“Spamalot” opened to a full house last night at Denver’s Buell Theater. It’s the shows second run in Denver. Written by the Monty Python alum Eric Idol as a spoof of the movie “Monty Python’s and the Holy Grail,” this play is even more ridiculous than the movie. Thankfully, I’m a fan of ridiculous and it seemed most of the crowd at last night’s show were also fans of ridiculous.
The first act of the play follows the original movie with the addition of several silly songs. The second act, following intermission, has a fairly nonsensical storyline, but the crowd didn’t seem to care. The songs are still hilarious, even as the plot gets more and more absurd.
John O’Hurley of Seinfeild fame, plays King Arthur, a deep-voiced, rather self-absorbed character. He is the straight guy to all the outlandish characters around him. Veteran Broadway actress Merle Dandridge plays the Lady of the Lake with a set of lungs that will knock your socks off. The rest of the mostly male ensemble are veterans of the stage.
Just as irreverent as all Monty Python productions, this play has more dancing nuns than the “Sound of Music.” “Spamalot” can be summed up as jokes about bodily functions, jokes about bodily appendages being mangled or cut off, and scantily clad girls running around the stage. If you are a fuddy-duddy, you probably won’t like it. However, if you always look on the bright side of life, I think you’ll like this one.
I mean, come on, dancing nuns are really, really, really funny.
NOTE: We sat in the far corner of the balcony. The acoustics for this particular show weren’t the best. Because this show features songs with a ton of words being sung at mind-blowing speeds, it’s very difficult to pick up all the word of the songs from this vantage point.