Monty Python’s Spamalot @ Schubert Theater, NYC
Live Reviews | Apr 23rd, 2005
Date: April 23rd 2005
Venue: Schubert Theater, NYC
As soon as I heard who was going to be in the Monty Python inspired musical, I had to go see this!
The musical was written by Monty Python member Eric Idle, and he wrote and composed the songs with long time collaborator John Du Prez (A Fish Called Wanda, TMNT movies). Spamalot stars Tim Curry as King Arthur, Hank Azaria as Lancelot/ The French Taunter/ Knight of Ni/ Tim the Enchanter, and David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin/ Guard 1/ Brother Maynard. The other cast members are Galahad played by Christopher Sieber, Sir Bedevere played by Steve Rosen, Patsy played by Michael McGrath and Lady of the Lake played by Sara Ramirez.
The main three stars of the show were excellent. Tim Curry was fit to play King Arthur and the role came natural to him. David Hyde Pierce is another cast member that just seemed perfect for a Monty Python musical. He has that comedic, musical sense and does it well. Hank Azaria is mostly known for his Simpsons voice over acting so I wasn’t surprised to see him cast as Lancelot. Just because he does a lot of voices and would be a perfect cast member to be in a Monty Python musical. He’s a great character actor and he played the most characters out of the 3 main stars. I think Eddie Izzard would have been a good choice to be in the musical as well.
So three character actors starring in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: the musical. The Holy Grail is probably my favorite comedy of all time and think it’s beyond brilliant. I was a little hesitant of seeing this turned into a Broadway musical. But after hearing who was going to be in it, that hesitation went away. My brother found out when tickets were going on sale and we jumped at getting tickets for this. I was getting more and more psyched after reading all the rave reviews of the show as well. Let me tell you it certainly lives up to the reviews and it’s well worth the money.
The show starts off with the historian narrator, and then a number about Finland comes up and it’s hilarious! Tim Curry as Arthur with his trusty coconut banging sidekick Patsy come trotting along. They get claps from the crowd as they demonstrate the different horse maneuvers they are doing. David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria first appear in the above castle windows and discuss Swallows as the King gets annoyed and trots away. You don’t see the Lady of the Lake in the movie but they reference her as the “watery tart” but now for this version, she’s a main character. She’s played by the beautiful Sara Ramirez. She has HUGE…tracks of land and a great singing voice. Each song she sang was a spoof on Broadway musicals and the way they sing their songs. She also spoofed the way certain divas sing their songs as well. The guy who played Galahad and other characters was great and had the John Cleese and Michael Palin voices down pat.
The first half of the show was more movie-based. Then there was a 15 minute intermission, which should have had the intermission music playing for that long. After that, Act III, or I mean Act II, it seemed to go off and they did their own thing. Which was a good thing because I was hoping it wasn’t a total ripoff from the movie. David Hyde Pierce sang a funny song about how to succeed on Broadway. There was a great song about Lancelot, that went like: “His name is Lancelot, and he likes to dance a lot” and it was about him being gay and was probably one of the funniest moments of the show. It just seems Hank Azaria plays a lot of gay characters haha. There is of course the Killer Rabbit scene from the movie. It’s towards the end of the show, it’s pretty much the finale. There are a few things after that like another song, and a wedding. The ending did start to trail off a little bit and should have gone out with a bang or something. Just seemed blah at the end. But overall, the show was hilarious and definitely worth the money. Any Python fan should go out and get tickets for this. It’s a pretty hot ticket right now so act fast you English bed wetters!
