(no subject)

[vintage_belle]

I'm totally serious about this, too. It really is the absolute best thing I've seen in ages. I spent both acts practically dying in my seat from laughter from beginning to end. And then some. Eric Idle, who is the mastermind behind the musical, wrote the lyrics to the songs and created an entire "Finnish" playbill in keeping with the old movie "subtitled" credits. Mike Nichols, the director, did a fucking fantastic job of keeping with the old spirit of total silliness that the movie provided, and yet brings it masterfully to Broadway. The best thing about the show, really, isn't the new stuff that was added (there is now a Lady of the Lake, who's got a gorgeous voice), but the parallels between the movie and the musical. So much of the movie was preserved (the first act is practically the movie, the second uses parts of it, but deviates a lot) and used, and the audience knew it - the whole place went up in cheers and applause at the start of every familiar sequence or appearance of a character. And the actors on stage play multiple characters, like they did in the movie.

Which brings us to the cast.

Tim Curry is King Arthur. That alone should be enough to make you see it. He's absolutely hysterical. And he still has his faithful Patsy, who still gets crushed by a cow flung over the walls of the French castle.

Hank Azaria (of The Simpson's fame) has taken up the roles of: Sir Lancelot (the homicidally brave), The French Taunter, Knight of Ni (the one who talks - during which he does various impressions, including most of the voices he does for The Simpson's), and Tim the Enchanter. He also takes on the role of the man trying to pass off the "not dead yet" man onto the Dead Collector.

David Hyde Pierce is now the Dead Collector, Sir Robin (the not-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot), and Brother Maynard.

Christopher Seiber plays Sir Dennis Galahad (yes, a combination of Dennis and Sir Galahad), The Black Knight (Hank Azaria couldn't be everywhere at once to take on all of John Cleese's roles), and Prince Herbert's Father.

Steve Rosen is Dennis' Mother, Sir Bedevere, and Concord. I'd have to say that the only thing that pissed me off is that there was no "Witch" sequence. That was Bedevere's best moment! He didn't even get to say "And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped". Bugger.

John Cleese is the only Python to migrate from the movie to the musical. He is now God. But we already knew that.