The Best Thing About New York

I was recently in New York and saw some theatre. Since it's so costly, I decided to buy only half-price tickets, but there was still plenty available. (Avenue Q was only 35% off so that was out, though).

I finally caught Spamalot. It's a big hit (won the Tony for best musical) and has been playing for years. It's essentially Monty Python And The Holy Grail vastly rewritten with a lot of songs added. Eric Idle did the rewriting, so it's sort of like diluted Python. If anything, the play cares less about the plot than the movie does.

I certainly enjoyed it, but I'm not sure what to make of these musicals. By "these" I mean Broadway musicals based on classic comedies that didn't really need to be improved--and rewritten by the original writer. The other obvious example is The Producers. I see the shows and enjoy them, but realize the original is better, and already know half the jokes I'm about to see.

Also, the songs don't make up a "real" score that you'd care about on its own, but a bunch of passable tunes and lyrics done by the original guys who aren't trained songwriters (with a little help). The thing is, in the movies, like The Producers or Young Frankenstein (soon to open on Broadway) or Holy Grail or Life Of Brian, the songs tend to come out of nowhere and are delightful and bizarre at the same time. Having a whole score of such stuff isn't the same things.

Mike Nichols directed Spamalot and had a hand in editing the script so it would work on Broadway, even with--essentially--no story (by the middle of the second act they stop searching for the Grail and start looking for Jews, since their new quest is to put on a Broadway musical--the song about how you need Jews for musicals echoes the "Keep It Gay" number in The Producers about the other necessary ingredient).

I'd recommend Spamalot, but it's not nearly as magical as Monty Python straight.

The other show I saw was delightful. Maybe it helped I was a little worried about the premise. It's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The title pretty much says what it is.

The score is by the awarding-winning William Finn, who wrote March Of The Falsettos (which I didn't like that much). Anyway, the auditorium is set up like a high school gym, and the plot is mostly about six nerdy kids trying to win a spelling bee (what did I tell you?).

They spell a lot of words in the show, which is fun, since you can see if you'd get them right (and many of the funniest lines are when the Vice Principal reads the definitions of the words and uses them in a sentence). But they also all have songs that tell about themselves and their often messed-up lives.

Adding to the fun--it's a stunt, but one that fits in with the show--they invite four people from the audience to participate in the bee. They actually get real words and keep playing until they're eliminated. (The words get hard enough so that no one could stay up there too long).

Like many modern shows, there's no intermission. I guess this is okay, since movies don't have intermissions, but I like the old style of musical. Actually, Spamalot doesn't quite fit the old style, either, which was a long first act--60 to 90 minutes--and a shorter second act--45 to 60 minutes. If anything, Spamalot's second act is a bit longer than the first (and it does start to drag a little toward the end--by the way, they also have audience participation where they (spoiler) find the grail under someone's seat--they invite the guy up onstage and take his picture with the cast).

Spelling Bee is about an hour and forty five minutes. (Part of the timing depends on how long the audience participation lasts). It also drags a bit near the end, but still works.

I was told to check out Grey Gardens but didn't get the chance. I now regret it because the cast looks pretty good and the show just closed (because of people like me who put it too far down on their list).