“What you are about to see is the result of 12 days work”.
Drew Anthony introduced the dress rehearsal for his latest production, Spamalot, explaining that this is the time frame he uses for all his shows. But it wasn’t meant as an excuse for inferiority or to lower our expectations; rather he was proud of the result. Indeed, what followed proved that, with a good show choice, an experienced team, enthusiasm, and genuine cast talent, it is phenomenal what quality can be achieved so quickly.
I was looking forward to my second dress rehearsal of a musical within the week. Given the short notice for tickets, the decent sized crowd on a Tuesday showed people were keen and the theatre did have a matching buzz of anticipation.
Spamalot was hilariously good. Slogans like “non-stop laughs” and “laugh out loud” get thrown around to describe funny shows, but with Spamalot the humour truly doesn’t fade throughout and I really was smiling from beginning to end.
For those of you like me, more in the generation whose parents watched Monty Python, Spamalot is a send-up of England, society, and even musicals. It is clever, made up of gag after gag filled with that painful, dry English humour and classic British insults like “twat” and “geezer”. It won the Tony award in 2005 for “Best Musical”, and irrespective of how familiar you are with the original TV show and movies, you will walk out smiling that, “Blyme! that was good!“
I still really enjoy the slightly different experience that the venue of Planet Royale offers. It’s relaxed; the staff are friendly; it’s big enough to have atmosphere but small enough that every seat is good; you can eat there and take your food into the show too, or of course there are heaps of options within a block around Northbridge. I still love dressing up for a more classic show evening elsewhere but this is a slightly evolved way of doing musical theatre that works.
Yet again, it feels wrong to name any particular member of the company as they were all sensational and, without exception, brought non-stop energy combined with the finest talent. The colour and dancing, the perfect singing, the outrageous accents (I’ll confess I couldn’t understand the French one 100% of the time) and the ability to do the comedy right was all impressive. The great costumes, and the trademark use of the massive LED screen for backdrops again worked well.
DAC has again produced a show with a quality and flair indistinguishable from the original Broadway version. I recommend you make a night of it and get your tickets to see King Arthur now!
