Snakes in My Spam

Strictly speaking, Spam is a cooked-meat product containing bits of many long-dead animals — pigs, chickens, turkeys, clumsy factory workers — jammed together and canned for the gastronomic pleasure of Hawaiians and normal people alike. Spamalot is not a dissimilar product. Part of former Monty Python member Eric Idle’s never-ending quest for money, it fits in nicely with his Master Plan and Long-Held Professional Ethic: Recycle old, not necessarily related bits of beloved Pythonisms and repackage them in shiny new wrappers to make old fans euphoric and drive young fans back to the source material.

Some people call this “synergy”; most former Pythons call it “dumbfuckery of the purest ray serene,” though only when speaking off the record. Whatever the word, everybody but Terry Jones agrees that Idle has brought the funny with Spamalot. As you most likely know, it’s a Tony Award-winning retelling of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, liberally spiced with pieces of The Life of Brian and parodies of assorted Broadway musicals. Hewing close to the original, Spamalot has attracted the love of critics and audiences, and now it’s coming to the Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. The show runs from March 4 through 9, and tickets cost $24 to $72.
March 4-9, 2008