“Monty Python’s Spamalot,” Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa through Oct. 18, $30 to $270
In the late 1960s, six British comics created the groundbreaking “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” More than 40 years later and 3,000 miles away, the redheaded stepchild of their legacy, “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” is in Costa Mesa for the final stop of its North American tour.
Loosely based on “The Holy Grail”,the 1975 Python film shot in five weeks on a shoestring budget,”Spamalot” is a lot of fun.
The musical comedy provides a nearly magical translation of the insanity of the Flying Circus to a language better understood by nearly all. It’s essentially Python-lite for the whole family, provided the kids are 12 or older.
The play’s title comes from a line in “The Holy Grail”: “We eat ham and jam and Spam a lot.” Like the movie, the play is loosely based on the legendary tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
The show sports a fantastic cast with John O’Hurley (of “Seinfield,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “Chicago”)
as a bumbling but loveable King Arthur. The pacing is near spot
on. The use of old Monty Python-style
cartoon scenery and the voice of John Cleese are welcome flashbacks to Python’s halcyon days.
“Spamalot” is likely to appeal to just about everyone,hardcore Python fans as well as those who never got the British comedy troupe’s unique humor.
Some Python alums have said they don’t care for the homogenized Python of “Spamalot.” Nor do some critics, such as a New York Daily News reviewer who said it merely recycles the familiar and “encourages audiences to congratulate themselves for what it already knows, rather than experience anything fresh.”
There may be some truth in these criticisms. But I tend to side with former Flying Circus cofounder Cleese: “I defy anyone to go and not have a really fun evening.”
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Robert Palmer. Reviewer Palmer is a lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Irvine and an
arts buff.
