Distance: 5 Miles
Finally got to 'Spamalot' - and....well, I wanted to like it better because I loved Monty Python 'in the day.'
Definitely clever (I'll say!), well-written, cheeky and more. Definitely true blue Monty Python. But there was a zing missing. Realistically I think Python is meant to be taken in small doses - like the original show. Just when you were laughing uproariously at the Minister of Silly Walks or the Dead Parrot, the skit was over. It left you wanting more, but they were on to the next skit. And that's what contributed to the outrageous fun of it all. What!? No More!?? I can't believe you just said/did those things! I want more!!!
But a couple of hours of a Python story loses the edge. Guiltily I felt that way about Life of Brian years ago. I loved it at first but then got kind of bored as the movie went on. Also, back to Spamalot today, farts, gays, the English are all kind of out by now. The expose factor isn't.
On top of this for me is, frankly, theater in San Francisco. Since seeing what I believe was the very first staging of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in San Francisco in 1963 - which was Fabulous! - I've never felt satisfied with San Francisco theater. It always falls flat somehow. Maybe it is as simple as San Francisco not being Broadway. Broadway in and of itself lends a presence, an ooph, that apparently can't be taken out of Times Square.
It didn't help that Spamalot today was acted and sung to recorded music. The difference between that canned energy and a live orchestra is essentially the whole difference.
Anyway, I'm glad I got to see it and have the opportunity to form my own opinion. It was enjoyable and a great excuse for a walk on a sunny, crisp Wednesday afternoon.
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