SPAMALOT

by Ed Bruce edbrucevegas@yahoo.com

What is the deal here ?

Spamalot, a new play.... (new is the last decade....notRomeo and Juliet) by Eric Idle at Wynn Las Vegas.........temporarily !

March 2007 opening....... July 2008 closing ?

$10, million production....going .....going .....gone.

Hard to understand how Steve Wynn spends his money...... to committ to this production, voted best show in Las Vegas and then almost immediately dump it for Danny Gans ? Gans, who is Wynn's love child wouldn't even need the space...both could survive in this monster casino....let this be the request to keep Spamalot and put Gans somewhere else !. It really is too bad because Spamalot is perfectly done, funny, well produced with world class talent and production 6 nights a week !

We had the great opportunity to take the back stage tour after the show.....45 minutes with cast memeber Robert Moffat as our tour guide. He could not have been better telling everything he knew and more about the show, its history, its people and its short story here in Las Vegas. This back stage tour is a must for any serious fan of the theatre or someone in the "how do they do that genre", like myself. This is something to see and not write about and if you have a chance I would reccommend Moffat be your guide.....you have one month !

What the hell is Spamalot ? Simply just a bunch of nonesense perfectly tied together in world class theatre production ! Eric Idle, pretty much is the daddy to this thing, he of the Monty Python's Flying Circus English comedy team. The group, in the 60's pretty much invented a new look to comedy and Spamalot is the 21st century update. I am big on creativity and first class production....you get it all here. English themes, history, geography and all so well done !
John O'Hurley plays the lead, he of Seinfield fame.....genuinely a nice guy, great talent and someone you are happy to be on the planet with ! When I saw the play earlier another actor played the lead he was just as good.....here is a show (as you would expect) where there is no dead weight !

The theatre which was built by Wynn for this show is perfect, with all the horns and whistles and the 83 member team pulling it off nightly. Moffat said Mondays show went off as planned to include the changing of a dancer midstream who was hurt during the show....nobody noticed and the understudy filled in perfectly. Interesting to see from backstage how they did this during the show and how it is all done computerwise, laborwise and talentwise.

I grade all these show on the Sammy Davis Jr. standard (still the greatest thing ever to appear on stage anywhere)..... you lose one point for every minute late and the previous show was nine minutes late this one 5. So they get 95 A.......late really kills me !