Bringing Broadway to Seattle
Review of Monty Python's Spamalot at 5th Avenue Theatre by Degraceful
5th Avenue Theatre is currently putting on a spectacular rendition of Monty Python’s Spamalot. And after that, it will be done again with their high school-aged students (Go support teens in the arts too!).
Spamalot, written by Eric Idle, is a goofy spoof of the famous movie, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Even if you’ve never seen Monty Python and The Holy Grail, this spoof is witty, hilarious, and performed amazingly by the 5th Avenue cast. In Spamalot, after King Arthur gathers troops for his round table — well, gambling table — he and his knights are sent by God on an absurd adventure to find the Holy Grail.
Pairing wonderfully with the great local actors are great non-local costumes. What? Non-local costumes, what does that mean? It means their costumes are the originals from Broadway! Talk about style. To go with their sparkling outfits were some very shiny set pieces also provided by Musical Theatre West (originally designed by Tim Hatley).
Stealing the show from the start was Louis Hobson (Sir Dennis Galahad, among other characters), who has great comedic timing and makes a great political activist.
One of my favorite things about the show was the constant use of the backup dancers/singers, particularly the females. They had spunky outfits, and beautiful bodies (nicely styled by hair and makeup designer Mary Pyanowski Jones) that they flaunted for two straight hours, and great dance moves! Good luck catching those girls out of sync.
My one concern with the production was that I didn’t see any diversity. As I watched the girls prance around the stage I noticed every single one looked caucasian. Diversity in the men wasn’t much better.
Josh Rhodes did a successful job directing the array of Seattle actors (many of whom have returned from New York), and there was even the nice surprise of Eric Idle showing up to say what a good job 5th Avenue Theatre did producing Spamalot.
If Eric Idle himself approves, you can bet you’ll be in for a treat.
Monty Python's Spamalot
5th Avenue Theatre
January 30 - March 2
