“Spamalot” is taken from the successful movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and the Broadway hit of 2005, for which Eric Idle wrote the book, music and lyrics with John Du Prez. The show garnered 14 Tony nominations and won three, one for best musical. Python groupies and non-obsessed Python theater goers will be gleefully satisfied with all the absurdity and insanity.
The timing for this wild story about a more than slightly demented King Arthur searching for knights to join his Round Table to find the Holy Grail, couldn’t be better. It’s just what is needed in these unstable times. We need a good belly laugh. We need an outrageously zany plot to jar our senses somewhere else for a few hours.
The potty jokes, the irreverence to those who died of the Black Death, old favorites like the flatulent French Taunter, and a production number that takes a page from Mel Brooks and tells you “You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews”, are all par for this course. They are deeply politically incorrect and surprisingly inoffensive. Supported by a talented, well-directed cast, it proves what I have always said: “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.”
The hilarious songs are typically British with lyrics that tell more than you ever wanted to know. Old Python favorites are present with the legless and armless knight, the obsessed, demented flying killer bunny, tap dancing knights and can-can kicking nymphs.
Arthur Rowan as King Arthur carries the role with just the right amount of outrageous cluelessness.
Brittany Woodrow’s Lady of the Lake has an amazing range and chews scenery like it has never been chewed before. The plot wouldn’t have it any other way.
Michael Berry as Patsy and Adam Garbau in multiple roles keep the humor moving at NASCAR speed. Choreography, staging and tight direction keep attention alert no matter how hard a day you’ve had.
Check political correctness and brainpower at the door, sit back and let it all fall where it may. Enjoy – you might as well because it’s there and it’s not going away.
Some dialogue and situations could be considered inappropriate for under 15
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco
Through: April 22
Details: 1-888-746-1799 or visit:www.shnsf.com
