Review: Spamalot

[bjarvis]

My employer has a recreation club of sorts which three months ago offered discounted tickets to see the road show of "Spamalot". Since friends had highly recommended the Broadway production, I'm a big Monty Python fan and the tickets were (slightly) cheaper than at the regular box office, I grabbed two for last night's show.

I had no idea last night's performance at the National Theater was the closing night in that venue, the end of a month-long run. I believe the house was full --I couldn't see any empty seats, although our tickets were in the balcony so we limited viewing of the mezzanine and orchestra levels.

In all, it was a fun evening and well worth the effort to attend. Hey, it's Monty Python... how can you go wrong? Wit, silliness and an irreverent rip on the ridiculously improbable tale of King Arthur and the knights of the round table, with just enough inside jokes for regular theater queens to have a laugh and a some minor borrowings from other Monty Python productions. All it needed was a sideways reference to a Norwegian blue parrot pining for the fjords and all would have been complete.

It struck me on the way out that many --maybe a third-- of the audience weren't born yet when the movie was released years ago; I have no idea how familiar the younger generation is with the movie these days. I may go looking for a DVD set of the TV shows & movies for a weekend of viewing and nostalgia.

Comments

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

1) There was a sideways reference to the dead parrot sketch (a very brief "lovely plumage", "the plumage don't enter into it" line while talking about the African swallow). No pining for the fjords, but it was there nonetheless.

2) You already have some Python on DVD, including at least one of the German episodes - how soon they forget what they receive as birthday gifts. Just see what I get you next year!