Spamalot

I went and saw Spamelot last week with my mom and I loved it. It was seriously cracking me up! Thanks to my mom’s season tickets, I’ve seen quite a few Broadway shows over the years, and this one was one of my favorites; this one, and the one with all the Trombones are probably my two favorites. I don’t remember the trombone one’s name. Anyway, Spamelot, which is based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is better than the movie. My favorite part was when the power hungry father is trying to talk his gay son into getting married. Whoever the actor was for the part of the gay son had hilarious mannerisms and body language, which made the funny dialogue even better. I’ll try to type out a piece of it, as I remember it.

Power Hungry Father (in a clenched fist growl): Don’t you understand that if you get married you’ll be king?
Gay Son (in a soft, high pitched, apologetic, drawl): But I don’t want to be king.
Power Hungry Father: But if you get married, we’ll double our lands!
Gay Son: But I don’t want land.
Power Hungry Father: And you’ll be rich!
Gay Son: But I don’t want to be rich.
Power Hungry Father: Well, what do you want?
Gay Son: (The lights change color as the son looks far out into an unseen distance) I want to sing! (And then he breaks into song at the utter disgust of the Father.)
Power Hungry Father: Oh stop that will you?!

It doesn’t sound that funny when you read it, but mix in this guy’s rapid elasticity and fluttering fingers and it was classic!

There is also a recurring song throughout the play, as there seems to be with all plays, that emphasizes the show’s underlying theme. This one had a punch line of “never fail, find your grail”. Through its overtly gushing attempts at inspiration, the show tries to convince the audience to play to its strengths, or find its individuals callings in life, or do what it enjoys, or however you want to label “it”. Something the gay son had obviously found. I like inspiration that encourages me to follow my heart, perhaps because I get tired of the world telling me of the mold I have to fit in to be successful, or perhaps because I find it exciting to get and follow that inspiration, even though others or even I may not understand it at first. But anyway, I found the show funny, entertaining, and inspiring. I recommend it.