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Wednesday, 14 June 2006 01:04 pm
"What happens in Camelot stays in Camelot"
I have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail all of once, at age 12 or 13. It was my introduction to Monty Python, and I seem to have remembered most of it (my selective memory is good with movies). As funny as it was, I thought the ending bogged it down, and even back then, I didn't care for much of the violent portions. That's right: little spurts of orange "blood" greatly diminish the humor for me.
Six years ago, I saw Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python, comprised mainly of sketches I had already seen and songs I had already heard performed by the original cast, either by watching the TV series or by playing the barely playable computer game mishmash Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time. The unfamiliar parts of the stage performance alerted me to the fact that Idle was still creative, and now a little freer to swear and involve actual women. It was nice to have an evening of Python humor with very little violence, altho the virtual absence of animation was kind of a letdown.
So last night, I attended the local off-Broadway production of Spamalot with my family, fearing that I might have lost my taste for such fare. It's true that I wasn't among the many who cheered when they sensed the start of a particular scene. The familiar jokes -- and one familiar number from outside the movie -- didn't get me to laugh anew, masterful as they were.
Fortunately, Idle's adaptation of the script fully expected some audience members of my ilk. Very judicious in what it kept, omitted, and reinterpreted, the musical took on a distinct life. Part of that came from its self-awareness as a too-big-for-TV musical. So this is what the Pythonian approach does with an actual, you know, budget! I've said before that spoofing the genre is rather old hat, but spoofing it the Python way is nothing to blow your nose at. There was a line near the end about breaking the fourth wall, but I'd say that any such wall had long been pulverized by then. The ending was ludicrously happy, which puts it leagues above the movie ending IMO. The violence was reduced (plenty of not-dead-yets) and made even less convincing. Signature artwork and animation sprung up here and there to satisfying effect. They even incorporated a fair amount of Jewish humor for a change.
Some viewers might complain that the result is too homogenized, Americanized, positivized -- sorta like how many reacted to last year's movie rendition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But there's really very little I'd want differently. It's a smash all around.
EDIT: Oops, I misused the term "off-Broadway." I had taken it to refer to a play that started on Broadway but is now touring outside of New York.
Six years ago, I saw Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python, comprised mainly of sketches I had already seen and songs I had already heard performed by the original cast, either by watching the TV series or by playing the barely playable computer game mishmash Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time. The unfamiliar parts of the stage performance alerted me to the fact that Idle was still creative, and now a little freer to swear and involve actual women. It was nice to have an evening of Python humor with very little violence, altho the virtual absence of animation was kind of a letdown.
So last night, I attended the local off-Broadway production of Spamalot with my family, fearing that I might have lost my taste for such fare. It's true that I wasn't among the many who cheered when they sensed the start of a particular scene. The familiar jokes -- and one familiar number from outside the movie -- didn't get me to laugh anew, masterful as they were.
Fortunately, Idle's adaptation of the script fully expected some audience members of my ilk. Very judicious in what it kept, omitted, and reinterpreted, the musical took on a distinct life. Part of that came from its self-awareness as a too-big-for-TV musical. So this is what the Pythonian approach does with an actual, you know, budget! I've said before that spoofing the genre is rather old hat, but spoofing it the Python way is nothing to blow your nose at. There was a line near the end about breaking the fourth wall, but I'd say that any such wall had long been pulverized by then. The ending was ludicrously happy, which puts it leagues above the movie ending IMO. The violence was reduced (plenty of not-dead-yets) and made even less convincing. Signature artwork and animation sprung up here and there to satisfying effect. They even incorporated a fair amount of Jewish humor for a change.
Some viewers might complain that the result is too homogenized, Americanized, positivized -- sorta like how many reacted to last year's movie rendition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But there's really very little I'd want differently. It's a smash all around.
EDIT: Oops, I misused the term "off-Broadway." I had taken it to refer to a play that started on Broadway but is now touring outside of New York.
