Read the Daily Record’s feature story on Monty Python’s Spamalot, including their upcoming performances at MPAC Sunday, December 2nd!
Daily Record: “Oh, What a Knight! Morristown’s MPAC Hosts Monty Python’s Spamalot”
By Bill Nutt
Steve McCoy has a confession to make: He was not a Monty Python fan growing up.
The Spanish Inquisition — expected or not — left him cold, and he could not have cared less about lumberjacks, the Piranha Brothers or parrots (dead or otherwise). To the Knights Who Say “Nih,” McCoy said, “No.”
“I had cousins who loved ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus,’ ” recalled McCoy, referring to the comedy troupe’s British series, which won a devoted American following on PBS. “But I didn’t get it. I thought it was sophomoric.”
That was before McCoy was cast in the central role of King Arthur in “Monty Python’s Spamalot.” The 2005 stage musical, which won the Tony for best musical, is based on the 1975 cult classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
While performing in the first national tour, McCoy came to appreciate the subtlety and wit, as well as the more overt and ribald humor, in the story.
“Now I realize how intelligent it is,” he said.
McCoy is reprising the role of King Arthur in the current national tour of “Spamalot,” which will stop at the Mayo PAC in Morristown for two performances on Sunday, Dec. 2.
The show features book and lyrics by Eric Idle, one of the members of the Python troupe, with music co-written by Idle and John DuPrez. The score also includes “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” written for the later Python film “Life of Brian.”
For the most part, the first half of the musical follows the shape of the “Holy Grail” film. Arthur assembles his Knights of the Round Table and undertakes a quest for title object, with help from the Lady of the Lake (played on the tour by Leslie Jackson).
But then the show takes a turn for the meta. Without giving away too much, the second half of the show takes loving potshots at the history of Broadway musicals, including one outrageous number that echoes a scene from “Fiddler on the Roof.”
McCoy contended that even audience members who are not die-hard Python fans will find something to appreciate in “Spamalot.”
“This show is so well-crafted,” he said. “Even if you just know musical theater, you’ll love it. It’s for everyone.”
(Perhaps not everyone. A number of bawdy lyrics and lines of dialogue make “Spamalot” in appropriate for children.)
McCoy said that tackling Arthur for a second tour has allowed him to have a little more fun with the role, within reason.
“I feel more relaxed this time,” he said. “I know this guy, and I know how to do it.”
In some ways, though he is on stage for most of the show, Arthur has fewer challenges than other parts.
“I play the same character in the same costume,” McCoy said. “Everyone else is playing multiple roles. They all have dressers, except me.”
While rehearsing for the first tour, McCoy met Mike Nichols, the veteran writer-director who had staged the original Broadway production of “Spamalot.”
“I only met Mike a couple of times,” said McCoy. (Nichols died in 2014.) “He told me that there’s no way to play this show except to truth. You’re not funny; the material is funny. If you work to try to get a laugh, you won’t.”
McCoy has taken that advice to heart.
“I’ve learned to take risks with the performance,” he said. “Mike said to get rid of the parts of your performance that you’re comfortable with. You’ll be amazed with what happens after that.”
For all the goofiness inherent in “Spamalot,” McCoy feels that the show does speak to audiences.
“My favorite number is the first act finale, ‘Find Your Grail,’ ” he said. “There really is a message here. Live your life, and you’ll find your truth.”
Monty Python’s Spamalot
When: 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2
Where: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown
Tickets: $59 to $99
Info: 973-539-8008 or mayoarts
