The first night's show was MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT. I found it a riot from beginning to end with just enough changes from the film to keep me guessing. Liked the music (but it was no great score certainly), and the production was wonderfully tight, especially considering we had THREE standbys on Thursday night - John Bolton for Tim Curry (simply superb with a much better singing voice than Curry and seemed to my eyes years younger, too), Rosena Hill for Sara Ramirez (my biggest disappointment as I really wanted to see and hear her live; Rosena was in outstanding voice but maybe not quite ready to play with these pros), and James Ludwig for Michael McGrath (singing and acting seemingly on equal terms with his co-stars).
These were the most standbys I've ever seen in a single show in over 40 years of NYC theater-going. Yet, they were up to the challenges for the most part and after a tiny initial disappointment that certain stars weren't going to be seen, I wasn't at all unhappy with the results. The two men in particular did great jobs and the lady was just a tad under them in expertise.
David Hyde Pierce did his usual stuff (great second act show-stopper for him, but he seemed underutilized otherwise) and loved, loved, loved, Alan Tudyk who's replaced Hank Azaria until he returns in November. And when Tudyk stripped off his shirt as Lancelot, that upper body definition was certainly the equal of Azaria's that I've seen in other work.
Loved Chrisopher Sieber, too. It's the best I've ever seen him on stage.
So, a very fun, very silly show that had nothing on its mind but a good, goofy time. I certainly had that.
