By: Alex Patt
In the past week Concordia has been buzzing about ACT’s latest musical production, Monty Python’s Spamalot.
Directed by Andrew Pederson, this outrageously hilarious rendition of the 1975 comedy hit, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, features the story of England’s King Arthur (Jon Rusche) who is on a quest along with his fellow knights of the round table to find the Holy Grail. Among the knights are Sir Robin (Jake Jansen), Sir Lancelot (Matt Bender), Sir Galahad (Mary Koch), Sir Bedevere (Joshua Bomba) and Arthur’s Patsy (Drew Wiggenhorn). On their journey, Arthur and his knights confront a series of challengers, including a snooty French taunter, a ravenous rabbit, and Sir Lancelot’s new lover, Prince Herbert (Anthony Huspen).
The show includes numerous song and dance numbers which were put together by Bill Underwood and choreographed by Ashlee Wasmund. The songs will make you cry of laughter with its humorous and over-the-top lyrics. The cast uses the entire theater during the singing and dancing numbers which allows for moments of audience interaction. One lucky audience member even finds the Holy Grail!
The cast and crew knew this would be a challenging project. It required a large cast to fill all the roles, with some members playing multiple roles. The show has over thirty roles to fill, much more than productions in the past.
“[There are] twenty-six Concordia students, two faculty members, two professional directors and a professional costume designer” involved in the production, said Jon Rusche, who plays King Arthur. “Everyone is wearing multiple hats during this process.”
The crew has a very challenging show from the technical aspect, having to time all the lighting, sound, music and set cues at the right time.
“It is definitely one of the more tech heavy shows we’ve had in a while,” said Becca Peterson, Assistant Stage Manager. “All technicians had to be on their A-game.” Becca added, “We all work really well together as a unit and we are all very supportive and there to help out each other.”
All this hard work has produced excellent results. The show is well cast, the acting is very solid and the music fits great with the story. The sounds help add to the humor of the story with goofey sound effects (including some gassy ones). The set, which features a castle with a gate, is a simple yet effective setting for the story. It also features a lot of funny props like a rabbit puppet and a light-up “Camelot” sign.
This show will make you laugh out loud and you will have a lot of fun! I recommend all Concordia students and staff to see this excellent show!
Spamalot continues at the Madison Street Theatre April 23-25 at 7:30 pm and April 26 at 2:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased at CUCSpamalot.BrownPaperTickets.com. Concordia students can attend Thursdays show for free with the discount code CUCTHUR.
