weather forecast: "Plague, with a fifty percent chance of pestilence and famine coming out of the Northeast at twelve miles per hour."

While ABT's production is scaled down from both the original Broadway and West-End productions, the ensemble remains large, headed by the excellent Steve McCoy as the often-bewildered King Arthur. The trick to Arthur is to play it straight while nonsense circles around him. Not only does it make the character's exasperation funnier, but it also adds a surprising touch of gravitas to the proceedings. Without it, the whole enterprise would feel as though it's about to descend into production chaos.

Eric Idles's many considerable talents are writing very funny lyrics and catchy, sing-a-long tunes. He wrote the book and the lyrics and co-wrote the music with John Du Prez. His lyrics are clever ditties that play with words set to upbeat, jaunty music, here with a Broadway flair. And they're fun, though Python devotees will recognize songs not only used from the original film, but also other Python films, plus quotable lines from the TV series. While 'Brave Sir Robin' and 'Knights of the Round Table' (written by Neil Innes of Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band fame) were both featured in The Holy Grail, the supremely idiotic 'Finland' that opens the show (written by Michael Palin) comes from the LP Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, while 'Always Look On The Bright Side of Life' was lifted (and used to a much funnier degree in the film because of its crucifixion setting) from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

There are also nods (rip-offs) to Fiddler on the Roof, Stephen Sondheim's Company, and some serious pokes at Andrew Lloyd Webber. And in this regional ABT production, even the controversial 'The Lumberjack Song' from the TV series squeaks in a line at the end of 'Not Dead Yet' with "Wearing suspenders and a bra" heard at the song's fade out. Plus, there's even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Man of La Mancha gag as an uncredited member of ABT's sizable ensemble mistakenly runs on dressed as Don Quixote and is introduced as Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show. Then, upon realizing he's in the wrong production, quickly exits.

For the record, the song 'You Won't Succeed on Broadway (If You Don't Have Any Jews)' while comically accurate when singing the unwritten laws of Broadway's setup, was changed in London to 'You Won't Succeed in Showbiz,' not for any politically-correct situation, but simply because the joke doesn't work. The UK business of London theatres is not the same as Broadway, though you can't help but wonder how Andrew Lloyd Webber felt about the show mercilessly satirizing his particular musical style (as used prominently in the hilarious 'The Song That Goes Like This') particularly when London's Palace Theatre in the West-End where the show opened is owned by Lord Webber himself.

The one, truly great song in SPAMALOT is the show-stopper 'The Diva's Lament,' sung by The Lady of the Lake (an impressive Kelly J. Mazzella) where she struts the stage complaining of being underused in the second act. It's the kind of song you might find written for the Off-Broadway ever-changing review that parodies musical theatre, Forbidden Broadway, only you wouldn't have to change any lyrics; the song is already an instant musical parody.

With good ABT production values, set against Christian Fleming's set design of a brick castle backdrop that with some adjustments doubles as various English locations, the set may appear overall scaled down from original designs - Camelot as Las Vegas looks particularly bare with only a hanging lighted sign to indicate the joke location - the production still has that required eye-catching appearance with a busy, colorful, ever-changing lighting design from Casey Price. Plus, it appears that the theatre has hired several of the original costume designs with credit in the program going to the Maine State Music Theatre, though local costume design credits go to Tim Hatley (a name recalled from the 2012 Phoenix Theatre Company production) with additional design work from Dr. Heather Striebel.

Christopher G. Patterson's choreography, like the script's throw-away groaners and quick one-liners, works because of the ensemble's sharp timing throughout, though the visual gag during the Monk's Chant would look more effective if the three performers playing the chanting monks hit themselves in the head with their clunky chant boards in unison and not, as the one in the middle did during Saturday's matinee, as a delayed after-thought.

In truth, MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT is not classic musical theatre and is neither expected nor designed to be, yet it is two hours of solid, musical fun and intentional silliness performed by an energetic ensemble of players with an excellent King Arthur and Lady of the Lake at its center. All appear to be having as much fun performing the piece as those watching. Simply surrender to Sir Lancelot, the Homicidal Brave (Jamie Michael Parnell), Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot (Tyler Pirrung), Sir Galahad, the Dashingly Handsome (Brad Rupp), and Sir Bedevere, the Strangely Flatulent (Elliot Scott Smith), and you'll exit the theatre in your best mood to date. Though, if you got into the swing of things by ordering the specially created, hand-breaded spam, spam, spam, wonderful spam (not a joke) before the show, available as an appetizer from the theatre's dinner menu, that's where you're on your own.

MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT runs through November 5th at:

Arizona Broadway Theatre, 7701 W. Paradise Lane, Peoria, AZ ~ https://azbroadway.org/ ~ 623-776-8400.

Poster credit to ABT

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