Spamalot
| Spamalot | |
|---|---|
| File:Spamalot Poster.jpg Original Broadway Windowcard | |
| Music | John Du Prez Eric Idle |
| Lyrics | Eric Idle |
| Book | Eric Idle |
| Basis | 1975 Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
| Productions | 2004 Chicago 2005 Broadway 2006 West End 2006 North American tour 2007 Las Vegas |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical Drama Desk Outstanding Musical Drama Desk for Outstanding Lyrics |
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.
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.'
Synopsis
- Act I
The play begins with a historian giving a brief overview of medieval England. An idyllic Scandinavian village appears, with gaily dressed Finnish villagers singing and dancing to the "Fisch Schlapping Song." The Historian returns, irritated, and tells them he said England, not Finland. The villagers disperse and the pastoral forest is immediately replaced by a dreary, dark village with penitent monks in hooded robes chanting Latin prayers and hitting themselves in the face with wooden boards. King Arthur travels the land with his servant Patsy ("King Arthur's Song"), trying to recruit Knights of the Round Table to join him in Camelot whilst encountering various strange people, including a pair of sentries who are more interested in debating whether two swallows could successfully carry a coconut than in guarding their castles. Sir Robin and Sir Lancelot meet as they attempt to dispose of the sickly Not Dead Fred ("I Am Not Dead Yet"). They agree to become Knights of the Round Table together.
Meanwhile, Arthur attempts to convince a peasant named Dennis Galahad 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. However, Dennis and his mother are political radicals and deny that any king who has not been elected by the people has any legitimate right to rule over them. To settle the issue, Arthur has the Lady of the Lake and her Laker Girls appear to turn Dennis into a knight ("Come With Me"). Cheered on by the girls ("Laker Girls Cheer"), the Lady of the Lake turns Dennis into Sir Galahad ("The Song That Goes Like This"). Together, with Sir Bedivere and Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show (who promptly apologizes and then leaves), they make up the Knights of the Round Table ("All for One").
The five knights gather in Camelot, a deliberately anachronistic place resembling Las Vegas's Camelot-inspired Excalibur resort, complete with showgirls and oversized dice ("Knights of the Round Table" / "The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"). In the midst of their revelry, they are contacted by God (voiced by John Cleese) who tells them to locate the Holy Grail. Urged on by the Lady of the Lake ("Find Your Grail"), the Knights set off. They are viciously taunted by lewd French soldiers at a castle they come to, and attempt to retaliate by sending them a large wooden rabbit in the style of the Trojan Horse: however the only flaw in their plan was that they forgot to get in it. Defeated, they leave in a hurry when the French begin throwing various barnyard animals - including cows - at them ("Run Away").
- Act II
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 ("Always Look on the Bright Side of Life") and they find a shrubbery shortly after. The Knights accept it, but next demand that King Arthur create a Broadway musical (in the United Kingdom, this became a West End musical).
The Black Knight appears but King Arthur more or less defeats him by cutting off both his arms and legs, impaling his still-alive torso on a door, and leaving to find Sir Robin. Sir Robin, after wandering the forest for some time ("Brave Sir Robin"), finds King Arthur and insists that it would be impossible for them to accomplish this next task, since you need Jews for a successful Broadway musical ("You Won't Succeed on Broadway"), a scene which includes several parodies of the 1963 musical Fiddler on the Roof including a dance not unlike the bottle dance shown during its wedding scene (however with grails replacing the bottles). King Arthur and Patsy promptly set off in search of Jews. While the Lady of the Lake laments her lack of stage time ("The Diva's Lament"), Sir Lancelot receives a letter from what he assumes is a young damsel in distress. He is a little surprised to find that the damsel is actually an effeminate young man named Herbert ("Where Are You?" / "Here Are You") whose overbearing father the king is forcing him into an arranged marriage. Lancelot advocates for Herbert after the king returns, and Lancelot is outed as a homosexual in the process ("His Name Is Lancelot").
King Arthur begins to give up hope of ever making the Broadway Musical and feels alone, even though Patsy is obviously right there with Arthur ("I'm All Alone"). The Lady of the Lake appears and tells Arthur that he and the Knights were in a Broadway Musical all along. Patsy also reveals he is half Jewish, but didn't want to say anything to Arthur because that's "not really the sort of thing you say to a heavily-armed Christian." 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 ("Twice In Every Show").
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 ("The Holy Grail"). 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 Broadway musicals ("Act 2 Finale/ Always look on the bright side of life (Company Bow)").
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Characters
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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).
References to popular culture
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.
- 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, "Milkshake" by Kelis, "My Humps" by The Black Eyed Peas, "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" by Three 6 Mafia, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot, "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, among many others.
- The Head Knight Who Says "Ni!" has claimed that he is "the father of Anna Nicole's baby", on Broadway. Following the laughter/light booing of this line, the Head Knight turns to the audience saying, "What, too soon?" The comment was made less than two weeks after her death. After Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, he said instead "So, it turns out Harry Potter is the father of Anna Nicole's baby!". He also has said "So, Harry Potter dies at the end, eh?"
- The Lady of the Lake has mimed shaving her head when she sings the line in "Diva's Lament" about being replaced by Britney Spears.
The play has the line, "you will be forever revered here in (city name), along with (blank), (blank), and (blank)." The second set of blanks is sometimes two people or items, other times three. The following chart shows various (blank)s that were used (not necessarily every one at every show). Another common variation is Sir Robin's piano solo incorporating local music.
Production history
Chicago
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.
Two musical numbers were dropped from Act One while the production was still in Chicago. During the scene set in the "Witch Village", the torch 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".
Broadway
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.
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's Mother) and John Cleese as the (recorded) Voice of God.
- Azaria's roles were taken over by Alan Tudyk starting June 7, 2005.
- Azaria returned to the cast on December 2, 2005 after working on a new season of Huff.
- Ramirez left on December 18, 2005 to be replaced by Lauren Kennedy.
- Simon Russell Beale took over Curry's role as the King on December 20, 2005.
- On April 4, 2006, Azaria and Pierce were replaced by Steve Kazee and Martin Moran, respectively.
- Beale was replaced by Harry Groener on April 26, 2006.
- Sieber was replaced by Lewis Cleale on July 5, 2006.
- On October 31, 2006, Groener was replaced by Jonathan Hadary and Kennedy by Marin Mazzie.
- Borle was replaced by Tom Deckman, who moved from the North American Tour, on November 28, 2006.
- Rick Holmes, from the North American Tour, took over from Kazee in December, 2006
North American tour
A North American tour of the musical commenced in the spring of 2006 and the 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's Mother/Concorde, and Pia Glenn (who remains slated for productions as late as June 2008)[1]as the Lady of the Lake.
The tour won three 2007 Touring Broadway Awards, including Best New Musical.
- November 2006 cast changes
- Deckman moved to the Broadway production, replaced by Christopher Sutton
- December 2006 cast changes
- Turner left the company, replaced by Robert Petkoff
- Holmes moved to the Broadway version, replaced by Patrick Heusinger
- Dean left, replaced by Anthony Holds (who remains slated for productions as late as June 2008)[1]
London West End
A London, England production opened at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End, commencing 30 September 2006 (London première 17 October) with tickets on sale booking to 3 November 2007. Curry reprised his Broadway role as King Arthur until December with Beale taking over since January. Sieber also reprised his role as Sir Galahad before leaving in early 2007, replaced by Graham McDuff. Hannah Waddingham was cast as the Lady of the Lake, Tom Goodman-Hill as Sir Lancelot, Robert Hands as Sir Robin, David Birell as Patsy, Tony Timberlake as Sir Bedevere and Darren Southworth as Prince Herbert.
Beale and Goodman-Hill finished on 21 July 2007, replaced with Peter Davison (of Doctor Who fame) and Bill Ward, respectively.
Las Vegas
A production of the musical began Las Vegas, Nevada previews on March 8, 2007 and opened on March 31, 2007 at the Wynn Las Vegas in the resort's newly renamed Grail Theater (formerly known as the Broadway Theater, which housed a production of Avenue Q), with an extended balcony to allow for more seating, and a redesigned interior. 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,[2] 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.
Among the cuts required to bring the Las Vegas version of the show in at about 90 minutes include the song "All For One," most of the song "Run Away," the Knights of Ni receiving their shrubbery, and the "Make sure he doesn't leave" scene with Prince Herbert's guards.[3]
John O'Hurley, known for his J. Peterman character on Seinfeld and the current Family Feud host, stars as King Arthur.[4] Due to the Las Vegas production, the North American touring company will not perform in California, Arizona, or Nevada.[5] In addition, the cast will include Nikki Crawford as Lady of the Lake, Edward Staudenmayer as Galahad, Tony Crane as Lancelot, Harry Bouvy as Robin, Justin Beill as Patsy, Steven Strafford as Herbert, and Randal Keith as Sir Bedevere.
Australia
A new Australian production is due to première in Melbourne on December 1 (with preview performances beginning November 20)[needs update] at Her Majesty's Theatre. The cast will feature Bille Brown as King Arthur and Lucinda Shaw (whose past credits include We Will Rock You and Pippin) as the Lady of the Lake. Other confirmed cast members include Ben Lewis, Stephen Hall, Derek Metzger, David Whitney and Mark Conaghan.[6]
Reactions by Monty Python members
The show has had mixed reactions from Idle's former colleagues in Monty Python. Terry Gilliam, in an 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 (despite his participation in the project) and Terry Jones have said that it doesn't hold up to Python's style. Jones - who directed the original film - expressed his opinions forthrightly in May 2005: "Spamalot is utterly pointless. It's full of air... Regurgitating Python is not high on my list of priorities."[8]
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 $179. 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.[9] 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 "Spam" 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, and echoes the faux-Finnish subtitles in the credits of the original Grail Python film.
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, and another reminiscent of West Side Story (including the 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, however, 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."[10]
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.[original research?]
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", wrote Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph.[11] According to Paul Taylor in the Independent, "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".[12] 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." Billington adds, "With hand on heart, I'd much rather watch Lerner and Loewe's Camelot than Eric Idle's smart-arsed Spamalot."[13]
Coconut orchestra world record
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. This record was then broken by 5,567 people in Trafalgar Square at 7pm on 23 April 2007, led by the cast from the London production, along with Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, with the coconuts used in place of the whistles in "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". This formed part of London's St George's Day celebrations that year and was followed by a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.[14]
Other
In 2006, the London cast of Spamalot performed excerpts at the Royal Variety Performance.
On 10 March 2007, Monty Python's Spamalot partnered with HP Sauce (the classic British brown sauce which is now made in Holland due to a contentious decision to close its factory in Britain) 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 absurdly celebrate "1,075 years of the show running in London".
DVD
Portions of the Spamalot original cast recording were featured (with accompanying Flash animation) as an special feature in the 2006 "Extraordinarily Deluxe Two-Disc Edition" DVD re-release (ASIN B000CRQX34) of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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 might not work on film.
Awards
The original Broadway production received fourteen Tony Award nominations, more than any other show in the 2004–2005 season. It won three of them:
- Best Musical
- Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez)
- Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols)
The production's eleven other nominations were:
- Best Book of a Musical (Eric Idle)
- Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre (John Du Prez and Eric Idle (Music); Eric Idle (Lyrics))
- Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Hank Azaria)
- Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Tim Curry)
- Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael McGrath)
- Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Sieber)
- Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley)
- Best Costume Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley)
- Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Hugh Vanstone)
- Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw, in his Broadway debut as choreographer)
- Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman)
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." For a change, Hannah Waddingham in the London production sings "I'm as depressed as I can be/ I've got constant PMT"
The touring production has thus far garnered Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Visiting Production.
References
- Official site
- Monty Python's Spamalot at the Internet Broadway Database
- A Quest Beyond The Grail, a review of Spamalot from the New York Times (registration required)
- Photos, Videos, Cast Interviews and Information on the West End Production on Theatre.com
- MSNBC/Newsweek interview with Idle and Nichols explaining elimination of some pre-Broadway scenes
- Tim Curry interview from May 2005 from American Theatre Wing Downstage Center, recorded in MP3 format
- Daily Telegraph review of West End version
- ^ a b Colón, Brian S. (ed.), Popejoy Presents Broadway in New Mexico: The 2007-2008 Season, Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico, 2007; Albuquerque, New Mexico
- ^ "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.
- ^ "'Spamalot' brings Python double talk to the Strip". Las Vegas Review Journal. 2007-03-31.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "'Spamalot' betting on shelf life". Las Vegas Review Journal. 2007-01-23.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Wynn Woos 'Spamalot' West". CBS. 2005-07-25.
- ^ "Casting Announced for Australian Production of Spamalot". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ Quickcast Interview with Terry Gilliam by Ken Plume
- ^ "Entertainment News - May 06, 2005". AbsoluteNow.com. 2005-05-06.
- ^ "We love Spam a lot: Python musical extends run". Chortle: The UK Comedy Guide. 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ Anderson, Sam (2006-06-21). "And Now For Something Completely Deficient". Slate.com.
- ^ Spencer, Charles. "Truly, a knight to remember" (review). Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Taylor, Paul (2006-10-17). "First Night" (review). The Independent.
- ^ Billington, Michael (2006-10-17). "Spamalot" (review). Guardian Unlimited.
- ^ "Spamalot cast sets coconut record". BBC News. 2007-04-23.