A Review

Jolly Good Fun

By R. J. Donovan

Monty Python's "Spamalot" has returned to town for a quick run at The Colonial, bringing with it the prerequisite killer rabbits, flying cows, Knights of Ni, and, of course, King Arthur and his quirky band of pals.

A unbashed rip-off (their words, not mine) of the comedy, "Monty Python and The Holy Grail," the show incorporates lots of Python trademarks from the original film along with some added elements to fill in the holes.

This is silliness personified, loaded with sight gags, horrible puns and the trademark irreverent humor. Python fans will be in seventh heaven.

But is membership in the Python club required to enjoy it? Not really. The show is still cleverly written (book and lyrics are from Eric Idle with music from Idle and John Du Prez). However, if you're not totally familiar with all things Python, you may find yourself a bit puzzled when the audience erupts into wild applause at the mere appearance of certain characters.

Sewn together from some of the Python's best bits, the plot finds King Arthur in search of the Holy Grail. Unlike the film, he ultimately winds up steering a gigantic musical towards a thing called Broadway -- something which, in days of yore, doesn't even exist yet, in a country which hasn’t even been discovered yet.

No matter. It all darts along, happily unaware of how ludicrous the whole thing is. For musical theater fans, the bonus is that it’s jammed with tongue-in-cheek references from Andrew Lloyd Webber and "Les Miz," to "West Side Story," "Phantom of the Opera," "Fiddler on the Roof" and others. And keeping things topical, the opening night crowd also got a few jokes about Hillary Clinton, Diane Wilkerson and folks not being properly vetted.

King Arthur is played by Broadway vet, Jonathan Handry (far left), who's appropriately lofty-yet-bewildered as the leader of the band. James Beaman is brave Sir Robin, who isn't. Ben Davis is the preening Sir Galahad, who'd love nothing more than to find a good wind machine to blow his hair in slow motion. And Christopher Sutton is the flowing Prince Herbert, longing to be found by love.

As Patsy, Arthur's sidekick, Brad Bradley (at left with Handry) combines long-suffering loyalty with an acceptance that his boss sometimes doesn't have a clue. He leads the company in the happy "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" ( lifted from “Month Python’s The Life of Brian”).

A sultry Lady of the Lake, played by Esther Stilwell, has been added to the plot to give the story a little sex. Aside from trumping the King at the end of the show, she’s very funny in the self-referential "The Diva’s Lament," which she sings in Act Two when she realizes she's been off-stage and out of the storyline for far too long.

However, the comic jewel of the cast is Matthew Greer as Lancelot. He plays a handful of other roles as well, but because of the costuming, I'm not sure the audience realized it was him returning again and again. He's great as the lovable and somewhat confused Lancelot, but he also plays Eric The Enchanter and is over-the-top hysterical as the insulting French Taunter.

Bottom line -- after being at it for many decades, Monty Python is still the Prime Minister of Silly.

"Spamalot" is at The Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, through November 23. For information, call 617-931-2787.

-- OnStage Boston

Production Photos: Joan Marcus