by Stephanie Petrovick
Watch the video above to see some of the highlights from Spamalot!
Spamalot is a play made by the Monty Python troupe of comedians which was recently performed by the Drama Society. Spamalot is a retelling of the story of King Arthur, complete with collecting the knights of the round table and then setting off and trying to find the Holy Grail on the orders of God while singing, dancing, and making jokes. Arthur leads his knights through deadly challenges, defeating a killer rabbit, making it past French taunters, and outsmarting the Knights of Ni. The knights all have their own separate adventures, which reveal the love of Sir Robin for drama and acting, and the fact that Sir Lancelot is gay, among many other things. The play ends with finding the Holy Grail in the audience and King Arthur marrying Guinevere, the Lady of the Lake.
Character’s Funniest Quotes:
Garet Mildish (King Arthur): “A lot of them aren’t even lines, necessarily, they’re really just moments where I’m more reacting to other people. Probably when I’m reacting to the knights who say ‘ni,’ and it’s just in such a terrified way even though they’re just kind of absurd.”
Nayiri Bekiarian (Patsy): “Probably ‘What could they possibly do with a cow?’ because they throw a cow at me right after, and I die, but I come back to life real quick.”
Scott Kall (Sir Robin): “Most memorable line would probably be, for him, the title of his song, which is ‘You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.” Which I think is really memorable for him because it’s just him being a goofball. And it just leads into this hilarious song that he does all big and musical theater-y. But the other iconic line he has besides that song is when there’s a whole scene where God’s talking to them, and he’s talking about the grail. And he calls it the quail, and Arthur was like ‘No, the vessel they used at the last supper,’ and he’s [Robin’s] like ‘They had a boat at the last supper?’”
Buren Andrews (Sir Lancelot): “My favorite line is probably, ‘Leave him alone!’ Which is leading up to my coming out as a gay knight. The scene before that, Prince Herbert is kind of being harassed by his father, and I’ve sort of seen his father be a jerk to him the whole scene. And even though I come to save him and I realize he’s not a woman, I kind of brushed it off like, ‘Alright that’s not what I thought it was.’ But eventually it’s kind of like, ‘Okay this guy needs help.’ And I break apart him and his dad, who’s kind of trying to give him crap, and I just scream at the top of my lungs ‘LEAVE HIM ALONE!’ And it’s kind of like a monologue about how this guy just needs some love from his father, and that’s when my tender side comes out. And at the end [there’s] silence, and then his father’s like ‘My god, you’re gay’.”
Jack Snow (Dennis/Sir Galahad): “For Galahad, it would probably be that at one point, we’re talking to the French people and I say, “Oh the fiends! They don’t have an ounce of chivalry!” and that’s my favorite line.”
Zack Carme (Sir Bedevere): “My most memorable line would probably have to be when I say, ‘Oh dear!’ When I mess up the thing with the rabbit in the French taunter scene.”
Amanda Lattanzi: (Lady of the Lake/Guinevere): “There’s a line that’s talking about Lancelot, and it’s after Lancelot comes out as gay. There’s a scene with me and Arthur, and Arthur says, ‘I thought you were a fairy,’ and I say, ‘Oh no, that’s Lancelot.’ And yea, that’s probably the funniest thing I say.”
Most Challenging Parts:
Garet Mildish (King Arthur): “The most challenging part for me is how often I’m supposed to be relied on because I have never played such an important character before this. Before this I played a few minor characters in Producers, and I played a character who was there a few times but didn’t talk. So now I’ve got one of the biggest roles in the entire show, and it was a daunting task when I first saw it and it’s still a daunting task now.”
Nayiri Bekiarian (Patsy): “I think not laughing at certain parts on stage, like I’m trying to keep my cool.”
Scott Kall (Sir Robin): “This show is surprisingly exhausting. I feel like I am running around a lot more in this show than I have in any other previous show. We have two big numbers in a row in Act 1, and then we go into this like runaway sequence at the end of Act 1, and we’re running away and I feel like I’m so out of breath the whole time. It’s like, ‘I’ve gotta sing this really high note, and then hold it’ and then it’s like [gasping]. And then, during my big song in Act 2, it’s the same thing. And I feel like that’s been very challenging for me because I just need more stamina for this show than I usually do. For my character it’s probably the age thing because it’s like he is a 7 year old in a 40 year old’s body, and I kind of have to make him seem middle aged almost physicality-wise, [because] physically he’s not going to be a 7 year old. And it can be constricting sometimes, but at least with his young personality it seems like it doesn’t make a difference.”
Buren Andrews (Sir Lancelot): “My character has his moments but I’m definitely sort of a side character. And sometimes I’m on stage, but I don’t really have anything to do that’s integral to the plot, so often times I’m just kind of acting without saying anything. And that’s a challenge because when you’re interacting with other characters and just being in character in the moment, you kind of have to make up stuff that your character would do, say, gestures. And that’s kind of challenging sometimes. Also remembering the songs, dances, and lines in general is hard. I think the hardest thing honestly is not that but having faith that you can do that, because there’s a lot of anxiety that comes out of that, especially coming up on tech week. It always turns out fine, but it’s really hard to grasp that.”
Jack Snow (Dennis/Sir Galahad): “I think the most challenging part is just really going for it, which is something that I think is a challenge in any show you do, especially for me. I’m still pretty new at theater, so it’s just working up my comfort and forcing myself to really bring it to the level it needs to be at.”
Zack Carme (Sir Bedevere): “I’d say the most challenging part of the play is probably the sword fight I’m in with the Black Knight because there’s a lot of choreography and stuff that we have to do. It’s very complicated, and there’s a lot of machinery involved and things like that.”
Amanda Lattanzi: (Lady of the Lake/Guinevere): “The most challenging [part] for me, and the rest of the cast probably, is Camelot because every single person is on stage. There’s a ton of people, and some of the timing with the pit is kind of hard, so that’s probably the hardest part.”
Spamalot Quiz:
Click the link below to take the quiz and see what Spamalot character you are!
