The Arkansas Repertory Theatre launches its 41st season with a whole lot of silliness in Monty Python’s “Spamalot.” The show combines Broadway musical comedy with characters, jokes and storylines straight from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
The story follows King Arthur and his band of knights on their quest for the Holy Grail, meeting plenty of odd characters and characters who meet odd fates along the way. We sat down with some of the cast and crew to get an inside look at the insanity. Here’s our conversation with the show’s director Melissa Rain Anderson, who directed “Little Mermaid” at The Rep last Christmas; James Lloyd Reynolds, who plays King Arthur; Carolann M. Sanita, who plays the Lady of the Lake; and Ben Liebert, who plays Patsy and who you might also remember as Scuttle from “Little Mermaid.”
Opening night for Monty Python’s “Spamalot” is Friday, Sept. 2. For tickets and more information, click here.
Your characters are iconic, but for an audience member who had no connection to Monty Python or “Holy Grail” at all, how would you describe your characters? And what’s your favorite part of playing them?
Ben Liebert: So I play Patsy who is King Arthur’s squire and sidekick and overall packmule. I love Patsy very much because although he fits that sidekick character, he’s lower class. He is a servant and so it’s fun to find the times that Patsy gets to interject to speak, but also how he serves, how he loves this man in a purely honest way even though he is treated so poorly. It’s fun that we have this journey of going from master and servant to having some mutual recognition and I think that that’s what I love about it.
James Lloyd Reynolds: I’m playing King Arthur and Arthur is absolutely alone in the world and in his drive. His main thrust is to find some sort of connection. His initial adventure is to go out and find other knights to come and join him at the Round Table, and then eventually he is assigned a quest by God to find the Holy Grail — but again, he’s so totally all alone. I like him because he’s just absolutely steadfast, he’s totally passionate about what he’s going to do and what he’s after, and then things get in the way.
Carolann M. Sanita: I play Lady of the Lake and she is the diva of the show. She’s a witch, and not in a mean sense. She’s magical, she has powers that kind of propel the plot forward a little bit. She’s always kind of with Arthur and helping out in little ways along the way. And there’s a little bit of a connection there, too, I think. A little love is thrown in there.
What kind of differences audiences can expect between the movie and the play?
Melissa Rain Anderson: A lot of it is directly from the movie, which is great. Eric Idle, word for word, your favorite scenes as a fan will be there. All our favorite zany characters — The Black Knight, the French taunters, Tim the Enchanter, the Knights of Ni — they’re all there, so that sort of satisfies the big fans. But even if you’re not a fan, it still works really well, oddly well, in fact, that the scenes sort of build to musical moments. In the movie there are three songs, and in the show we of course have more to flesh it out to make it a musical comedy. I think they hit a really sweet spot between the Monty Python humor and then really great musical comedy pizzaz and Broadway dance numbers. It’s a good hybrid and it’s been successful anywhere it plays.
Since this story is such a cult classic, what are some of the challenges and, well, bright sides of working on a show that has that sort of following?
JLR: When I saw it on Broadway, people were laughing before things even happened. That’s kind of fantastic to know that you’re just totally supported by the audience. You don’t want to deviate too far from what’s there because it’s pretty perfect. The scenes are great, they’re fast and they clip along. So it’s about providing them what they’re expecting, but in addition to that, giving them all these other things they’ve never seen before.
BL: That idea of expectations, it’s a challenge. The movie is iconic, people know it, and as actors we all have to live up to this expectation of these six brilliant men back in the ‘70s. But what’s also really great about it in this medium, in theater, we get to pay homage to it — the jokes are all there — but we get to make it our own. We get to live and breathe in it and the material supports that.
CMS: Well, the Lady of the Lake isn’t in the movie, she’s just mentioned. With my character, I can kind of do anything with her. And she is a very grand character. Everything she does is big. For me, I just get to explore and make it my own, and then play with the characters in the scenes around me. I think I say, like, five lines in the whole show. Everything else is singing. It’s so fun.
MRA: It’s nice to have a woman in the mix of all the men. She really does carry sort of the lionshare of the musical comedy aspect of it, so it’s a nice balance that way against the Python humor.
Have any of you ever done “Spamalot” before?
MRA: I directed it last year at Geva Theatre Center. It’s definitely not the same production, but the choreography is the same and some of my work is the same… We’re doing it with fewer in our ensemble, but it works out nicely because it keeps it really tight. It makes for way more costume changes, like the ensemble is basically running for their lives. If they’re not on stage, they’re changing clothes and sprinting back on. Even internally during musical numbers, they’ll be changing.
It’s been so fun in sort of a wacky, zany way because you can always come up with a silly way to do something. The other day Carolann needed something on stage so we just tossed it through the curtain. Any sort of vaudeville schtick will work in this show and it’s been a fun puzzle to unpack.
What else can you tell me about your costumes and the set?
CMS: Oh, mine are beautiful. The Rep has rented the whole package from the tour and these dresses, I mean, I have a different dress in every scene. They’re so intricately beaded and made really, really well. Then you put them on and feel like a mermaid or princess. They’re stunningly beautiful and I’m really excited to put them on. From the headpieces down to the last detail, they’re awesome. In fact, that’s going to be my biggest challenge is timing. I have this whole armor bit and then have to take it off on stage and have a full outfit beneath it.
BL: The backstage choreography in this show is going to be more than what you see on stage, and there’s a lot on stage.
JLR: Arthur’s costume is easy because I don’t change except when I throw on something bedazzled at the end. Basically it’s lots of layers — there’s a whole layer of chain mail and lots of tunics.
BL: The looks are really a definite homage if not pulled directly from the films. The audience has that association already, that Arthur looks like this in gold and Lancelot looks like this. It was fun to put on the costume in my fitting and go oh, I’m in the movie. I didn’t feel like a jerk with coconuts anymore, I felt like Patsy.
MRA: On stage, there’s a British castle unit, but you also need the French castle. The way it’s designed is that it flips at intermission. The show is built for automation, for things to move smoothly and cinematically into place. We do that with people moving set pieces, which I feel is like a little bit of a nod to the cartoons in the movie when they travel to each location. And it does have the homage to Terry Gilliam’s artwork throughout.
Do you all remember the first time you ever encountered Monty Python?
JLR: Oh, I was actually around. My sisters were just a few years older than I was, so they were in high school in the ‘70s and they were both fans and their boyfriends were fans — maybe that was the key… Anyway, I was in junior high and experience it first then.
MRA: I think there was a resurgence of all this British humor in the ‘80s, because when I was in high school all the guys were huge Python fans. You kind of grow up knowing it, but it wasn’t in my bones the way my husband grew up doing the skits in his backyard. I was definitely around it because my mom was a big anglophile, so anything British was in our house. I had a lot of association with it, but I wasn’t necessarily a fan until I started working on “Spamalot.”
BL: Growing up, my dad instilled in me Mel Brooks, the Marx Brothers and Monty Python. I’m sure I wore out the “Holy Grail” VHS and “Life of Brian” — those were two big ones for me. I remember doing the Parrot Sketch at camp. I definitely grew up with it.
CMS: Same here. My dad introduced me to it and my husband is a huge fan. I mean, I didn’t grow up doing the sketches, but I definitely was exposed to it and I know the famous movie scenes in the show. Reading through the script, I remembered all those things.
The new season is kicking off, you’re putting on a big show like Monty Python, the theater just announced the new producing artistic director. There’s a very unique energy floating around The Rep right now. Can you speak to that at all?
MRA: It’s funny because we’re kind of in our own little rehearsal bubble.
JLR: What’s interesting when you come to a new town, we’re sort of in the rehearsal space 8-9 hours a day, and besides the grocery story and that kind of stuff, we haven’t really had the chance to really get to know everybody yet. We’re a little insulated.
BL: Though we are in this period of transition for the theater, I think what’s remarkable is that “Spamalot” is going to be a good anchor. It’s a really good show, Melissa’s doing a fantastic job, as is our choreographer and our musical director. Any uncertainty that might be there, this show is really solid. I’m very proud of the work we’re doing, but I think audiences will see that it’s going to be very consistent with what they’ve seen before. There’s no shakeup, this is another really solid, solid Rep production.
MRA: The season was planned by Bob Hupp, so I think since I have a relationship with this theater, I think it was a good choice to have directors back for this season who know the theater and that helps with the transition. For me coming back, it’s been really easy, and I’m glad that John’s going to be here for our preview week and opening so we can get to know him. I think it’s nice timing of everything coming together.
When you have been out in the community and speak to people about the show, do they seem excited?
BL: People that don’t go to musicals or don’t come to The Rep, they know Monty Python. Some people, the title of the piece can be confusing, because they’re like, “Well, I’ve seen ‘Holy Grail,’ but I don’t know ‘Spamalot.” We’re just like, “Ah-ha! They’re the same thing.” That has been an important thing to get across. But then they ask what I do and I tell them I’m the guy with the coconuts and instantly there’s that connection. People get it and they’re excited about it.
JLR: Oh, most people that I talk to — store owners and whoever — already have their tickets.
Side note: Tickets are selling crazy fast, so you might want to get yours ASAP.
Ok, so what is the one line or joke or scene in the show that gets you every time?
CMS: I had one, but now I’ve changed my mind. It was the French scene that really got me when I was reading through the script, and it still gets me when I watch it. But I just watched Act 2 when Sir Lancelot rescues Prince Herbert and it’s just hysterical.
MRA: Mine is odd, it’s Tim the Enchanter. It’s just so bizarre, and it’s sort of the 11 o’clock number in a way because it’s the last weird character we meet. Everyone’s on stage and you’re just scratching your head wondering what’s going on. It’s so otherworldly and so just left of center.
BL: I always loved The Black Knight. In the movie it’s just a geyser of blood and we get to do it. Limbs come off, it’s very exciting. I love it and I get to stand on stage and watch it.
JLR: I mean, it’s got to be The Black Knight. Adam is just so good and so funny.