Last night was opening night of Spamalot at the Lucie Stern Theater. There I was, out past my bedtime, in the left front corner of the audience, all for reasons I don't care to explain.
For those who haven't been paying close attention, it's sort of a musical-theater adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. How, you may ask, can that screen epic be adapted to the live theater? Badly, you think? By embracing the absurdity is how!
And, yes, it works. For sufficiently silly values of works. And, in these trying times, we can all use a dose of silliness, right?
One quibble about the production: maybe it was my location, but I had trouble making out the performers' words (especially the Historian's) over the music. Could be they'll get that sorted out, if the rest of the audience was having the same difficulty.
Oh, yes. Some of the bits seemed a tad anachronistic. (No, not the song in Act II, Scene 2; that goes back to New Testament times.) Try not to get too outraged over such details.
And speaking of outrage! That fashion for inserting current politics into everything, and alienating half the potential audience? Not to be seen here, except in passing and not too specifically. No bashing the audience over the head (nor being-hit-on-the-head lessons, for that matter). It's broadly offensive, as one ought to expect given its Python lineage, but (to paraphrase Roger Rabbit) only when it's funny.
Anyway: a delightful bit of silly entertainment for those of a certain age. Young whippersnappers may not appreciate it.
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