Review: MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT Returns to Boston in Grand Style

Killer rabbits, flying cows, invisible galloping horses, and taunting Frenchmen aren’t found in the casts of too many Broadway shows, but in the musical comedy “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” at the Boch Center Wang Theatre through October 11, they are – where else? – front and center.

With music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle and book and lyrics by Idle, the original Broadway production at New York’s Shubert Theatre won three 2005 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. With the full title “Monty Python’s Spamalot: A Musical Lovingly Ripped Off from the Motion Picture ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’” the show pays homage to the 1975 film that starred the irreverent British comedy troupe of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

Directed by Mike Nichols, that production starred Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Christian Borle, and Tony Award-winning Worcester native Michael McGrath (“Nice Work If You Can Get It.”). A 2023 revival, with direction and choreography by Josh Rhodes, got its start at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of its Broadway Center Stage series before transferring to Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

Following two prior national tour stops in Boston at the Colonial Theatre in 2006 and 2008, the show has returned to the road after 18 years, in a North American tour based on its 2023 revival and again directed and choreographed by Rhodes, who clearly recognizes that when it comes to a Monty Python musical, no amount of high-kicking hilarity is too much.

Although based on characters and situations originally depicted in the classic movie, this touring production feels fresh – thanks in great measure to the fine work of Costume Designer Jen Caprio and scenic and projection designer Paul Tate dePoo III – and is very much its own entity. It is not a carbon copy of the original, and there is no mimicry in sight – just delightful gags, splashy musical numbers, and laughs too numerous to count. Something we could also use these days.

Telling the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, “Spamalot” features a chorus line of dancing divas and kooky knights in the court of King Arthur (a terrific Major Attaway), a ruler bewildered by the fact that people don’t take him seriously. Often a bit confused but ever cheerful, the king’s combined quest not only for the Holy Grail but also to put on a Broadway musical has left even his most loyal subjects questioning him.

It’s medieval England, after all, and King Arthur and his devoted manservant, Patsy (Blake Segal, always mugging but to great effect), are roaming the plague-ridden land – with Segal clapping coconut shells together to simulate the sound of horse’s hooves – looking for knights to join the King’s Vegas-style court at Camelot.

As Arthur tells peasant Dennis Galahad (Leo Roberts), he became king only after the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur, the sword destined to be bestowed upon the person fit to rule England. Dennis and his mum are political radicals, however, and exclaim that any king not duly elected by the people has no right to rule over them. To resolve the issue, Arthur enlists the help of the Lady of the Lake (Amanda Robles) and her “Laker Girls,” a squad of pom-pom flashing showgirls, to turn Dennis into Sir Galahad.

The full-voiced Robles stands out in her musical numbers – including her duet with Roberts, “The Song That Goes Like This” – and especially in her laugh-inducing act two “Diva’s Lament,” which finds her questioning why, after a strong start, she’s fallen away from the action.  

There’s a lot of talent onstage. Among those delivering the daffiness are Roberts as the preening Sir Galahad, Westwood native Chris Collins-Pisano as the clueless and closeted Sir Lancelot, Sean Bell as the frightened-of-his-own-shadow wannabe thespian Sir Robin, and Ellis C. Dawson III as the dim-bulb Sir Bedevere.

Despite their obvious challenges, the knights are charged with finding the Holy Grail by the “Almighty Knower-of-All-Things” – in a recording by an uncredited Steve Martin, following in the footsteps of John Cleese who lent his familiar voice to the original production – who misplaced it.

While on their quest, they’re taunted by the afore-mentioned killer rabbits and flatulent Frenchmen, whose off-putting condition is blamed on “people who eat Spam a lot.” Lancelot is the guest of honor at a disco-style coming-out bash, and Robin is emboldened enough to decide to mount a Broadway show, which, it turns out, they’re already appearing in, in upstate. Succeeding in midtown Manhattan requires something all-together different as the elaborate all-cast number “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” points out.

The silliness captures perfectly the daft world of Monty Python. Several local references don’t hurt either, as we proud Bostonians do love ourselves some Boston. At the show’s recent opening night, a local furniture chain’s commercial slogan quickly turned into a spirited call-and-response. The audience also responded heartily to act two’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” even though, as most of us will admit, that’s not something Bostonians can be guaranteed to do.

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