Spamalot (Pintello Comedy Theater)

Monty Python's Spamalot, playing Jan 6-22 at Pintello (Gilroy)

Directed by: Whitney Pintello

Cast: Dave Leon, Guillermo Morales, James Swan, CJ Patereau, Vaughn Mayer, Christy Wright, Michael Frelier, Matt Haluza, Michael Kaelin, Jacob Goller, Maddi Alipaz, Matt Regan, Shaelan Barber, Jennifer Willis, Jennifer Medeiros, Jessica Herrera, Jeff Patereau, Becky Owens and Maya King.

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The first show that we went to see this year was Monty Python’s Spamalot at Pintello Comedy Theater in Gilroy, part of their 20th anniversary season. [1/13/23]

About the show
The musical is a hysterical adaptation of the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The original 2005 Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, received 14 Tony Awards nominations, winning in three categories, including Best Musical.

Highlights
It was so much fun to see Guillermo Morales, as Patsy, King Arthur’s devoted manservant who bangs the coconuts together. Guillermo recently appeared in Limelight by SVCT’s production of The Outsider as Chief of Staff Dave Riley, and we’re excited to see him as this Spring as Sweeney Todd at SVCT (Apr 28-May 20)

Christy Wright, who had us all cracking up in The Outsider as Lulu, was utterly sparkling as the Lady of the Lake. Her songs were great — I loved that she had a troupe of Laker Girls to back her up, and she nailed it when she stormed back onstage to ask "Whatever Happened to My Part?" (“We’re half way through act 2 and I’ve had nothing yet to do!”)

Maya King was almost unrecognizable as Prince Herbert’s father and did a great job in the role!

The show is filled with funny lines that I remember friends flinging around in high school from the movie version, such as “Your Mother was a hamster & your Father smelt of elderberries,” “Bring me a shrubbery,” “It's only a flesh wound!", etc.

The show ended with an audience sing-a-long of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, a perfect way to end the show before the actors came out to hang out with the audience.

Looking back…
We had seen this show at Live Oak High School in 2018 (with Jenna Hernandez as King Arthur — which we thought was particularly fun since she had been the Red Queen in a production of Alice in Wonderland that we were involved in). That production was directed by Andrew Cummings.