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"Spamalot' at Academy of Music
Steve Cohen
Beating a dead fake horse
STEVE COHEN
On its surface, Monty Python’s Spamalot seems to have nothing in common with Parenting 101, presented just down Broad Street at the Kimmel by the same Broadway Cadillac series.
Spamalot has spectacular sets and costumes and a large cast; Parenting has a cast of just four. But both are easily accessible musicals with familiar-sounding tunes. Spamalot, like Parenting 101, is based on a subject that’s known to almost everyone, in this case the King Arthur legend as retold by the Monty Python comedy group. It makes no bones about its unoriginality, bearing the subtitle "lovingly ripped off from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
If you enjoyed Monty Python, you’ll chuckle at the familiar non-sequiturs. You’ll giggle as a man pretends to be a horse and as a swordsman chops off the arms and legs of his adversary. But my companion, who was a big fan of Monty Python, found this show disappointing. There’s scant originality. The best moments are direct take-offs on numbers from other Broadway shows: the bottles-on-heads dance from Fiddler On the Roof and an Andrew Lloyd Weber ballad, "The Song That Goes Like This."
Spamalot played on Broadway with an all-star cast, and much of its fun came from seeing the well-known David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, Michael McGrath and Sara Ramirez strut their stuff. This road company has few recognizable names, but Esther Stilwell is outstanding as the Lady of the Lake. Otherwise, this touring cast seems more routine than the road show Philadelphians saw in this same house last season.
STEVE COHEN
On its surface, Monty Python’s Spamalot seems to have nothing in common with Parenting 101, presented just down Broad Street at the Kimmel by the same Broadway Cadillac series.
Spamalot has spectacular sets and costumes and a large cast; Parenting has a cast of just four. But both are easily accessible musicals with familiar-sounding tunes. Spamalot, like Parenting 101, is based on a subject that’s known to almost everyone, in this case the King Arthur legend as retold by the Monty Python comedy group. It makes no bones about its unoriginality, bearing the subtitle "lovingly ripped off from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
If you enjoyed Monty Python, you’ll chuckle at the familiar non-sequiturs. You’ll giggle as a man pretends to be a horse and as a swordsman chops off the arms and legs of his adversary. But my companion, who was a big fan of Monty Python, found this show disappointing. There’s scant originality. The best moments are direct take-offs on numbers from other Broadway shows: the bottles-on-heads dance from Fiddler On the Roof and an Andrew Lloyd Weber ballad, "The Song That Goes Like This."
Spamalot played on Broadway with an all-star cast, and much of its fun came from seeing the well-known David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, Michael McGrath and Sara Ramirez strut their stuff. This road company has few recognizable names, but Esther Stilwell is outstanding as the Lady of the Lake. Otherwise, this touring cast seems more routine than the road show Philadelphians saw in this same house last season.
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