Spamalot

I went to NYC today to see Spamalot, the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with my brother and one of our longtime friends. Wow! It was hilarious!!! We could not stop laughing throughout it. It was a reasonable adaptation of the film and had a number of great lines and songs. Tim Curry played King Arthur. His voice is still excellent and there were times when he could barely stop laughing. Hank Azaria played Sir Lancelot as well as Tim the Enchanter and a few other parts. David Hyde Pierce played Sir Robin. Sara Ramirez played the Lady of the Lake as a showbiz diva and practically stole the show with her Liza Minelli impression. The surprise cast member was Christian Boyle, who is the singer on the E-bay commercial with the "Amore" spoof production number. He played a number of parts that showcased his voice including Prince Herbert ("But father, I want to sing..."). A number of cast members played multiple pars in the Python tradition and John Cleese did the Voice of God (presumably taped). They did parodies of Phantom and of several other shows. At the end they pulled an audience member up on stage for a bit of fun, and they had a lot of Terry Gilliam animation bits going on in the background. I'm not sure how well it would go over with someone who wasn't familiar with the movie, but the whole audience seemed to enjoy it. It was very very silly. Oh yes, the program book had a fake description of the show being about Finland (to go with the Finland fish slapping song - you just had to be there). I bought a T-shirt that says, "I'm not dead yet" and I must find the cast album. I highly recommend it (especially funny was David Hyde Pierce's musical number).