We went to see Monty Python's Spamalot yesterday. I've only been wanting to see it since I heard about their plans back in...2004? Earlier? Anyway, a very long time. I always thought that if you were lucky enough to get tickets, they would be crap, but we were in row P (stalls), at the very end of the row, and could see everything very clearly. Unfortunately we were placed right in front of The Loudest And Most Frequently Laughing Person In The Auditorium. I'm serious, that's the worst laugh I have ever heard. It was piercing, and we missed about a third of all the puns and songs because she was laughing so hard. Luckily I know the story back to front and back again, and have owned and listened to the CD for a couple of years (not continuously, obviously), but it's still annoying when you've booked tickets months in advance and been looking forward to seeing it for so long and then someone like that ruins much of the experience.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend the show, in case you don't trust all the other thousands out there who say the exact same thing. At the moment the winner of that Swedish talent show à la How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, Nina Söderquist, is playing The Lady of the Lake in the show and we were very impressed! I was worried it was going to be embarrassing for all of Scandinavia, but she wasn't even close to ABBA (which is a good thing, accent-wise). And Alan Dale (anyone having watched Neighbours, The O.C., 24, Lost, The West Wing and Ugly Betty will/should know who he is) is playing King Arthur at the moment. Let's just say he probably wasn't hired for his amazing dancing and singing skills, but he was entertaining to watch and there's always that added "star quality" which counts for quite a lot. Plus, the addition of an Australian always ups the ante in my view. ;-)

Looking through the programme (oh, and you MUST buy the souvenir programme, it's the best and most content-filled programme I have ever seen), I finally discovered the name of that guy I saw playing Miles Gloriosus on my second visit to the NT in 2004 to see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. At the time I was too upset over the fact that I wasn't going to see Philip Quast playing that part ever again, and so never really noticed his name (Graham MacDuff, by the way; he plays Sir Dennis here in London at the moment.)

Brain attack: Whatever happened to Scooch, those plucky flight attendant wannabes we sent to Helsinki last year to represent us (dismally) in the Eurovision Song Contest? Hmmm... (yes, I am listening through all the songs from last year's contest and am increasingly impressed with the tunes--2007 was a good Eurosong year in my opinion, even though I didn't agree with the winning song.)

After yesterday's Spamalot I realised it's been a long time since I last saw any Monty Python films. There was a time when I watched them every few weeks, then down to every few months, and now perhaps once every three years! Of course, I know them extremely well, since I not only watched them repeatedly when I was in my teens, but used to listen to them on my cassette player (great way to learn English, by the way.) Still, I must admit I had forgotten quite a few funny things about Monty Python and the Holy Grail and am "afraid" I shall have to re-watch it again in the very near future. Will probably also have to deal with the current influx of Marcello Mastroianni films into my collection (thanks, Aug!) during my next few days off. Better not make any plans; I'll just end up staring at the wall for three days instead.

Edit: OK, it seems Alan Dale may be a New Zealander. Still an antipodean, though.

Labels: comedy, film, Monty Python, music, musicals, philip quast, theatre, TV