Even if you are not a fan of Monty Python (and I am decidedly not), there is joy to be found in abundance at ‘Spamlot’ which is currently traversing the country on another National Tour. It’s been several years since the original production stormed the boards on Broadway, but the time is clearly right for a King Arthur renaissance, particularly when a comical and hapless leader can also prove to be rather benevolent, and not wholly lacking in decency and civility. Judging from the audience’s eager embrace, ‘Spamalot’ may be the laughter-induced antidote to these absurd times. (An updated ad-lib on the government shutdown got the night’s biggest reaction – thunderous laughter and applause – but it was clear that most people in the packed crowd were having fun the entire time.)
While it certainly helps if you know and love the antics of Monty Python, as a Python virgin I quickly acclimated to the humor at hand, thanks in no small part to a whimsically-imagined Broadway subplot and the stellar talents of the current company. It is as much a tribute to its Holy Grail source material (in substance and in style) as it is to the traditional Broadway musical, lovingly lampooning the latter in ‘The Song That Goes Like This’ while gleefully skewering those twin pillars of musical theater – the gays and Jews – in ‘You Won’t Succeed on Broadway’ and ‘His Name is Lancelot’.
The original Broadway cast included some legendary luminaries like Tim Curry and David Hyde Pierce, but any notion that they were the sole owners of their roles was challenged by the rollicking band of triple-talents who populated this production and brought it to thrilling life. Leading that charge is Steve McCoy as King Arthur, who must simultaneously command the stage, and his knights of the round table, while bumbling around as the butt of many jokes. McCoy is gamely up for the antics, and his charismatic performance offers equal parts pining poignance and hilarious hubris. As his coconut-conjured horse and faithful companion, Jason Elliott Brown spends much of the evening setting up the laughs for the late-hour ‘I’m All Alone’ and it pays off splendidly. Displaying a range that made him almost-unrecognizable in some of his characters, Adam Grabau chomps down on the scenery in all of his appearances, most effectively in his antics as the French Taunter. He wins the most laughs in that turn, but as Lancelot he ends up winning some hearts as well.
While women largely take a back seat to the roaming boys club here, Leslie Jackson refuses to stay off stage for too long, calling out the whole show in ‘Diva’s Lament’ and giving the proceedings their musical backbone with ‘Find Your Grail’ – her Lady of the Lake lifts the show with an impressive luminosity, all with tongue firmly in cheek. Rounding out the main players are Kasidy Devlin as Sir Robin (and a couple more) and Philip Huffman as Sir Galahad, the Black Knight, and Prince Herbert’s Father. Devlin develops from a literally crappy fellow into a Broadway-belting hero, while Huffman transforms from a very literal peasant into a luxuriously-locked but still very literal knight. Not that any additional comic relief is needed (how relieved can one show be?), but more laughs are provided by Richard LaFleur and Blake Burgess, who make the most of the nine (!) roles between them.
For fans of Monty Python, or musical theater in general, this production deftly navigates the best of all possible worlds, while gently pushing the envelope with a tempered yet gleeful irreverence and, like the artform itself, it’s a joyous romp for a world that far too often takes itself far too seriously.
