SPAMalot! The Musical

I was fortunate enough to secure tickets to Monty Python's SPAMalot in Chicago last week. It's a musical version of Monty Python's the Holy Grail, written by Eric Idle. This was a fantastic production - I've never laughed so hard during a musical! The show is world premiering in Chicago, getting ready to go to Broadway in February. According to the usher near us, the show is constantly changing based on audience reaction. Unfortunately, our "limited view" seats were even more limited by the castle walls built on the proscenium, still we had a lot of fun.

The cast featured Tim Curry as King Arthur, Hank Azaria as Lancelot and rude frenchman on top of the castle, and David Hyde-Pierce as an apt Sir Robin. The show had so many references to Monty Python sketches that I lost count, and even worked in the ever popular "Look at the Bright Side of Life" from Life of Brian as a singalong! The female roles were beefed up quite a lot - the Lady of the Lake/Guinievier/Cow was fabulous. John Cleese even had a cameo as the voice of God.

One thing that was surprising was that from our limited view seats we had a full view of off-stage-left, and apparently these professional actors had never been told about two basic rules of theater: 1) be in character the moment you step backstage 2) if you can see the audience, they can see you. So, I got to see several ensemble members getting into costume (usually as monks, which were played by women) and joking around with someone backstage. The program for the show was also a bit disappointing, as almost all bios were a very dry read of every role each actor had ever played and where. The two notable exceptions were the bios of Monty Python, Eric Idle and Brad Bradley (a former theater bathroom cleaner ;-).

SPAMalot! The Musical

I was fortunate enough to secure tickets to Monty Python's SPAMalot in Chicago last week. It's a musical version of Monty Python's the Holy Grail, written by Eric Idle. This was a fantastic production - I've never laughed so hard during a musical! The show is world premiering in Chicago, getting ready to go to Broadway in February. According to the usher near us, the show is constantly changing based on audience reaction. Unfortunately, our "limited view" seats were even more limited by the castle walls built on the proscenium, still we had a lot of fun.

The cast featured Tim Curry as King Arthur, Hank Azaria as Lancelot and rude frenchman on top of the castle, and David Hyde-Pierce as an apt Sir Robin. The show had so many references to Monty Python sketches that I lost count, and even worked in the ever popular "Look at the Bright Side of Life" from Life of Brian as a singalong! The female roles were beefed up quite a lot - the Lady of the Lake/Guinievier/Cow was fabulous. John Cleese even had a cameo as the voice of God.

One thing that was surprising was that from our limited view seats we had a full view of off-stage-left, and apparently these professional actors had never been told about two basic rules of theater: 1) be in character the moment you step backstage 2) if you can see the audience, they can see you. So, I got to see several ensemble members getting into costume (usually as monks, which were played by women) and joking around with someone backstage. The program for the show was also a bit disappointing, as almost all bios were a very dry read of every role each actor had ever played and where. The two notable exceptions were the bios of Monty Python, Eric Idle and Brad Bradley (a former theater bathroom cleaner ;-).

Quiet...

It's finally quieting down around here for the holidays. I hope to be able to catch up on email over the next couple of days. My inbox has essentially exploded recently - I'm up to 1400 unread messages! Nevermind my personal email. I've been unsubscribing myself from several aliases, because I just don't have time to keep up. I can't even think about netnews anymore. *ugh*

Not So Silent Night

Made it to Live 105's Not So Silent Night this year (finally!) on Friday night. Show was great! We missed the local band and Taking Back Sunday, but got there in time to catch a great set from Muse. The Killers had some serious sound issues - it was all kick drum! They sounded much better from outside than they did inside the pavilion - I couldn't stand listening to them, even with my ear plugs in. Franz Ferdinand was outstanding - very high energy. There was an amazing impromptu set from Lyrics Born - it's always very impressive when a rapper manages to sound better live than they do produced. Modest Mouse was disappointing. MM just couldn't get their act together - huge delays between each song, dragging the show to a halt. I would've loved to have heard some of their less mainstream stuff, but they didn't seem to get to it before I got bored and left.

Now I've just got to wade through the thousands of new email messages I have - and that's just at work!

Status

In response to some recent comments... No, Martin, I have not learned to juggle yet, though Tobin took your lessons to heart and is quite good now. I think he's ready for fire. Nobody had a camera to capture my cat in the office, but she'll be back I'm sure. And yes, I'll take a beer if I ever make it to Amsterdam. ;-)

Work on solaris10_update1 is moving steadily forward and is keeping me busy. We haven't opened our gate yet, which is when the real excitement begins!

*whew*

Big River at West Valley closed this weekend - I will now have my weekends free! It was a great show, an outstanding cast & crew and just lots of fun. That will be my last theater endeavor for awhile now, since my tasks on Solaris 10, Update 1 are ramping up fast. I expect that I will have many late nights ahead of me, which will make it impossible to rehearse for another show.

Cats

So, where would a cat be happier: in an apartment where the carpet was being cleaned, or with me in my office. I guessed in my office, and it seems to be a good bet so far. This is her second day here, as the carpet cleaners failed to show up yesterday. Since cats do mostly sleep all day, it probably doesn't matter where she is.