The Shallow End

Whoa, there!

So, when is a musical not about the music? When it's got Spam in it, I think. And obnoxious French people, and K-niggits, and Killer Rabbits, and coconuts, and Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies. That's when.

Well, that was fun. I wondered if the movie would translate well to a musical, you know, the way a book almost never translates well to a movie. I worried that I wouldn't recognize my favorite parts or that they would be mutilated in some Pythonesque way, but the thing is, mutilation is part of it and Eric Idle is sheer genius. Favorite parts were still there. Yes, even the Black Knight, who managed to sing and dance his way through the scene in the Very Expensive Forest without his limbs, with "it's just a flesh wound" bravery. The opening scenes nearly followed the movie word for word, while later scenes were modified with timely and hilarious additions. The Lady of the Lake was drop dead gorgeous and completely out of sync with everything else that was going on, in true Python fashion, proving that indeed, "strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government." The Killer Rabbit scene is wonderfully done and when the brave knight's head flew across the floor, the audience erupted in laughter. By the end of this brilliant musical, I was beginning to doubt that I knew where the movie ended and the musical began.

There were a couple scenes I could have lived without (like when Sir Lancelot falls in love with and marries Prince Herbert, for example) and as Jen said, the use of Jesus' name as an epithet was uncalled for, but then nobody was billing this as a reverential Biblical search for the Holy Grail. There is nothing Holy about this musical. It is fundamentally irreverent. That's not usually a good thing. But then, this is mostly about Man's stupidity when it comes to matters such as class and making choices, and that's something worth examining.

I'm pretty sure that the musical does not translate well to a book, or a blog post for that matter. And I don't want to spoil it for the rest of you. Go see it for yourselves. It is one musical you don't want to miss!

And now I'm off to get my new DVD signed by Eric Idle himself. I happened to sit down in Borders just as they announce that Eric is here, HERE, to meet with the people! I had no idea. It's a very good day. :-)

posted by Gwynne @ 12:11 PM