THE SHOW
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical "lovingly ripped-off" from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It tells the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table and their search for the holy grail. The show opened on Broadway in 2005 winning Tony Awards for Best Musical, then it opened on the West End at the Palace Theatre from 2006-2009. Followed in May 2010 was the UK Tour which is still playing (as of January 2011) and is the source of this cast album.
THE CAST
I have seen the UK Tour version of Spamalot when it came to York in November 2010. Marcus Brigstocke was our King Arthur there and also on this recording and I believe that he did a decent job though he lacked a certain "King Arthur" quality that Tim Curry brought to the role on Broadway.
When I saw the show on tour, the Lady of the Lake was played by another actress called Amy Nuttall, on the recording it is Jodie Prenger. She was nowhere near as good as Sara Ramirez. Her comedic timing isn't as good and she seems to always avoid the many high notes that was sung by Sara in the Original Broadway Cast Recording, making it seem that she was playing it safe. She was quite disappointing especially in big numbers like 'Find Your Grail' and 'Diva's Lament'. She was probably the weakest link on the whole CD.
Todd Carty is Patsy and he is very good both on this recording and when I saw him live. The rest of the knights includes Simon Lipkin (Sir Galahad), Samuel Holmes (Sir Robin), Graham Macduff (Sir Lancelot), Robin Armstrong (Sir Bedevere) and David Langham (Prince Herbert). They all were very good and funny. I really enjoy David Langham's hilarious performance as Prince Herbert and the Historian but I feel that his performance doesn't come across well on the CD. Simon Lipkin was very similar to Christopher Sieber and he was also very funny as the other small roles he played. His 'The Song That Goes Like This' is lovely. The ensemble was reduced to 4 people which makes the chorus rather weak comparing to the Original Broadway Cast Recording.
THE SONGS
There were quite some changes in the lyrics to the songs here, probably to keep things up-to-date and more suited for the British audience like the changing of Britney Spears to Cheryl Cole in 'Diva's Lament'. The biggest change is the total transformation of 'You Won't Succeed on Broadway' to what is now called 'Star Song', changing from finding Jews to finding a 'Star' instead leading to the inclusion of Ozzie Osbourne, Susan Boyle, X Factor and more. It was a good production number but I'm not exactly sure whether this was a good call because I quite enjoy the older version and the jewish bottle dance would be hilarious here. I also don't get why they'd change the lyric from 'You're standing on my toes" to "There's something on your nose" during 'The Song That Goes Like This'. But I guess if you would like to have an updated lyrics of the show, you might be interested in getting this.
THE ALBUM
Like most UK Cast albums lately, this album is a live recording of the performance at Churchill Theatre in Bromley in June 2010. Therefore, it contains the audience laughs and cheers and applause. To me, I like this because it makes you feel that you were really there and it really adds to the energy of the album but I know that to some, this could be annoying. So I leave you to choose that. The album is just over 51 minutes long which is actually slightly longer than the Original Broadway Cast which is just over 47 minutes. It contains more dialogue between and during songs and includes many little parts that was cut from the Original Broadway Cast like Arthur King of the Britons and Arthur's monologue before the Laker Girls Cheer. It comes with a colorful booklet full of production photos, track list, cast & crew list and photos, a note from co-composer and album producer, John Du Prez. Unfortunately, the booklet doesn't contain lyrics to the song.
THE CONCLUSION
Overall, this is a lovely cast album which is enjoyable to listen to but unfortunately not a great one. If you haven't owned any Spamalot album, I'd suggest you to go for the Original Broadway Cast first just to hear great performances by Tim Curry and Sara Ramirez. However, if you're a Spamalot fan, you'd want to have this for the 'new' song and its more dialogue.
TRACK LIST
1. Overture/Historian's Introduction to Act I
2. Fisch Schlapping Song/Finland
3. Monks Chant/Arthur King of the Britons
4. I Am Not Dead Yet/Playoff
5. Come With Me
6. Laker Girls Cheer
7. The Song That Goes Like This
8. All for One
9. Knights of the Round Table/The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)
10. Find Your Grail
11. Run Away
12. Historian's Introduction to Act II
13. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
14. Brave Sir Robin
15. Star Song
16. Whatever Happened to My Part (Diva's Lament)
17. Where Are You?
18. His Name Is Lancelot
19. I'm All Alone
20. Twice in Every Show
21. Finale
22. Bright Side Bows/Exit Music
CAST
Marcus Brigstocke - King Arthur
Jodie Prenger - The Lady of the Lake
Todd Carty - Patsy
Robin Armstrong - Sir Bedevere/Denis's Mother/Concorde/Guard
Samuel Holmes - Sir Robin/Mayor
David Langham - Prince Herbert/Historian/Not Dead Fred/Minstrel
Simon Lipkin - Sir Galahad/The Black Knight/Prince Herbert's Father
Graham Macduff - Sir Lancelot/The French Taunter/Knight of Ni/Tim: The Enchanter
ENSEMBLE: Philip Catchpole, Rachel Knowles, Kit Orton, Amy Papa
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