EDMONTON - The scene is well-known to Monty Python fans.
Having mustered a group of brave and not-quite-so-brave men in what would become the quest for the Holy Grail, King Arthur welcomes his men to their new home: Camelot!
Cut to the inside of the castle where a lusty musical number is being performed by armoured knights dancing on tables, stomping on chickens, upsetting pots, singing about the joys of musical theatre and rhyming various things with "Camelot," such as "we eat ham and jam and spam a lot."
Back outside, Arthur mutters, "On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."
Yes, it is. And Spamalot is a silly musical, perhaps the silliest musical ever made. The touring version of the Tony-award winning Broadway smash opened its eight-show run at the Jubilee Auditorium last night. A very silly time was had by all.
That scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail - the troupe's greatest work - is one of those great "if only" moments. If only they had gone to Camelot. They might never have left. If only Monty Python had been into musicals in 1975.
Knights of the Round Table - heard in all its over-the-top, high-production silliness last night - is only one of three songs in the original film. Brave Sir Robin is performed by minstrels that get eaten. The effeminate Prince Herbert threatens to break into song, but is thrown out the window by his own dad.
And that's about it.
So you can think of Spamalot as the musical that never was - until now, of course. Now even the Knights Who Say Ni even have their own song-and-dance number. The guy who's not dead yet expands a recurring one-second joke into a three-minute tune called - you guessed it - I Am Not Dead Yet.
The Lady of the Lake has become a major character. Sir Lancelot comes out of the closet in a dazzling disco song. Instead of searching for the grail, Arthur and his men are distracted by a quest to mount a Broadway musical and just happen to have been doing one all along. Convenient.
And on it goes, the convoluted plot advanced almost entirely by song, each more ridiculous than the last.
It's like a funhouse mirror of the movie and it's easy to see why some Monty Python purists are aghast. Creator and cowriter Eric Idle - the Gene Simmons of the Python Franchise - has created a monster. He's even added a few things, a couple of groaners, silly subplots, a bit of rabbit-related puppetry and a few deft shots at God. The sexy dance between the monk and the nun was a nice touch.
While the performances and production are nearly flawless, what doesn't work are certain scenes from the film faithfully reproduced. Jokes that were subtle before are heightened and exaggerated so nothing is lost on the audience. The result was often not funny at all.
What works the best are the liberal pokes at the art of musical theatre. The Song That Goes Like This is a fine example of a huge theatrical production making fun of huge theatrical productions, in this case the required turgid love ballad where the two main characters sing to each other and grapple with at least one too many key changes.
You Won't Succeed On Broadway (Without Jews) is another highlight, containing a hilarious parody of Fiddler on the Roof.
But at what point does extended irony start to look like the actual thing they're making fun of? Perhaps it doesn't matter. This is a no-brainer. Spamalot is sure to please fans of musical theatre - it's original, that's for sure. Moreover, it may be the kind of show that's perfect for people who love Monty Python and hate musicals.
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