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Spamalot

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Spamalot
File:Spamalot Poster.jpg
Window card for original Broadway production
MusicJohn Du Prez
Eric Idle
LyricsEric Idle
BookEric Idle
Basis1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Productions2004 Chicago première
2005 Broadway production
2006 West End production
2006 North American tour
2007 Las Vegas production
Awards2005 Tony Award Best Musical

Monty Python's Spamalot is a comedic musical "lovingly ripped off from" the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many other ways, especially its parodies of Broadway theatre. Eric Idle, a member of the Monty Python team, wrote the musical's book and lyrics, and collaborated with John Du Prez on the music. Running since March 17, 2005, it was directed by Mike Nichols, and won three Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004–2005 season.

Plot

Template:Spoiler

The play begins with the audience being introduced to the golden days of Camelot and the grand country of England (not Finland, as the several actors seem to believe). King Arthur travels the land with his servant Patsy, trying to recruit Knights of the Round Table to join him in Camelot. Sir Bedevere, Sir Robin, and Sir Lancelot meet as they attempt to dispose of the sickly Not Dead Fred. They agree to become Knights of the Round Table together.

Meanwhile, Arthur attempts to convince a peasant named Dennis that he (Arthur) is king of England because the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur, the sword given only to the man fit to rule England. When Dennis still doesn't believe him, Arthur has the Lady of the Lake and her Laker Girls appear to turn Dennis into a knight. Cheered on by the girls, the Lady of the Lake turns Dennis into Sir Galahad. Together, with Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Play, they make up the Knights of the Round Table.

The five knights gather in Camelot, where they follow the policy "What happens in Camelot, stays in Camelot". In the midst of their partying, they are contacted by God (who sounds suspiciously like John Cleese) who tells them to locate the Holy Grail. Urged on by the Lady of the Lake, the Knights set off. They meet some very rude French Taunters at a castle they come to and split up shortly afterwards. Sir Robin and his minstrels follow King Arthur and Patsy into a "dark and very expensive forest" where they are separated. King Arthur meets the Knights Who Say Ni who demand a shrubbery. King Arthur despairs of finding one, but Patsy cheers him up and they find a shrubbery shortly after. The Knights accept it, but next demand that King Arthur create a West End musical.

The Black Knight appears but King Arthur more or less defeats him by cutting off both his arms and legs and leaving the stump of a body to find Sir Robin. Sir Robin, meanwhile, finds King Arthur and insists that it would be impossible for them to accomplish this next task, since you need Jews for a successful West End musical. King Arthur and Patsy promptly set off in search of Jews. While the Lady of the Lake laments her lack of stage time, Sir Lancelot receives a letter from who he assumes is a young damsel being forced to marry against her will. He is a little surprised to find that the damsel is actually a young man named Herbert who is being forced to marry against his will but defends the lad against his violent father, causing them to suspect Sir Lancelot is homosexual.

King Arthur begins to give up hope of ever making the West End Musical and feels alone (even though Patsy constantly insists that he's there as well). The Lady of the Lake appears and tells Arthur that he and the Knights were in a West End Musical all along. All that's left is for King Arthur to find the Grail and marry someone. After picking up on some not-too-subtle hints, Arthur decides to marry the Lady of the Lake following his finding the Grail.

Reunited with his Knights, the king meets Tim the Enchanter who warns them of the danger of an evil rabbit. When the rabbit bites a knight's head off, Arthur uses the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch against it, knocking down a nearby hill and revealing that the "evil rabbit" was actually a puppet that a Frenchman was using. A large stone block showing a combination of letters and numbers is also revealed. After pondering the final clue, Arthur admits that they're "a bit stumped with this one" and asks God for one final bit of help. A large hand points to the audience and Arthur realizes that the letters and numbers refer to a seat number in the audience. The grail is found under the seat and the person sitting in the seat is rewarded. Arthur marries the Lady of the Lake (who reveals that her name is Guinevere), Lancelot marries Herbert, and Sir Robin decides to take up writing West Enf musicals.

Cast

Broadway

The original Broadway cast included Tim Curry as King Arthur, Michael McGrath as Patsy, David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin, Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot and other roles (e.g., the French Taunter, Knight of Ni, and Tim the Enchanter), Christopher Sieber as Sir Galahad and other roles (e.g. the Black Knight and Prince Herbert's Father), and Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake. It also included Christian Borle as Prince Herbert and other roles (e.g. Historian and Not Dead Fred), Steve Rosen as Sir Bedevere and other roles (e.g., Concorde and Dennis' Mother) and John Cleese as the (recorded) Voice of God.

Broadway Cast Changes

North American Tour

The original North America Tour cast included Michael Siberry as King Arthur, Jeff Dumas as Patsy/Mayor/Guard, David Turner as Robin/Guard/Brother Maynard, Rick Holmes as Lancelot/French Taunter/Knight of Ni/Tim The Enchanter, Bradley Dean as Galahad/Black Knight/Herbert's Father, Tom Deckman as The Historian/Not Dead Fred/French Guard/Minstrel/Prince Herbert, Christopher Gurr as Sir Bedevere/Dennis' Mother/Concorde, and Pia Glenn as the Lady of the Lake.

North American Tour Cast Changes

  • November 2006
    • Tom Deckman left the company and Christopher Sutton assumed the roles of The Historian/Not Dead Fred/French Guard/Minstrel/Prince Herbert
      • Tom Deckman subsequently joined the Broadway production
  • December 2006

Las Vegas at the Wynn

King Arthur: John O'Hurley, Lady of the Lake: Nikki Crawford, Galahad: Edward Staudenmayer, Lancelot: Tony Crane, Robin: Harry Bouvy, Patsy: Justin Brill, Herbert: Steven Strafford, Sir Bedevere: Randall Keith.

Characters

The Court of Camelot

  • King Arthur: King of the Britons. Has trouble counting to three.
  • Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave: A near psychopathic knight "with a difference."
  • Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot: A cowardly knight well versed in the world of musical theatre.
  • Sir Dennis Galahad, The Dashingly Handsome: Formerly Dennis Galahad, a politically active peasant.
  • Sir Bedevere, The Strangely Flatulent: A wise but smelly knight.
  • Patsy: King Arthur's trusty servant/steed and constant companion. He is half Jewish.
  • Concord: Lancelot's trusty servant/steed. Can survive an arrow to the chest.
  • Brother Maynard: Arthur's go-to guy for God.
  • Sir Bors: An Unlucky victim of the Killer Rabbit of Antioch
  • Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Play: That pretty much sums it up. Dressed as Don Quixote.

Other characters

  • The Lady of the Lake: An aquatic diva.
  • Not-Dead Fred: He's not dead yet. He’s getting better.
  • Robin's Lead Minstrel: Who never knows when to shut the bloody 'ell up.
  • The King of Swamp Castle (aka Herbert's Father): A hardhearted, moneygrubbing king who hates music.
  • Prince Herbert: His son. Loves to sing, and is about as butch as Minnie Mouse.
  • French Taunter: A French soldier who enjoys taunting.
  • The Black Knight: A psychotic, invincible knight who will fight even after all his arms and legs have been cut off.
  • The Head Knight who says "Ni!": The huge leader of the most feared Cult in the land: The dreaded knights who say "Ni!". Enjoys shrubberies.
  • Tim the Enchanter: a pyromaniac.
  • Dennis's mother: A Pepperpot. A politically active peasant.
  • The Killer Rabbit of Antioch: A bloodthirsty bunny puppet with big nasty teeth.
  • Two Guards: One has trouble understanding simple concepts, one hiccups a lot.
  • Two Sentries: At an unspecified castle. They enjoy talking about swallows and coconuts.
  • A Historian: Our Narrator
  • The Mayor of Finland: A character who really shouldn’t be in this musical.
  • The Laker Girls: The Lady of the Lake's backup dancers/cheerleaders.
  • Knights of the Round Table: They dance when e'er they're able.
  • Robin’s Minstrels: His back-up group.
  • God: Who sounds a lot like John Cleese. By God it is!

Cast Doubling

In tribute to the film, where six actors played the majority of all male parts (and a few female ones), several actors play multiple roles; the only major characters not doubling are Arthur and the Lady of the Lake. In the Broadway production, the following Doubling is used:

  • Lancelot/2nd Sentry/The French Taunter/Knight of Ni/Tim the Enchanter
  • Robin/1st Sentry/1st Guard/Brother Maynard
  • Galahad/King of Swamp Castle/Black Knight
  • Patsy/Mayor of Finland/2nd Guard
  • Bedevere/Mrs. Galahad/Concord
  • The Historian/Herbert/Not Dead Fred/Lead Minstrel/The French Taunter's Best Friend

Sara Ramirez was intended to double as a witch and as the cow launched from the French castle, but both parts were cut from the final script. In addition, several pairs of characters originally played by the same Monty Python member were reduced to one: the Dead Collector and Sir Robin (Eric Idle), the Large Man with a Dead Body and Sir Lancelot (John Cleese), and Dennis the Politically-Active Peasant and Sir Galahad (Michael Palin).

There are several sections in the script that call for improvisation on the part of the actors, who often take the opportunity to reference current events or local culture. Historically, these have been added during the French Taunter scene in Act I, during the Knights of Ni scene, and during the peasant scene at end of the show. Template:Spoiler

Broadway

  • The 2005 Chicago pre-Broadway run contained the line "But you are on Broadway! Well...Broadway in Chicago."
  • In the Knights of Ni scene, they have referred to the songs "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, "London Bridge" by Fergie and "Milkshake" by Kelis.
  • The Head Knight who says "Ni!" has claimed that he is "the father of Anna Nicole's baby" on Broadway during the Knights of Ni scene.
  • The Lady of the Lake has mimed shaving her head when she sings the line about being replaced by Britney Spears.

North American Tour

London

  • Arthur said the history books include Jade Goody a British reality TV celebrity.
  • Part of the Lady of the Lake's scatting included the badly sung phrase "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" referring to the BBC's reality talent show searching for a new Maria in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new version of The Sound of Music. Connie Fisher, the winner, attended the London première.

Template:End spoiler

Production history

Chicago 2004

File:Spamalot promo.jpg
Spamalot at the Shubert Theatre

Previews of the show began in Chicago's Shubert Theatre (now the LaSalle Bank Theatre) on December 21, 2004; the show officially opened there on January 9, 2005 and was practically sold-out.

Template:Spoiler Two musical numbers were dropped from Act One while the production was still in Chicago. During the scene set in the "Witch Village," the song "Burn Her!" was originally performed by "Sir Bedevere, The Witch, Sir Robin, Lance and Villagers." At the French Castle, "The Cow Song," in a parody of a stereotypical film noir/cabaret style, was performed by "The Cow and French Citizens." Before the two songs were cut in Chicago, the lead vocals in both songs were sung by Sara Ramirez. This gave her a total of six songs in Act One, but no further appearances until scene five in Act Two, for "The Diva's Lament." Template:End spoiler

Broadway 2005

The musical previewed on Broadway, at New York's Shubert Theatre, beginning February 14, 2005, and, after some changes, officially opened on March 17, 2005. The Broadway previews were practically sold-out, leaving only obstructed view tickets for sale.

North American Tour

A North American tour of the musical commenced in the spring of 2006 and played in the following cities:

London (Autumn 2006)

A London production opened at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, commencing 30 September 2006 (London première 17 October) with tickets on sale booking to 30 March 2007. Curry reprised his Broadway role as King Arthur until December with Simon Russell Beale taking over since January. Christopher Sieber also reprises his role as Sir Galahad. Hannah Waddingham plays the Lady of the Lake, Tom Goodman-Hill plays Sir Lancelot, Robert Hands plays Sir Robin, David Birell plays Patsy, Tony Timberlake plays Sir Bedevere and Darren Southworth plays Prince Herbert.

Las Vegas 2007

A production of the musical began previews on March 8, 2007 and opened on March 31, 2007 at the Wynn Las Vegas in the resort's "Grail Theater." The site was formerly known as the "Broadway Theater" and housed a production of Avenue Q, but the balcony has been extended to allow for more seating and the interiors have been redesigned. As with other Las Vegas transfers of Broadway musicals, including Phantom of the Opera, Spamalot has been condensed to run 90 minutes without an intermission. Although initially contracted to run for up to 10 years,[1] Broadway musicals have had a mixed track record in Las Vegas. Starlight Express had a successful four-year run at the Las Vegas Hilton and, more recently, Mamma Mia! has entered the fourth year of a successful run at Mandalay Bay, but other recent efforts, including Hairspray and Spamalot's predecessor Avenue Q have notably flopped.

John O'Hurley, known for his J. Peterman character on Seinfeld, will play King Arthur.[2] Due to the Las Vegas production, the North American touring company will not perform in California, Arizona, or the rest of Nevada.[3]

Australia 2007

A new Australian production is planned for 2007, due to première in Melbourne on November 23 at Her Majesty's Theatre. [4]

Critical reception and box-office

The original production has been both a financial and critical success. Variety reported advance ticket sales of $18 million, with ticket prices ranging from $36 to $101. The advance made Broadway box office history.

The show proved to be an early success when moving to London's West End. After high advance ticket sales the show's run was extended by four weeks — four months before the show's run commenced.[5] The play makes many references to the film and other material in the Python canon, including a line from "The Lumberjack Song", nods to "Ministry of Silly Walks," the Election Night Special and "Dead Parrot Sketch" routines, a bar from the Spam song worked into "Knights of the Round Table", a rendition of the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), and the "Fisch Schlapping Song" which is a reference to both "The Fish-Slapping Dance" and the song "Finland." Another reference is actually part of the Playbill of the show; there are several gag pages about a musical entitled "Dik Od Triaanenen Fol (Finns Ain't What They Used To Be)". This gag programme was written by Michael Palin.

Broadway musical fans appreciate its visual and auditory references to other musicals and musical theatre in general, such as: "The Song That Goes Like This" (a spoof of Andrew Lloyd Webber productions and many other Broadway power ballads); the knights doing a dance reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof, as well as a dance reminiscent of West Side Story (complete with music); Sir Lancelot's mimicking of Peter Allen in "His Name Is Lancelot"; the character of Sir Not Appearing in This Show being Don Quixote; a member of the French "army" dressed as Eponine from Les Misérables; and a line pulled from "Another Hundred People" from Stephen Sondheim's Company by the "damsel" Herbert. The song "You Won't Succeed (On Broadway)" also parodies The Producers and Yentl.

The show has not though been without criticism from Monty Python fans who believe it has betrayed the original spirit of the group. In Slate, Sam Anderson wrote "Python was formed in reaction to exactly the kind of lazy comedy represented by Spamalot—what Michael Palin once described as the "easy, catch-phrase reaction" the members had all been forced to pander in their previous writing jobs...Spamalot is the gaudy climax of a long, unfunny tradition of post-Python exploitation—books, actions figures, video games—that treats the old material as a series of slogans to be referenced without doing any of the work that made the lines so original in the first place."[6]

Among fellow Python members, the reviews are mixed. Terry Gilliam, in a audio interview,[7] describes it as "Python-like". John Cleese, who is the recorded voice of God in the musical, is said to have liked it, though Michael Palin and Terry Jones have said that it doesn't hold up to Python's style. According to a New York Times article on the show published in 2005, Spamalot has somewhat contributed to the diversity of American musical theatre by bringing back the straight white male to audiences. It is not uncommon to see reunions of men's college fraternities and other groups that enjoyed watching Monty Python fare in college attending Spamalot on Broadway.

The West End version has opened to two rave reviews so far. "It’s a wonderful night, and I fart in the general direction of anyone who says otherwise" said Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph,[8] "it leaves you that high and weak with laughter, thanks not just to the Python provenance of the basic material but to the phenomenal speed, wit, cheek and showbiz knowingness of the direction, which is by the great veteran, Mike Nichols" said Paul Taylor in The Independent [1]. Michael Billington in The Guardian was less enthusiastic though, stating "while I'm happy to see musicals spoofed, the show's New York origins are clearly exposed in a would-be outre number which announces "we won't succeed in show business if we don't have any Jews": a Broadway in-joke that has little purchase this side of the Atlantic.....With hand on heart, I'd much rather watch Lerner and Loewe's Camelot than Eric Idle's smart-arsed Spamalot."[9]

Awards

A sign at the Shubert Theatre advertising the show's Best Musical award.

The original Broadway production received fourteen Tony Award nominations, more than any other show in the 2004–2005 season. It won three of them:

The production's eleven other nominations were:

The show's Tony Awards led to a minor change to the song "The Diva's Lament." Initially, the line "I've no Grammy, no reward/I've no Tony Award" became "My Tony Award/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." When Kennedy took over for Ramirez, it became "All our Tony Awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." In the touring production, Glenn sings "All our goddamn awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's."

The touring production has thus far garnered Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Visiting Production.

Origin of the title

Idle explained the title in a February 2004 press release about the musical:

"I like the title SPAMALOT a lot. We tested it with audiences on my recent US tour and they liked it as much as I did, which is gratifying. After all, they are the ones who will be paying Broadway prices to see the show. It comes from a line in the movie which goes: ‘we eat ham, and jam and Spam a lot.’"

Publicity

On March 22, 2006, to mark the first anniversary of the official Broadway opening of the show, the "World's Largest Coconut Orchestra" (consisting of 1,789 people clapping together half coconut shells) performed in Shubert Alley, outside the theatre. The claim was officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records.

In 2006, the cast of Spamalot performed extracts at the Royal Variety Performance.

On March 10th 2007, Monty Python's Spamalot linked up with HP Sauce (the classic brown sauce) to produce 1,075 limited edition bottles, featuring a unique Spamalot take on the classic HP design. The bottles were available exclusively via Selfridges, London and came in a presentation box with a numbered certificate. 1,075 was chosen to celebrate "1,075 years of the show running in London".

Spamalot in other media

DVD

Portions of the Spamalot Original Cast Recording were featured (with accompanying Flash animation) as an extra in the 2006 DVD rerelease of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the "Extraordinarily Deluxe Two-Disc Edition").

Cinema

Eric Idle is currently adapting the show for the cinema. He said in an interview that it would have to undergo a lot of changes. The stage version of the show contains scenes that would lack the same effect, or simply be impossible on film. For example, the song "Run Away" is also used to announce the intermission, which is not used in film. Also, the entire second half of the show contains numerous references to the fact it is a musical, such as "Diva's Lament," "You Won't Succeed On Broadway," and others. In fact, the last few scenes involve extensive fourth wall breakage which wouldn't work on film.

Songs

Act I

  1. "Overture"
  2. "Historian’s Introduction to Act I"
  3. "Finland / Fisch Schlapping Dance"
  4. "Monk’s Chant / He’s Not Yet Dead"
  5. "King Arthur's Song"
  6. "Come With Me"
  7. "Laker Girls Cheer"
  8. "The Song That Goes Like This"
  9. "He’s Not Yet Dead - Play Off"
  10. "All For One"
  11. "Knights of the Round Table / The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"
  12. "Find Your Grail"
  13. "Run Away!"
  14. "The Intermission"

Act II

  1. "Historian’s Introduction to Act II"
  2. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
  3. "Brave Sir Robin"
  4. "You Won't Succeed On Broadway"
  5. "The Diva's Lament (Whatever Happened To My Part)"
  6. "Where Are You?"
  7. "His Name Is Lancelot"
  8. "I'm All Alone"
  9. "Twice In Every Show"
  10. "Act II Finale"
  11. "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life (Company Bow)"


References

  1. ^ "The agreement calls for “Spamalot” to play at Wynn Las Vegas for 10 years if the hotel-casino picks up a three-year renewal option." "Wynn Woos 'Spamalot' West". CBS. 2005-07-25.
  2. ^ "'Spamalot' betting on shelf life". Las Vegas Review Journal. 2007-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Wynn Woos 'Spamalot' West". CBS. 2005-07-25.
  4. ^ http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21245423-5005361,00.html
  5. ^ http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/June06/morespam246601.php
  6. ^ http://www.slate.com/id/2121214/
  7. ^ Quickcast Interview with Terry Gilliam by Ken Plume
  8. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/10/17/btspam17.xml
  9. ^ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1924220,00.html
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