What happens in Camelot, Stays in Camelot

Yesterday Tim and I, along with two other couples, ventured out to see Spamalot. And there was great rejoicing! I have thought it numerous times, and voiced it several, but I will say it again for the record: Eric Idle is a comedic genius.

We had 2nd row balcony seats (which are actually closer in than most of the Mezzanine and half of the orchestra, just higher up) and the view was great. Dead center seats gave us a fantastic sight line for everything. The trek down to the seats was not without calamity, however, as one in our party (not me) tripped on the very steep steps and, had it not been for some quick reactions all around, it might have been worse. As it is, we think she only broke her toe. (Only being relative, I imagine it hurt plenty.) Then some yahoo who was in the front row of the balcony came in from the second row and was going to step down to get to his seat (stepping on/over the seats) rather than asking the couple on the aisle in the front row to move, and he stepped on the railing and nearly toppled over the edge, causing heart palpatations for all in our party. (Later it seems he turned out to be a real dinkus, however, leaning this way and that and blocking the view of another in our party, causing the idle comment to be made that perhaps it wouldn't have been a major tragedy had his seat acquisition gone otherly.) As we waited for the beginning of the show, we flipped through the playbill, getting quite a kick out of the Norwegian play - complete with humorous cast bios - that came before the true Spamalot information. Clearly a clever take on the play version of the credits to the Holy Grail (a moose once bit my sister, and so forth). This was made even more humorous by the fact that the older couple sitting on the other side of Tim apparently thought it was real and were discussing:
1) the lack of any date information for when it would be showing, and
2) whether they should go see it and do you think they would have surtitles like at the Opera.

Much hilarity ensued. At least amongst our little group. I believe they eventually figured it out.

The play itself was brilliant. There was a perfect mix of scenes stolen almost word for word from the film and new material to accompany it or add a little extra something to it. The French Knight was hillarious and took the taunting to new levels of taunting (definitely not kid friendly, but hillarious none the less.)

The Lady of the Lake was by far our favorite addition to the show. I imagine some of that is owing to the incredible actress who played her but lots is also owing to the part itself being a gret addition to the story. My favorite of her songs was "What Happened to My Part?" Where, in the middle of Act II and she has not had any scenes, she comes out in her dressing gown to bemoan the fact that she's one unhappy diva. Priceless. Also incredibly enjoyable was the Denis to Galahad conversion with the Lady of the Lake and the Laker Girls. The Laker Girls bit was hillarious - espeically when they went into the true cheerleading routine bits. Too funny.

Other favorites included:
-The various homages to other Broadway musicals. I caught West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Fiddler on the Roof. There might have been others, but those stood out.
-The Symbol and Hey jokes (just quick, easy little puns, but so well timed and executed you couldn't help but find them hillarious)
-The fact that the Camelot castle was the Excalibur Casino from Las Vegas (complete with multicolored turrets) and that they were, in fact, told that "what happens in Camelot, stays in Camelot." (Humerous aside, there is a church near my house that had "What happens in Vegas, I still see." -- God on the sign out front for a few weeks.)
-The clever staging of the Black Knight and the killer rabbit
-Robin's minstrels

The Knights Who Say Ni added a very timely and hillarious addition (I'm assuming for our matinee only as that's when it would have been relevant) when they changed from Ni to the iki iki etc. At the end, he tacked on "Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll!!! Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllll! Gooooooooaaaaaaallllllllllllll!!!" then turned to face the audience and said, "It's tied 1-1 at the half, by the way." Too funny.

In all, it was an experience well worth the price of admission and I highly recommend you go see it if you have the opportunity. Much fun was had by all. (And yes, we are now the proud owners of a Rabbit With Enormous Teeth puppet.)