November 7, 2011-Monday 7:30pm
November 8, 2011-Tuesday 2pm & 7:30pm
"Lovingly ripped off" from the BBC’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail, SPAMALOT has developed a near-cult following of young and old, since first opening on Broadway in 2005. The musical is based on the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail. But that is where all the familiarity ends. The show is chock full of hilarious situations and features beautiful showgirls, dancing men in tights, killer rabbits with big pointy teeth, a legless Knight, and flatulent Frenchmen.
Making great fun at the Broadway musical formula, SPAMALOT makes a humorous commentary on historical events, leaving no room for serious thought or sorrow of any kind. The show is actually an attempt to turn the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” into a musical, but the story line of the play is quite a bit different than that of the movie. The parody of the Arthurian legend is very irreverent, ridiculing the classical story whenever possible in both music and prose. The play also mocks traditional Broadway shows, especially with “The Song That Goes Like This,” which makes fun of the traditional love songs found in most Broadway productions.
Over the course of the play, King Arthur is actually given the commission to perform a Broadway musical. Parodies of successful musicals, such as Fiddler on the Roof and several of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows are sprinkled throughout the performance. The show even derides the proverbial “damsel in distress,” turning her into an effeminate young man who is the distressed individual who needs saving.
From the "Fisch Schlapping Song," to the dismemberment of the Black Knight, (“it’s just a flesh wound!”), SPAMALOT will have Monty Python fans and Monty Python virgins alike, roaring with laughter. It is a hilarious foolish look at the knights of the Round Table and their foibles, idiosyncrasies, and outright insanity.
Winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical, SPAMALOT “raises silliness to an art form” (The Sunday Times) and has been hailed as a “ no-holds-barred smash hit! (The New Yorker).
Single tickets for Monty Python’s Spamalot are available August 8th at The Capitol Theatre box office: 509-853-ARTS or 800-325-SEAT.
