Spamalot at Actors' Playhouse Through March 30

Spamalot, Eric Idle's delirious farrago based on his own Monty Python oeuvre, has the reputation, like Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, of being musical theater for people who don't necessarily attend musical theater. This assessment sidesteps the clever parodies of musicals ranging from Phantom of the Opera and...

By John Thomason

March 13, 2014

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Spamalot, Eric Idle's delirious farrago based on his own Monty Python oeuvre, has the reputation, like Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, of being musical theater for people who don't necessarily attend musical theater. This assessment sidesteps the clever parodies of musicals ranging from Phantom of the Opera and Fiddler on the Roof contained within Idle's mélange, but it speaks to the show's appeal to the Python shut-ins who can recite The Life of Brian verbatim, who pay exorbitant sums for out-of-print Flying Circus box sets, and who couldn't care less about Annie. Idle's satire of the Arthurian legend, which pilfers its narrative largely from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, has been a smash hit on the road-show circuit since winning three Tony Awards in the 2004-05 season. It's taken some eight years for Actors' Playhouse Artistic Director David Arisco to secure the rights for a regional production, and the wait is finally over. Gary Maracheck, who won a Carbonell Award for Actors' production of Les Misérables a few seasons back, will play King Arthur, joining a cast of South Florida favorites from Jim Ballard (Sir Lancelot) and Lindsey Forgey (Lady of the Lake) to Shane Tanner (Sir Galahad) and Wayne LeGette (Sir Bedevere). Be on the lookout for killer rabbits.

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