Review: Davis Musical Theater Company’s Spamalot

The Davis Musical Theater Company traces King Arthur’s search for the holy grail in Spamalot: two hours of nothing but cheap shots, fart jokes and lowbrow humor based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The devoted audience loved it.

The Historian (Steven O’Shea) sets the scene with the precision of a weatherman, recounting where in the country there is a plague (“a 50 percent chance of pestilence and famine coming out of the Northeast at twelve miles per hour.”)

Following his announcement that this is “England,” the stage is, of course, filled with brightly costumed dancers singing about Finland and hitting each other with fish in the delightful “Finland/Fisch Schlapping Dance,” until the historian reminds them that it is England, whereupon they leave the stage, disappointed.

The real story begins with the entrance of Arthur (Scott Minor), who announces his search for knights for his Round Table, with the assistance of sidekick Patsy (Tomas Eredia). They encounter ridiculous setbacks along the way, riding nonexistent horses and using coconuts to make the noise of the clopping hoofbeats.

Python fans won’t be disappointed—typical Python gags are there: the Knights of Ni, Not Dead Fred, sirs Lancelot, Robin and Dennis Galahad and the Lady of the Lake, the diva of the piece.

It all ends with a community song of “The Bright Side of Life” and chuckles continue as the audience shuffles out into the parking lot.