4/20 Spamalot Tour Review - Chicago.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 10:12am

*I havent seen a lot of reviews about this tour yet, so I thought I'd chime in*

:) SPAMALOT
Cadillac Palace Theatre - Chicago

Perhaps was the fact that it was 4/20, or perhaps its the sporting event mentality perpetuated by the Cadillac Palace theatre in Chicago that made so many of the audience members in attendance at this performance of "Spamalot" so... stupid.

I'll never know.

But people who didn't stop talking, people who insisted on texting the entire time, and people loudly eating things in wrappers couldn't distract from my enjoyment of what I've realized is my favorite musical running and successful today - Monty Python's Spamalot.

The national tour made its second stop last night in Chicago, and the Chicago audiences who adored it during it's pre-Broadway try-out returned in droves -

- and they weren't disappointed.

Set and design-wise, the tour is slightly smaller than the original, but thats to be expected. [I didn't notice any major changes for this tour.]

The cast, however, is already outstanding. In a few months, when they've really COMPLETELY settled into their roles and can have even more fun with them, the show should be the over-the-top laughfest it was in its original incarnation, with the star-studded original cast.

Michael Siberry is the next best thing to Tim Curry as King Arthur, and he's every bit the straight man with a smirk in this farcical adventure. He also sings a good deal better than Curry in the role, and is the perfect guy to build this show around.

Jeff Dumas, as Patsy, brings Michael McGrath to mind so often, he's instantly heart-winning - and what a dancer!

David Turner is perfection as Sir Robin and others. He's taken David Hyde Pierce's role and really managed to make it his own without detracting from the original version. His "You won't succeed on Broadway" got some of the evenings biggest laughs.

Bradley Dean as Sir Galahad/Black Knight/Herberts Father was marvelous, and almost (I said almost) made me forget Christopher Sieber's hysterical hair-tossing.

Rick Holmes lands the coveted Hank Azaria-originated roles of Lancelot, The French Taunter, Tim the enchanter, and many more - and walks away with some of the heartiest laughs (The French Taunter will ALWAYS get entrance applause!) His 'Knights who say Ni' riff was hysterical (something about 'Dont you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?'...'Aint no Hollaback girl.')

But the absolute best parts of the show were Pia Glenn as The Lady of the Lake and Tom Deckman as the Historian/Not Dead Fred/Prince Herbert.

First, Ms. Glenn: She's GORGEOUS, she's ridiculously talented, and she took "Find your Grail" to a whole new place. HI-LARIOUS performance, and a show-stealer.

Mr. Deckman landed everything with complete ease and great timing - and his Prince Herbert scene was a scream. I still maintain Christian Borle was ROBBED of a Tony nom for his performance, and Mr. Deckamn was equal to the task.

There are Spamalot bashers in this world (people always hate things that are successful) but if you haven't seen it, or if you enjoyed it on Broadway, see the national tour if you get the chance. It's a ridiculously fun evening with a stellar cast and loads of laughs.

:)
Magic

[misto625]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:48pm

I saw the tour twice in Boston, I guess I never posted a formal review of it, but I loved the show a lot more than I thought I was going to. It is truly amazing, especially the second act. I agreee that Pia Glenn nearly stole the show and I loved Tom Deckman and Jeff Dumas also. I first saw Jeff in a show 5 years ago and it was really good to see him again. Also, the Spamalot ensemble kept cracking me up. I am glad you loved the show as much as I did.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:52pm

Thanks for the review, Magic! Perhaps I'll need to see this after all.

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:53pm

So glad to hear we're getting a second first-class production. I've put together a theatre party and we're seeing it June 3rd--I'm SO glad to know that I will not have to weather a frosty bus ride back with 57 people who bought tickets on my recommendation and were disappointed!

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:37pm

Pia Glenn is truly phenomenal. I'm sure she'll go on to do many MANY more shows and get a lot more recognition.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:41pm

Thanks MTD, I am going later in the run. I am taking a few kids that are not regular theatre goers, but Python fans. Should be fun.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 3:34pm

are there any national tour awards, like Helen Hayes awards or something? sounds like Pia Glenn will be a huge contender for best actress/supporting actress if there are...
i'll probably write to her soon!
wanna see this tour real bad, though!

[misto625]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 5:02pm

There are National Broadway Theatre Awards, you can find info on Broadway Across America's website. Additionally, there are awards specific to a region eg. Carbonell (S. Florida), Helen Hayes (DC), Jefferson (Chicago) Ovation (LA) and Barrymore (Philly).

I first saw Pia as Virilla in The Frogs and she was funny even the small role. The Spamalot tour goes to show that even if shows like The Frogs and Good Vibrations flopped on Broadway, it wasn't the fault of the cast, as those two shows combined contributed almost 10 cast members.

[lds19]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 7:26pm

We saw Spamalot last night (I had also seen it during the pre-Broadway run). I can't remember enough details from the first time to say what has changed except there are definitely some differences from the cast album (Run Away, the first act finale, is abbreviated compared to the album). In addition, many of the songs had a faster tempo than on the cast album as if they're trying to shave some minutes from the show.

One interesting thing was the location of the "special" seat. Although it was played as the usual x101 seat, it was really the x118 seat (the audience-right aisle while the real x101 seats are on the audience-left aisle). I was wondering if they reversed the seat numbers on the first few rows or something to make that work. And also wondering why they didn't go with the aisle that really had the x101 seats. Yes, it would mean reversing the blocking for that scene but they had to do that when they went from Chicago (pre-B'way) to Broadway since the Chicago Shubert has the x101 seats on the audience-left aisle while the New York Shubert has them on the audience-right aisle.

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 12:08pm

How much of this cast has changed/will change relatively soon?

[misto625]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 11:42pm

tell me the cast you know of and i might be able to help you.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 4:29am

In terms of the principal cast, I would assume much hasn't changed or will change soon unless someone is going to the Broadway show. Principals tend to be contracted for a year, and the tour just opened in March.

This is just my theory though.

[kelzama]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 9:47am

Millie, I thought principal contracts were 6 month chunks, tour or Broadway.

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 4:12pm

I was refering to the cast in the original post. I'm seeing the show in November in St. Louis and I was curious to know if I was seeing the same cast that got such a glowing review : )

[broadwaybaby221]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 6:10pm

I just saw the tour last week and I saw the same people as the reviewer.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 8:01pm

Yay! I'm glad to know that the show is doing well.

[misto625]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 6:15pm

Actually I still am curious as to who is in the current cast of the tour b/c Christopher Sutton was at NYMF, and supposedly Matt Allen is joining soon so I wonder who he is replacing.