“There were times when one would like to hang the whole human race and finish the farce.” – Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
“Do we know if King Arthur came a lot? Or, like, just the same as an average man, like about a tablespoon?” – Philomena Cunk
Somewhere between burning the whole thing to the ground and a joke about seminal fluids is Camelot as Monty Python understands it.
Through this weekend, the Monty Python stage musical SPAMALOT can be seen at the 5th Avenue Theatre. It was uproariously funny. It is probably the funniest play I have ever seen, which includes The Book of Mormon and The Producers (my favorite musical that is not Chicago).
One of my major regrets is that I had not watched more Monty Python throughout my life (and curse Netflix for letting the entire collection go elsewhere in 2024). My sense of humor is basically an amalgamation of Woody Allen movies from the seventies, Saturday Night Live during the nineties, and every dick and fart joke I heard during elementary and middle school. But one need not be an autodidact who taught themselves the Python programming language after committing every episode of Flying Circus to memory to enjoy SPAMALOT.
SPAMALOT is a hilarious retelling of the legend of King Arthur and Camelot, filtered through the highbrow-meets-lowbrow-but-British comedy style of the Monty Python troupe. Much of it was adapted from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with some other classic Python bits thrown in, not to mention a few only-in-the-Pacific-Northwest television references for the local crowd. Eric Idle gets full credit for the book and lyrics, collaborating with John Du Prez on the music.
Major Attaway plays King Arthur and he is particularly great. He is a fine comedic actor with a strong singing voice, and the entire ensemble is excellent. Most of the Arthurian characters are present, with a few liberties taken. The Lady of the Lake and the figure she is ultimately revealed to be are separate in Arthurian legend but combined into one in SPAMALOT. Galahad, who King Arthur calls a doubting Thomas, wants you to know that his real name is Dennis. We also see some obedience to the axiom established in The Producers: keep it gay.
There is a temptation to list (too) many of the funny gags and bits, though doing so feels like dropping spoilers. I had the same thought reviewing the latest Naked Gun movie. The funniest bit for me involved a Trojan Rabbit. I will not elaborate.
SPAMALOT was one joke after another and altogether a great night at the theater.
“Spamalot” is also what I call my inbox on the days before, during, and after Cyber Monday.
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Monty Python’s SPAMALOT can be seen at the Fifth Avenue Theatre through Sunday, February 15. Tickets and more info can be found here.
Photo Credit: Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman