Review | Back On Broadway, “Spamalot” Is Funnier Than Ever

Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave

NEW YORK – The beauty of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” is that it adheres so completely to the Aristotelian units of drama. What I mean by this is that there is only one fart joke.

And what a fart joke it is, in this delightfully, patently hilarious, two-hour walk onto the stage of the St. James Theater, where the musical had its official Broadway premiere on Thursday night. Brought from the annals of Pythonic ridiculousness to absurdly entertaining life, the gaseous riposte in question reflects an age-old rivalry between the French and British nations. So a Gallic guard on a castle wall, played with perfect goofy spice by Taran Killam, casts aspersions on the Anglo-Saxon knights below by exclaiming oh-so-pompously in French, “I fart in your general direction!”

Python lovers – many of whom run to the St. James these days – need no further instruction on the family tree of this famous broadside. To anyone else unschooled in the history of snooty Python insult humor, I say with mild disdain: Google it. (It’s the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”)

This new “Spamalot” arrives jazzed up, jazzed up and yes, even funnier than when it was due earlier this year at the Kennedy Center as part of its Broadway Center Stage series. Now that it’s actually taking center stage on Broadway, the John Du Prez revival of Python star Eric Idle’s Tony-winning musical brings joy to a land where laughter, laughter, giggles and giggles are scarce.

You’ll hear them all at St. James, where director and choreographer Josh Rhodes has assembled a crew of comic actors whose earnest goal is to elicit maximum laughter. Allow me to name the role of the clowns in King Arthur’s entourage, played with wonderful, bemused control by James Monroe Iglehart: there is Michael Urie as a knight who would rather sit at a table at Sardi’s than at the round table; Nik Walker, a Sir Galahad who sings the inevitable song in a musical like this; the glassy-eyed Christopher Fitzgerald, who plays poor, overlooked second banana Patsy; Ethan Slater, among others, as a farmer who is not yet dead; Jimmy Smagula, whose Sir Bedevere is both stupid and stupider; and Killam, a Lancelot who finds his true sexual self halfway through the forest.

Am I leaving anyone out? I don’t think so – oh, wait, yeah. The Lady of the Lake, an unbearable star in her own right, is played by the radiant Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer. It’s a role that requires both an energetic voice and the carnivorous gifts of a landscape actor. “Spamalot” found the woman for the job in Kritzer, whose rendition of “Diva’s Lament” in the second act gives her a sensational opportunity to show off her great Broadway sound and the lady’s larger Broadway ego. Brava Diva, Brava.

Eons have passed since the 1969 debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the invaluable British sketch comedy series performed by Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam. And it has been, if you can believe it, 18 years since the premiere of this musical, which is based on the Python belief that everything and everyone can be taken down a time or two. So it may be that you already consciously acknowledge the anarchy of the Pythons in order to get the most fun out of the show. Still, you don’t need a PhD in comedy to stay current.

Sharp. Funny. Pensive. Sign up for the Style Memo newsletter.

“Spamalot” is animated by a loving lack of respect for everything, including the time-honored conventions of the Broadway musical. Several jokes and numbers are lifted from other ventures, such as “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from the 1979 film “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” but the series’ best songs are inspired theatrical parodies. Among them: “The Song That Goes Like This” from Act 1, performed by Kritzer and Walker, and “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” from Act 2, which highlights the exceptional comedic talents of Urie, who could perform an entire musical comedy with his eyes.

Rhodes is the right director for the job; The jokes crackle and the production numbers shine. It all feels like it’s meant to take you to your happy place. The design elements — the sets and projections by Paul Tate dePoo III, the costumes by Jen Caprio, the lighting by Cory Pattak — are entirely satisfying improvements on their work at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in May. Fitzgerald, Slater and Killam, new to the production, fit in seamlessly. And music director John Bell and a 17-piece orchestra, supported by sound designers Kai Harada and Haley Parcher, make everything sound so good.

I remember the original 2005 production being a dizzying distraction. I laughed at the time. This time I roared. What a gift to share an exciting experience with truly funny people in difficult times.

Monty Python’s Spamalot, book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez. Direction and choreography: Josh Rhodes. Sets and projections, Paul Tate dePoo III; Music Director: John Bell; costumes, Jen Caprio; lighting, Cory Pattak; Sound: Kai Harada and Haley Parcher; Orchestrations, Larry Hochman. About 2 hours 20 minutes. At the St. James Theater, 246 W. 44th St., New York. spamalotthemusical.com.