The Broadway Ferret

Image from www.culturevulture.com

Rating: 5 out of 5 masks

No, I’m not writing reviews to shows once they announce closing.  If I haven’t written a review yet for a certain show and they just announced their closing, then I choose to write about it.  And judging from the rumor mill more of these show closing reviews will come.  Now on to the review.

Image from Photobucket

Spamalot is a musical “lovingly ripped off” from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  In fact, it also includes scenes and numbers from their TV show and previous films.  It’s basically a spoof of everything from Camelot to typical musical conventions.  Most of the cast perform more than one role in the show, probably because if they hired more people, there wouldn’t be enough dressing rooms (my theory).

I was vaguely familiar with Monty Python so I knew a few of the jokes coming in.  I’m not used to British humor, but I got most of the jokes.  Some of them were blink-and-you’ll-miss-them kind while others required some thinking which is not a good idea while watching live theatre.  Nothing against theatre that makes you think, but if you’re pondering something while the action is still going on, you’re bound to miss something else.

I really liked the sets and the lighting, especially for the first number.  I like how they weren’t trying to be 100% realistic with the background, concentrating more on the story.  Sometimes they contributed to the story, adding some of the sight gags to go along with the dialogue.

I thought that the story was good.  There were times when they would stray from the main story to highlight others, like when Lancelot valiantly goes to save a girl who turns out to be an effeminate boy.  If you didn’t read your program before the show, you might not notice the fact that some of the performers were in more than one role.  And if you did, it’s not distracting from the story.

What I liked best about the show were the numbers, like the Andrew Lloyed Webber-like “The Song That Goes Like This”,  “Diva’s Lament”, the Lady in the Lake’s lament about not being featured in the show as often as the others, the most hilarious and my absolute favorite “Where Are You” (you have to see this show to know what I’m talking about) and of course “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.

I would recommend this show to Monty Python fans, anyone who’s not a fan of traditional musical theatre, anyone who loves spoofs and those who prefer their musical theatre on the non-depressing side.  I would not recommend this to children under 12 or so because there is some adult content.

Image from Pegasus Papers

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes w/intermission