Front Row Centre review: SPAMALOT (National Tour)

There is nothing wrong with a show that wants to do no more than entertain people and make them laugh. While so many musical comedies fall short in these goals, Monty Python's SPAMALOT unquestionably delivers the goods. 

This is the big hit Toronto has been waiting for!

The touring production of SPAMALOT opened at the Canon theatre Sunday (July 16) for a summer run that will no doubt be the hottest ticket in Toronto in what is already shaping up to be a sizzling summer. 

This national edition is first-rate in every department, thanks to the deft (nearly invisible) directorial touch of Mike Nichols. Python fans will be in heaven, and musical comedy buffs will relish all the inside jokes. Everyone else will just get swept up in the shear silliness of it all.

The show, "lovingly ripped off from the motion picture MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL" won the 2005 Tony for best musical. It did not win awards for its book or its score, which is understandable: The plot as concocted by Eric Idle is little more than a wisp of an idea that frequently gets lost or forgotten in the shuffle. The songs outfitted with clever lyrics, are tuneful and familiar (they ought to be – the big second act song "Always look on the bright side of life" was lifted from the Monty Python film LIFE OF BRIAN) without ever becoming the kinds of showstoppers they are parodying.

But SPAMALOT is a show much greater than the sum of its parts.  For starters, it is hilarious. Not every joke lands, and some of the humour is sophomoric but that, after all, is what made Monty Python such a hit in the first place.  Sometimes silly, sometimes sly, this is a musical that sets out to mock every musical theatre convention. In place of subtext it offers subversiveness.  It offers relevance through irreverence.

People will want to see it more than once just to get all the jokes. But those planning to visit the Canon theatre would be well advised to NOT listen to the original cast recording in advance, so as not to spoil any of the gags. Purchase the CD after seeing the show (though not at the theatre where they will lovingly rip you off $30 and, adding insult to injury, they are calling the CD a "Soundtrack." No point in supporting a business that does not even know the difference between a movie and a stage show!)

The disc features the Broadway company which as box office protection was loaded with star power: Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria and Tony winner Sara Ramirez. The tour has, if anything, a better tighter ensemble that is exactly what the piece calls for.

Michael Siberry is both commanding and befuddled as the idealistic King Arthur off on a quest for the Holy Grail. Though Siberry gets his share of laughs he also generously plays a straight man to set up some of the scripts best puns.  

Bradley Dean's Fabian-like take on Sir Galahad gives him a chance to show off his looks (and his voice) in "The Song that goes like This" which neatly skewers Broadway anthems in one deft thrust.

Looking for a star performance? Look no further than Pia Glenn's turn as the Lady of the Lake who inspires Arthur's quest with an uplifting anthem "Find your Grail" and leads her "Laker Girls" in a typically tacky half-time show. What a voice she has, and her "Diva's Lament" comes at just the right point in Act Two to remind us she has been off-stage far too long.

Later, just as things are starting to pall, Rick Holmes raises the hilarity level with his sudden gay club boy turn as the newly outed Sir Lancelot. The look of bewilderment on Holmes' face is alone worth the price of admission.

David Tuner brings a sweet-faced innocence to the easily frightened (and slightly soiled) Sir Robin who happily tells Arthur why "You won't succeed on Broadway" in a number that lovingly rips off FIDDLER ON THE ROOF's bottle dance.

The show is chock full of typical Monty Python jokes about killer bunnies, bodily functions and sexual ambiguities. All the famous characters appear: The Knights who say Ni, The Black Knight, The French Taunter, and the aptly named Sir Not appearing in this Show.  (You can always tell where the Python fans are sitting: they begin to laugh as soon as their favourites appear.)

Director Mike Nichols keeps the action moving swiftly from gag to song at a pace that barely gives the viewer time to breathe. Stretching out what is essentially enough material to provide a half-hour Flying Circus episode into a musical comedy lasting close to two hours takes considerable skill.  Broadway history if littered with the corpses of failed shows that just could not pull it off, but like one character sings, Broadway musical comedy is "not dead yet!"

Monty Python's SPAMALOT is playing at the Canon Theatre through September 10.  Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8, with matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2. Tickets range from $26 to $110 and are available at the Canon Theatre Box Office, at www.mirvish.com or by calling Ticketking in Toronto at (416) 872-1212 or toll-free 1-800-461-3333.