The Black Knight (Andrew Rivera) looks aghast as one of Drew Stewart’s side characters collects “arms for the poor.” — Johnson Publications
Sir Robin (Tyler Lamm) weighs the perils of knighthood as minstrels Lali Marquez, pictured at left, and Dominique Penzing sing about all the various ways he could be killed and mangled. — Johnson Publications
Laughter isn’t canned at HHS production of ‘Spamalot’
The stage at Holyoke High School last weekend was a very special place, filled with very special people, people who can sing and dance, often at the same time! The audience Nov. 17 and 18 quickly found out that the experience was not unlike Broadway.
If you didn’t get that lead, then you must have missed out on the Dragon Theatre Company’s hilarious production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”
Set in 932 A.D. but rife with delightful anachronisms, the musical comedy follows Arthur, King of the Britons, first on his search for knights to sit at his round table and then on his quest to find the Holy Grail. Played by Luke Krogmeier, King Arthur ventures out with Patsy (Dylan Miles) at his side and ready to reaffirm most anything his master claims.
Sir Robin (Tyler Lamm) and Sir Lancelot (Jair Jimenez) are the first knights to join Arthur’s court, Lancelot to fight and Robin in hopes of dressing up and dancing.
Arthur’s next recruit is Dennis Galahad (Drew Stewart). Though wary of Arthur’s authority, Galahad agrees to join up if the Lady of the Lake (Savannah Burris) truly exists. Joined by Sir Bedevere (Brandon Nevarez) and ever so briefly by Sir Not Appearing, a seemingly lost Jedi played by John McCleary, the Knights of the Round Table are assembled.
First things first, Arthur proposes a trip to Camelot, the city that never sleeps, complete with the iconic welcome sign and a Cher-inspired musical number. It is there that the knights receive a quest from God: find the Holy Grail — not a quail and not just a missing cup.
They travel through the seasons and across the land on their quest. They come across a French castle, where Bedevere’s Trojan rabbit proves unsuccessful. They encounter the knights who say “Ni” in a dark and very expensive forest, and fans of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” were undoubtably tickled by Andrew Rivera’s appearance of the Black Knight.
Facing obstacles from within, from other people and from nature, the ragtag bunch pressed on. Though it took a literal act of God for them to find the Holy Grail, the knights found grails of their own along the way.
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