Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
The audience eats it up like spam. A lot.
Spamalot has returned to Broadway offering more laughs than ever at the St. James Theatre. The 2005 musical based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail—with many of its jokes set in amber—still manages to remain hilarious close to fifty years after inception. Of course, it being a cult film, there are people who’ve committed major portions of its anarchic script to memory (count me among them). If the phrase goes that familiarity breeds contempt, it’s safe to say that Monty Python breeds content(ment). Okay, not as good a joke as something Eric Idle would come up with, but that’s why he gets paid the big bucks.
For those who don’t know already, Spamalot spoofs King Arthur’s assemblage of the Knights of the Round Table, the legendary Lady of the Lake, and a search for the Holy Grail. Familiar bits from the film have been directly lifted for the stage, such as Arthur’s encounter with the Black Knight, Tim the Enchanter, and a murderous bunny (“That’s no ordinary rabbit. That’s the most foul, cruel and bad-tempered rodent you’ve ever set eyes on!”). This Spamalot arrives after a short run at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center Broadway Center Stage series earlier this year, which I saw and enjoyed thoroughly. Much of that cast has been recruited again, with new additions boasting the likes of former Saturday Night Live cast member Taran Killam, Ethan Slater (Broadway’s Spongebob Squarepants) and the always never-less-than-superb Christopher Fitzgerald, a three-time Tony nominee for Young Frankenstein, Finian’s Rainbow and Waitress.
Killam is filling in temporarily for Alex Brightman, who was in the cast in D.C. and will rejoin the company in January once his commitment to The Shark is Broken, currently on Broadway, is finished. Killam is a perfect replacement, not only due to sketch comedy being in his bones, but because he has a strong stage presence and facility with voices he applies to such memorable characters as the Knight who says “Ni!” Slater, whose body seems to be made solely of rubber, excels in his many parts, particularly as someone who is not quite dead . . . yet. His dancing is wonderful and he even works in A Chorus Line’s “5, 6, 7, 8 . . . ”—if you’re quick enough to catch it. And Fitzgerald’s Patsy, King Arthur’s faithful servant, gets all the laughs the role is built for and then some. If you’ve ever wanted to see him dressed up as Barbra Streisand, it’s included with the price of admission.
Returning from the D.C. production is the improved King Arthur of James Monroe Iglehart. It appears he’s settled into his kingliness a bit more, as well as feeling a bit looser. His singing, as always, is rich and smooth. However, when it comes to vocal pyrotechnics, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer is the true star of the evening. Blessed with the showoff role of the Lady of the Lake, her predecessors included And Just Like That’s Sara Ramirez on Broadway and Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham in the West End. It’s a role that requires bravura singing with incredible riffs of high notes and a confident comedy style that takes no prisoners. Expect a Tony nomination for sure for Kritzer (Ramirez won back in 2005).
Saving the best for last, Michael Urie again shows his gift for original comic styling, succeeding admirably as the successor to David Hyde Pierce, who first played Sir Robin the “the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot.” Urie’s rendition of “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway (if You Don’t Have Any Jews)” is a pure delight. Having seen him onstage over the years in everything from drama to comedy to classics to musicals, his inventiveness knows no bounds.
Director and choreographer Josh Rhodes keeps things moving at a swift pace and manages to keep his group of clowns from upstaging one another (no easy task). It’s a wonderful ensemble effort and Rhodes’s work here is first-rate. If it was Eric Idle himself returning to revise some of the show’s jokes, or the actor’s contributions while ad-libbing in rehearsal, it’s still Rhodes as arbiter who is due credit for keeping it all deliciously fresh. This production relies a good deal on projections, but it doesn’t feel forced, since the Pythons used animation to emphasize their routines since the early days of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, their BBC sketch comedy series that started the whole ball rolling way back in 1969. These stage projections are the fine work of Spamalot’s scenic designer Paul Tate DePoo III, a name out of Monty Python if there ever was one. The excellent lighting is contributed by Cory Pattak and the ridiculously appropriate garb from Jen Caprio fills the stage with a warmth of color and wit.
I’ve always been a fan of the show’s score, particularly Idle’s riotous lyrics. And the music he co-composed with John Du Prez makes for a host of catchy “hummable” melodies. Of course, the inclusion of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” is a bit of a cheat as it was written for 1979’s Life of Brian. But, like this new Spamalot, it’s irresistible and sends the audience out on a cloud of comedy.
Spamalot. Open run at the St. James Theatre (246 W 44th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues). www.spamalotthemusical.com
Photos: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman
