Is It Just Me Or Is Spamalot Overrated? — Page 2

The one thing that puzzles me about this show winning the Tony is this. I think it can be generally agreed that Wicked did not win the Tony because voters did not care to honor a very expensive production as some kind of statement about the newer shows on the Broadway. Instead they voted for a smaller, more intimate show like Avenue Q. Now Avenue Q did come up with an effective (and digustingly deceptive) campaign to win. I love Avenue Q but you cannot deny that phenomenon that Wicked has become nationwide and what Avenue Q has failed (at least in Vegas) to do thus far. That to me is a clear sign of a Tony winner. Fast forward a year later and they give the Tony to Spamalot, which is just as loud, expensive, and so very unBroadway as Wicked when more 'traditional' musicals were available. I always found that a bit hypocritical.

Updated On: 12/4/05 at 12:51 PM

"I think it can be generally agreed that Wicked did not win the Tony because voters did not care to honor a very expensive production as some kind of statement about the newer shows on the Broadway."

No, I don't agree that that can be generally agreed.

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I was impressed that Spamalot managed to hold my attention given that I am not a Pythono fan at all, and was actually fairly entertained. That said, LITP was robbed, Spamalot did not deserve it. And as for Q/Wicked, I would have given it to Wicked, but I guess the Wicked producers get the last laugh, all the way to the bank.

not worth the twenty bucks i paid to see it.

I dont know about that. I have been listening to that type of discussion for more than a year and that statement about Wicked vs Ave Q is what seemed to be the most common and general among many intelligent posters. That's all.

I saw SPAMALOT here in Chicago before all the hype. I knew the movie and expected it to be pretty much a recreation with songs. What I did not expect were the amazing performances and all the fun spoofing of Broadway...I had one of the best times I have ever had watching that show.
However, when I left the theatre I said that no one should know anything about this show going in. Not what seat A101 is, not about The Song That Goes Like This or anything to do with Ramirez' characters. I knew that most of the enjoyment came with the surprise. So when people started posting about that here on the board I knew it wouldn't be long before people who didn't get around to seeing it before they heard all the spoilers would be saying, "Yea? That's it? It ain't so great."

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Its a great show for sure but a bit overrated. Die hard Monty Pythons fan worship it while I'd imagine more casual fans like myself simply enjoy it

It's funny how most people assume that if you like Python you will like Spamalot. I was a Python fan before The Holy Grail and I continue to be a fan but I was just not impressed with this show. I can see how it can be entertaining to a lot of audience members but I was very disappointed when I saw it. I'm sure it will run for a long time but that is not a measure of how good or bad it is. If that were the case then O Calcutta! must be brilliant and anyone who has seen that knows that that is not so.

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Updated On: 12/4/05 at 03:45 PM

I personally loved Spamalot.

But everything is overrated nowadays. ("Measure in hyyyyype...")

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Don't get me started. I want to see the show, but it is the hardest ticket to get in town and I never have time to wait for standing room.
Sucks! I think I will love this show.
I just don't have the time to wait for hours to stand.
I really want to see it.
PS I loved the Producers.

Updated On: 12/4/05 at 04:08 PM

Ah, Pab and Smartpenguin ! Thank you! You can be a Python fan and dislike this show. Wicked was much more of a Broadway show than Spamalot was. Arguably Wicked is more of a B-way show than Q is, as all the songs in Wicked at the least add to the plot and it isn't a parody OF Broadway musicals.

The thing that gets my goat is that it wasn't like The Producers where the show was the only good thing. Spamalot beat out a lot of other really good shows. Just because it was (arguably) the funniest show doesn't mean it deserved best musical. I am always confused when something else wins best score and/or best book yet some random show wins best musical (because of the perfs?).

I know it was a troll post but I have to reply to this guy from a bit back!

"You know what show is overrated? Light in the Piazza! Talk about a STUPID plot! "Retarded girl finds love in Italy"== oh YEAH THAT IS ONE RIVETING STORYLINE!"

Yeah... it is, actually.

"Plus, there is not a song in it that is the least bit tuneful, catchy or even hummable."

Not hummable. Does that mean you don't know how to hum? If you find it unhummable. Because anything can be hummed...

And I'm afraid I find every single solitary song in Piazza infinitely more catchy and tuneful than either "You Can't Succeed On Broadway" or "The Song That Goes Like This" -- the only two songs anybody ever mentions or the rest of the crappy pastiche in that score. You lobotomized individuals have a really interesting concept of what is melodic.

"It sounds like it was written by a community college music major for his final project in his "Meaningful Songwriting 101" class."

Yeah and Spamalot wasn't written by (well, what wasn't ghost written) some guy who just thought he'd write a musical. Averse to you know, the grandson of Richard Rodgers, the son of Mary Rodgers, the protégé of Stephen Sondheim...

"Add to that the most homely cast in Musical theatre history! Ugh! If this show is ever revived it will be as a spoof of what passed for entertainment in the early 21st century!"

Wait wait waaaaaaait... Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Morrison are homely? Do you have eyes? Last time I looked Vicki Clark was just radiant.

Perhaps it will survive as proof that the entertainment our generation turned out some worthwhile things after all.

"I'm gonna go puke now just thinking about "Light in the Piazza."

I'M gonna puke. On you.

Here's a copy of that reality show with the midgets. You might enjoy that.

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Light in the Piazza does have some "tuneful" songs in it. It might be the kind of hummable songs that are in DRS or Spamalot, but they're there. I think Piazza should've won. DRS just doesn't have that great of a score to me, neither does Spamalot. Though, I haven't seen Spam yet, so I can't really judge. Although, I really enjoyed the Producers, but at the same time didn't think it should have won best score. And that's that.