Spamalot: Difference between revisions

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|"All For One"}}
 
A 2005 [[The Musical|musical]] "lovingly ripped off" from ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', thus sharing many of the same tropes. Nominated for fourteen [[Tony AwardsAward]]s, of which it won three, including Best Musical. The original cast included [[Tim Curry]], [[Frasier|David Hyde Pierce]], [[Hank Azaria]], [[Grey's Anatomy|Sara Ramirez]], and [[Christopher Sieber]].
 
A 2023 revival came to Broadway, with James Monroe Iglehart as King Arthur, and Taran Killam as Lancelot.
 
The 'plot' is introduced by [[Interactive Narrator|the historian]], who gives an overview of the setting: medieval England. Naturally, the cast goes on to sing a song about Finland (also using the opportunity to perform the famous Fish-Slapping Dance). After this misunderstanding is cleared up, [[King Arthur]] and his servant Patsy arrive on the scene in search of knights for the round table. They promptly get into an argument about swallows with some French guards.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptational Badass]]:
** King Arthur gets to do a ''little'' bit more as the King. When Dennis the peasant refuses to believe that the Lady of the Lake is real and says that women tossing swords don't make for a stable form of government, King Arthur doesn't attack him. He instead asks Dennis to join his round table if Arthur can prove the lady is real. When Dennis agrees, King Arthur asks the Lady of the Lake to reveal herself, and she does.
** Sir Robin in the film ''almost'' stood up to the fierce Chicken of Bristol. In the musical, he actually slayed it. The 2023 revival goes further by showing he's the only knight that fares well against the French, by trapping the mime girl in a mime box.
* [[Affirmative Action Girl]]: The Lady of the Lake. The female characters in the movie are at most [[One-Scene Wonder]]s and the Lady of the Lake (though mentioned) didn't appear at all. Which makes her singing about her lack of stage time in the musical even funnier.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Patsy has a much larger role in the musical than he did in the movie, essentially replacing Bedevere as Arthur's constant companion.
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* [[Crowd Song]]: "Fisch Schlapping Dance".
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: In ''Holy Grail'', Bedevere was the only knight to make it to the end with King Arthur and led the witch trial. In ''Spamalot'', he doesn't even get his own recruitment scene, and his iconic helmet is missing until Act II.
* [[Everyone Hates Mimes]]: The 2023 revival features a mime among the French, who gives a silent interpretation of what she thinks the rabbit is. She also joins the French taunters on the fart trumpets before entering the fracas. Sir Robin has to stop her by trapping her within an invisible box.
* [[Evolving Music]]: The lyrics of "The Diva's Lament" -- in which the female lead mentions not having won any awards -- after the show did quite well at the Tony awards.
** The UK tour changes "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" to a song about needing stars, since [[You Have to Have Jews]] is a predominantly American trope, whereas in Britain most touring musical productions tend to have at least one soap opera actor/reality TV star/broadcast comedian in the cast.
** A tap dance sequence was added for Harry Groener during his Broadway run as King Arthur.
* [[Grail Quest]]: Being an adaptation of ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', ''Spamalot'' naturally features this. After Arthur spends the first act recruiting Knights for the Round Table and introducing them to Camelot, God intervenes and asks them to go on a quest to find the grail. Arthur determines that in addition to God's "missing mug," the grail is a symbol (cue cymbal crashing) of something they should pursue to make their life more fulfilling. In Arthur's case, he realizes that he wants the Lady of the Lake, who wants him as well. Sir Robin finds his calling is "musical theater" where he can sing and dance as he likes without soiling himself in fear. Lancelot gets the happiest ending, where he uncharacteristically is convinced to put down his weapons {{spoiler|to come out of the closet. He and Prince Herbert find each other, getting married}}. Act Two has Arthur and the Knights find a shrubbery and host a musical on Broadway for the Knights Who Say Ni, destroy the Killer Rabbit with a Holy Hand Grenade, and search the audience for the grail. They then award the audience member whose seat has the Grail under it with the title "Most Useful Peasant."
* [[Hard Gay]]: {{spoiler|Lancelot}}, who up until then gave no hints of his sexuality, and was unaware of it himself.
** ...[[All There in the Manual|unless you buy the more expensive playbook]], in which case his dream is explicitly stated to be to open an fabric store.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Musical]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Musical]]
[[Category:Theatrical Productions]]
[[Category:Matter of Britain]]