#1
Posted: 4/1/05 at 11:44pm
April 1, 2005
Spamalot of full of wacky, random things you'd just never expect: a man who might be a horse or might just be a guy toting coconuts, tapping, table-dancing knights, and medieval disco game shows. It's truly silliness for its own sake, and random humor with no underlying purpose, other than just to be funny. The humor is blunt, and maybe often slightly offensive, but the show somehow manages to house this type of humor, and still take playful stabs at so many societal norms: views of God, the English language, history, homosexuality and communication skills. But, by far the best stab it takes is the one it takes at theatre.
The score's enjoyability lies mainly within its resemblance of the traditional musical theatre genre. It's much better than I had expected, actually. The numbers are written and orchestrated to sound like stereotypical showtunes, and are consequently staged as such. The show's material itself, when meshed with such "Broadway" sounding music creates something of a contradiction - you're dealing with a conceptual theme that is so strange and out of the ordinary for a musical, yet it looks and sounds so much like a "standard" Broadway show. That's not necessarily bad, though it has the potential to be. The fact that the show makes such a mockery of theatre, in some twisted way helps the contradiction to fit, and to make sense. In making fun of itself and what it is, the contradiction becomes funny, and meshes with the rest of the show's giddy idiocy.
Lacking any familiarity with Monty Python's blunt, obvious humor beforehand makes the show difficult to enjoy right off the bat. It took a good few numbers before I "got" the humor and really started to laugh. I still, though, laughed most at the numbers that were blatant stabs at the theatre industry. At the end of "The Diva's Lament," there was green-ish lighting over Sarah's face. Should that be coincidence, it's still just as funny, but I had to wonder if that, coupled with her huge gasp at the end of the song was a reference to the lovely Elphaba. Sir Robin's quote about how Broadway is a special place, with special people (I wish I remembered it exactly) was a favorite, too.
Azaria, Pierce and Curry are all fantastic comedians, and they all have their strong points in the show, but none really seems to stand out, or steal the show in the same way I've seen Norbert do in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. That's definitley the performance to measure by this season. Curry is clearly the lead, but he seemed to lack presence, and some of his lines felt overly rehearsed. Of the three, he is the strongest singer, though surprisingly, they are all more than passable. Both Pierce and Azaria have numbers that highlight one of the several characters they play - Azaria has "His Name is Lancelot" and Pierce has "You Won't Succeed on Broadway." Pierce's is far more entertaining, including a parody of Fiddler on the Roof, and does a far better job of showcasing his talent.
Christopher Sieber is disappointingly underused, but does a beautiful hair toss. He plays the naive Galahad very well, but I wish we saw more of his talent displayed. Of the male actors, Christian Borle is the only one who consistently shines. He's adorable, endearing, and a pleasure to watch in any of the roles he plays. He stole several scenes with his "I Am Not Dead Yet," especially the scene in Act I titled as such. He was also particularly wonderful as the flagrantly feminine prince. He has a definite talent for comedic acting, and a very impressive voice. Snaps to Christian.
Sarah Ramirez is also a stand-out, in more ways than simply being the only female lead. Her vocal versatility is incredible, and she commands attention the moment she opens her mouth. Her material is kind of extranneous and has an tendency to be obnoxious, but she performs it well no less.
I didn't find the sets and costumes to be anything particularly special. They're lavish, and big with lots of special effects, but I found them not to bee too interesting at all. They were more of a necessity than something that forwarded the production.
Sidenote: I absolutely love what they do with seat A101. It's corny and silly, but they make it kind of cute, and really special. To stand where that person gets to stand... well, I'd kill to do that.
In terms of the probably inevitable Spamalot/Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Tony race: while I liked Spamalot very much, there was not for one moment any question in my mind that I liked DRS lightyears more. Spamalot is a good, solid show, by all means, but it failed to grip me and force me to fall in love the way the Scoundrels did. I'm pulling for them to win best musical.
Thanks for reading, I know it was long.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
Spamalot of full of wacky, random things you'd just never expect: a man who might be a horse or might just be a guy toting coconuts, tapping, table-dancing knights, and medieval disco game shows. It's truly silliness for its own sake, and random humor with no underlying purpose, other than just to be funny. The humor is blunt, and maybe often slightly offensive, but the show somehow manages to house this type of humor, and still take playful stabs at so many societal norms: views of God, the English language, history, homosexuality and communication skills. But, by far the best stab it takes is the one it takes at theatre.
The score's enjoyability lies mainly within its resemblance of the traditional musical theatre genre. It's much better than I had expected, actually. The numbers are written and orchestrated to sound like stereotypical showtunes, and are consequently staged as such. The show's material itself, when meshed with such "Broadway" sounding music creates something of a contradiction - you're dealing with a conceptual theme that is so strange and out of the ordinary for a musical, yet it looks and sounds so much like a "standard" Broadway show. That's not necessarily bad, though it has the potential to be. The fact that the show makes such a mockery of theatre, in some twisted way helps the contradiction to fit, and to make sense. In making fun of itself and what it is, the contradiction becomes funny, and meshes with the rest of the show's giddy idiocy.
Lacking any familiarity with Monty Python's blunt, obvious humor beforehand makes the show difficult to enjoy right off the bat. It took a good few numbers before I "got" the humor and really started to laugh. I still, though, laughed most at the numbers that were blatant stabs at the theatre industry. At the end of "The Diva's Lament," there was green-ish lighting over Sarah's face. Should that be coincidence, it's still just as funny, but I had to wonder if that, coupled with her huge gasp at the end of the song was a reference to the lovely Elphaba. Sir Robin's quote about how Broadway is a special place, with special people (I wish I remembered it exactly) was a favorite, too.
Azaria, Pierce and Curry are all fantastic comedians, and they all have their strong points in the show, but none really seems to stand out, or steal the show in the same way I've seen Norbert do in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. That's definitley the performance to measure by this season. Curry is clearly the lead, but he seemed to lack presence, and some of his lines felt overly rehearsed. Of the three, he is the strongest singer, though surprisingly, they are all more than passable. Both Pierce and Azaria have numbers that highlight one of the several characters they play - Azaria has "His Name is Lancelot" and Pierce has "You Won't Succeed on Broadway." Pierce's is far more entertaining, including a parody of Fiddler on the Roof, and does a far better job of showcasing his talent.
Christopher Sieber is disappointingly underused, but does a beautiful hair toss. He plays the naive Galahad very well, but I wish we saw more of his talent displayed. Of the male actors, Christian Borle is the only one who consistently shines. He's adorable, endearing, and a pleasure to watch in any of the roles he plays. He stole several scenes with his "I Am Not Dead Yet," especially the scene in Act I titled as such. He was also particularly wonderful as the flagrantly feminine prince. He has a definite talent for comedic acting, and a very impressive voice. Snaps to Christian.
Sarah Ramirez is also a stand-out, in more ways than simply being the only female lead. Her vocal versatility is incredible, and she commands attention the moment she opens her mouth. Her material is kind of extranneous and has an tendency to be obnoxious, but she performs it well no less.
I didn't find the sets and costumes to be anything particularly special. They're lavish, and big with lots of special effects, but I found them not to bee too interesting at all. They were more of a necessity than something that forwarded the production.
Sidenote: I absolutely love what they do with seat A101. It's corny and silly, but they make it kind of cute, and really special. To stand where that person gets to stand... well, I'd kill to do that.
In terms of the probably inevitable Spamalot/Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Tony race: while I liked Spamalot very much, there was not for one moment any question in my mind that I liked DRS lightyears more. Spamalot is a good, solid show, by all means, but it failed to grip me and force me to fall in love the way the Scoundrels did. I'm pulling for them to win best musical.
Thanks for reading, I know it was long.
Updated On: 4/2/05 at 11:44 PM
