Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – Spamalot returns to Broadway

Feb 6, 2024 by

By Sue Weston and Susie Rosenbluth, Two Sues on the Aisle

Spamalot  – now playing at the St. James Theater on Broadway,  provides unfiltered entertainment, Monty Python style, complete with human gas emissions, flying cows, killer rabbits, and delightful slapstick. Where else can the success of Broadway shows be predicted with a song entitled “You’ve Got to Have Jews,” and the discovery that Pasty (Christopher Fitzgerald, whose expressions spoke volumes), King Arthur’s trusty servant, is Jewish (on his mother’s side) brings peals of happy, commiserative laughter?

The show is a spoof of every English medieval trope, beginning with the entrance of the Historian, who provides an overview of the surrounding areas, each suffering from the plague. The chorus mishears his pronunciation of England, and believes their location is Finland, which allows them to launch into the wonderful “Fisch Schlapping Song.” Once they realize where they are, the scene morphs into the British countryside, where monks in hooded robes walk, chanting and hitting themselves in the face with wooden boards.

Throughout the show, the humor is irreverent and delightful. Arthur, King of England, directed by the finger of G-d to launch a quest to find the holy grail, goes galloping off hobby-horse-like horseback (minus the hobby horses, of course) to the clip-clop of Patsy clapping two coconuts together.

This revival, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, keeps the best bits from the original 2005 Broadway musical, which was itself, he says, “lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail. At a recent performance, there was no doubt the majority of the audience was intimately familiar with the film.  Even those unfamiliar with the plot (like one of the two Sues) found the Broadway show witty, childish, and pure magic.

The show ends with the audience and cast singing together as confetti rains down from the ceiling, in a much-needed reminder to always look at the bright side of life.

Silly Plot

The show occurs in medieval England, as Arthur, King of the Britons (James Monroe Iglehart) looks for knights to join him in Camelot. They successfully recruit Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, and a peasant named Dennis Galahad, who has to be convinced that Arthur’s kingship is really the result of his sword, Excalibur,  having been given to him by Lady of the Lake (Leslie Rodrigues Kritzer). Ms. Kritzer frequently laments her lack of stage time while captivating the audience with her amazing voice.

The knights of the Round Table become separated in a “dark and very expensive forest,” where they meet the Knights of something that sounds like “knee” (if it’s pronounced as a screech). These knights can be appeased only by the performance of a show (in a place and time centuries removed from medieval England). While wandering the woods, Sir Lancelot receives a letter he assumes is from a young damsel in distress, whom he rescues.

It all ends happily ever after–as proper musical theatre should.

 

Pythonesque Wit

Some of the lines are worth repeating, such as Sir Robin’s (played by Michael Urie) after he is directed to find the chalice: “If G-d is all-knowing surely, He must know where it is.” So true, and so funny.

We liked some of the more current references, especially the list of Jews involved in Broadway productions. This bit ends with Sir Robin holding a kippah under a large blue Magen David.

In fact, Spamalot pokes fun equally at all marginalized groups; in this, it is truly inclusive. We wondered how they could pull off the number about not succeeding on Broadway without Jews, and they did it splendidly. It was a wonderful, over-the-top, performance that was funny the old-fashioned way. We laughed because it’s so true. A critic couldn’t be faulted for thinking, “It’s worth seeing the show just for this number.”

While we all sometimes feel the world has gone crazy, Spamalot embraces the silly side of life.

 * * * *

Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) to see the play, show, film, book, or exhibit being reviewed. 

Spamalot received a 5 Challah rating

5 Challah Rating

Five Challah Rating

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