The new Broadway revival of Spamalot has critics singing. Paying homage to the classic jokes from the film and original production, but allowing this excellent cast to update, ad lib and chew the scenery, director and choreographer Josh Rhodes has created a delightful revival that’ll appeal to newcomers and hardcore Monty Python fanatics alike.
New York Times Review of Spamalot
Though uttering the same lines as Idle did in the movie, and as David Hyde Pierce did in the 2005 production, Michael Urie as Robin puts a differently delightful comic spin on them. Throughout, Rhodes has encouraged the cast to personalize the material and, in many cases, enhance it. … Unless, that is, you are very sensitive about your addled divas in sparkly gowns. Among a cast of performers unafraid to chew scenery, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, as the Lady of the Lake, that “watery tart” who “lobbed a scimitar” at Arthur, is the top masticator. In some hilarious head space between Liza Minnelli and Celine Dion, scatting, belting and muttering private thoughts — including, on the night I saw it, ad-libs about Patti LuPone and Ozempic — she essentially steals the show despite her frequent absences from it.
The Daily Beast Review of Spamalot
Spamalot, first seen on Broadway in 2005,is back—and the good news is the really good silly bits of this parody of Arthurian legend are just as good-silly as they always were. But the bits that felt dated have only become more dated. … The show’s gentler, dumber humor is its most winning… The songs are best at their most grandly ridiculous. “Find your grail!” is the refrain of the central song, mimicking the ludicrousness of ballads and their overwrought lyrics. It is quite clear everyone on stage is having a very good time, not just playing such outlandish characters, but also in-joking about their very business. You can see smiles and giggles being visibly, desperately contained as the jokes rain down. … Spamalot’s expertly written and performed silliness is endless, beguiling, and winning, and so well-done that—despite the gay and Jewish clunkers of songs—the musical remains a daffy, rollicking night out.
Deadline Review of Spamalot
Spamalot opens on Broadway tonight, and it’s safe to say the Middle Ages haven’t been this funny since, well, the last time Spamlot opened on Broadway nearly 20 years ago. Perfectly cast and splendidly performed, with Josh Rhodes’ deceptively no-frills direction (and choreography) placing the irresistible goings-on front and center, the revival has lost none of the smart-dumb charm of either the original musical or its great source of inspiration. … The die-hards will be as pleased as the newbies with this very funny revival. … Spamalot boasts one of the best ensembles currently on Broadway. … Perhaps most satisfying about Spamalot is how it differs from other movie-to-stage adaptations in landing every punchline even for those who know what’s coming. Recent adaptations like Almost Famous and the better Back To The Future approach their familiar jokes like a checklist to get through. Not so with Spamalot, when even that long-ago Python catchphrase “‘Tis but a scratch” gets a round of applause and, more importantly, a big, bloody laugh.
TimeOut Review of Spamalot
Spamalot’s comedic reproductions inevitably have the somewhat diminished quality of an echo. For better or worse, it’s what might be called a jokebox musical. So while I enjoyed the original Spamalot, which was a hit and won a Tony for Best Musical, I didn’t love it the way some others did. My reaction to its new and updated—if still slightly dated—Broadway revival, directed and choreographed with flair by Josh Rhodes, is more affectionate. True, this production lacks the outsider pedigree of Mike Nichols’s 2005 version, whose faintly above-it-all attitude…was part of its appeal to audiences that were tentatively rediscovering the pleasure of musicals in a post-Producers world. But Rhodes’s cast of show-tune pros is highly capable, and the show’s laughter now seems more like it’s coming from inside the Broadway house. … In this company of men, however, it is a woman who really dazzles: Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as the sword-bestowing Lady of the Lake, whom the show depicts as an attention-hungry prima donna. This is the showcase role that longtime Kritzer fan…have been waiting for, and she grabs it by the throat in a full-tilt comedic and vocal tour de force.
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