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Thread: Spamalot. Finally!

  1. #1

    Spamalot. Finally!

    After all these years, I finally got to see it. What a blast. Even my sis and her hubby dug it, which surprised me. They are not Python fans, at all, as they know nothing of the Pythons.

    It was a local production, out at a beautiful oasis near the mountains west of Vegas. It's lovely out there, laying out on the grass with whatever food and beverage you can truck in, checking out a play. They used to do Jazz Under The Stars back in the '90's, saw Luc Ponty and the Yellowjackets there. As nice as it gets.

    The chick who was The Lady Of The Lake had a awesome set of pipes. Arthur and Patsy came out fifteen minutes before the show and stole a tiny baby and tried to auction it off. A family of donkeys went a braying behind the stage right in the middle of the swallow migrating with a coconut bit, pretty funny. Saw two rabbits on the way back from the show, both sis and hubby wondered if they were killer rabbits. Lovely.

    A couple of local touches were great. Whatever castle they were at for the finale was based upon the Excalibur casino, which had to be pointed out to me. And a great line that I doubt was in the original(I've skipped any mention or video of Spamalot as I wanted to see it live first) - "Remember, lads, what happens in Camelot, stays in Camelot". Yeah, they went there, but it was so damned easy how could they have not?

    I totally dug it, but probably missed a lot of the references to other Broadway musicals they were spoofing, as I know little of them. Singing in the Rain(I think) and Fiddler on the Roof were there and they told me there was a West Side story one there. Three songs that I really enjoyed were The Song The Goes Like This, Diva's Lament and I'm All Alone were just great. All three have the Lady, so that might have helped as she really was good.

    Well, I crossed something off my bucket list, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Arthur, drinking out of a coconut while having a cigar. Lancelot is gay. Laker girls. Finland and the fish slapping dance(never thought I'd see that in there). Absolute silliness, and I loved every minute of it.

  2. #2
    Yep...this is a fun one. I was a bit against the concept, as it seemed pointless to have people who weren't Monty Python essentially do Monty Python impressions for a few hours. I thought that was my nerdy high school friends' jobs. Then my wife got me tickets to the Broadway production, and we really did have a good time. A few years later I got to play for a production at the theater for which I work. Playing the music made it even more fun.

    And both the Camelot as casino AND the line, "What happens in Camelot, stays in Camelot," are actually written into the show proper, not just the production you saw. However, I'm sure they resonated more for your crowd than they do in Connecticut.

  3. #3
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    Yes, well worth checking out. We saw it a few years ago in Cincinnati for the travelling Broadway show, and just a couple months ago done at the Naval Academy performed by a bunch of cadets. Funny story, my mother-in-law went with us in Cincy and bought an "I'm Not Dead Yet" button, which she stuck on her jacket. She didn't realize it was still on there until she was at a funeral.

  4. #4
    Well, I'll be buggered. I read a review of the play and suposedly they threw in a plug for one of their upcoming plays(I missesd it if it were there) so I figured at least one of those jokes were of local origin. Not a huge surprise though as I'd bet Eric Idle has heard of Las Vegas. It's not exactly a hidden place.

    I gotta get me one of those I'm not dead yet buttons, though I should wait a while to wear it as I have a infection in my head that could, theoretically, kill me(I'll find out in the morn about that crap).

    I wonder if the guy here got the line wrong. He said beautiful bird, then seemed to stumble, and said lovely plumage. Should have been the other way around IIRC. I'd really like to go again, see what I missed the first time around. Also, the cast hangs out after the show and I'd like to try and pull a Laker Girl. I'm sure it would never happen but stranger things have happened. Seriously, the whole world lost a friggin' jumbo jet, so me pulling a Laker Girl may not be so far fetched.

    Then again, my reality may be in jeopardy. I still believe it was the Berenstein Bears, NOT Berenstain Bears, so reality may not be what I thought it was.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by TheLoony View Post
    Also, the cast hangs out after the show and I'd like to try and pull a Laker Girl. I'm sure it would never happen but stranger things have happened. Seriously, the whole world lost a friggin' jumbo jet, so me pulling a Laker Girl may not be so far fetched.

    Then again, my reality may be in jeopardy. I still believe it was the Berenstein Bears, NOT Berenstain Bears, so reality may not be what I thought it was.
    I hope all this isn't just the cranial infection talking, because that's really funny stuff! Good luck with the Laker Girl thing. They do have some, er, interesting choreography, don't they? Best of luck with the medical stuff, too. Hope it isn't as bad as you fear.

  6. #6
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    I saw the original Broadway run, loved it. Only one member of the original cast at that point, but still really good fun. I like that they make little changes to the various productions. After all, the original Broadway show made plenty of changes to the source material. Some of it didn't work, but most of the new things were hysterical. I'm not a fan of broadway shows in general, but this was a no brainer to see. And I managed to see it with two of my brothers, whcih was great since I had seen Holy Grail with them way back as kids in 1975.

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    I saw it for the first time when they did their initial run in Chicago and it was excellent. I saw it once more in Vegas a few years later (a shortened version), then once again by our local summer equity theater in in Allegan Michigan a few years ago. I am not sure that I am up to seeing it again, but for Python fans it is a must see.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by izz_brian View Post
    I hope all this isn't just the cranial infection talking, because that's really funny stuff! Good luck with the Laker Girl thing. They do have some, er, interesting choreography, don't they? Best of luck with the medical stuff, too. Hope it isn't as bad as you fear.
    Supposedly the infection is taken care of, or so they tell me. I'll know for sure when it's gone for good. If I start spouting gibberish, or more than usual, then you'll know I ain't healed. Thanks.

    As for the rest, I was talking smack. I ain't a gonna get no hot chick, but it's cool that you can chat with the whole cast afterwards.

    Now the bear thing, that freaks me out. Look it up, it's really weird. My memory tells me it's one thing but supposedly it's ALWAYS been something else. Whatever.

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I saw it for the first time when they did their initial run in Chicago and it was excellent. I saw it once more in Vegas a few years later (a shortened version), then once again by our local summer equity theater in in Allegan Michigan a few years ago. I am not sure that I am up to seeing it again, but for Python fans it is a must see.
    Yeah, there's something about the Strip where they want the shows to get out at a certain time or some crap so they shorten some shows. Where was it, if you recall? I know it's been at the Wynn recently but I think it played somewhere else before that.
    Last edited by TheLoony; 06-20-2014 at 08:57 PM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheLoony View Post
    Yeah, there's something about the Strip where they want the shows to get out at a certain time or some crap so they shorten some shows. Where was it, if you recall? I know it's been at the Wynn recently but I think it played somewhere else before that.
    I am pretty sure it was at the Wynn. This would have been around 2008 and was part of the show’s first run in Vegas. The show ran just about 90 minutes with no Intermission. The full show was about 30 to 45 minutes longer when I have seen it. Another time in Vegas my wife dragged me to see “Mama Mia”, mercifully that show was cut short too. Didn’t complain about that one.

    Yea, unfortunately casinos are notorious for shortening shows including concerts. It is not just in Vegas. We have a casino about a half hour from where I live in Michigan. They bring in some great concerts, but they are almost never more than 90 minutes long. I saw Crosby Stills and Nash there back in March and David Crosby even bitched about it on the stage saying that they had a bunch of new material to do, but the casino would only allow them so much time. Casinos typically look at entertainment as just an excuse to get people in the door to gamble. The faster they are in and out of the shows the better. Sad, but true…….

    Of course the other side of the coin is that they often bring in acts that might not normally play my area, and for a lot of older bands it offers a nice option to playing clubs. Casinos typically have top notch sound systems, good staging and good lighting rigs, so for bands that can no longer afford to haul their own productions around it makes for a nice option over playing dingy clubs.

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