Ricardo Montalban Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)
Jane Leeves (Frasier), Alan Tudyk (Death at a Funeral, Knocked Up), Jeff B. Davis (Whose Line Is It Anyway?), Rick Holmes and Jim Piddock star in this night of the best sketches and songs from Monty Python's Flying Circus from the creators of Tony Award-winning Spamalot. Directed in part by Eric Idle & BT McNicholl, and starring a group of non-Pythons who are eerily Pythonesque.
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
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The last date listed for An Evening Without Monty Python was Thursday October 1, 2009 / 8:00pm. (view all dates)
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Really great fun, with some tremendously charismatic performers putting on an awesome show. My major complaint would be that the show was only an hour and a half... I'm on a tight budget and even this discount ticket was a splurge for me... if I had paid full price for this, I would have felt a teeny bit gypped.
Besides that, though, it was a great night, and I am actually very glad I went :)
Superb if you're a die hard Python fan, intermittently funny if you're just regular folks.
It probably deserves a half star more but I subtracted to bring overall reviews more in line with reality. Most of the reviews here are so gushingly in favor, critical only of the shortness.
The good: A wonderful cast with Jane Leeves and Alan Tudyk. Jane, sweetie, you still have great legs, can kick very high, and change in and out of costumes and wigs at breakneck speed.
I enjoyed some skits. Dead Parrot was hysterical. The frequently performed "Are You Here for an Argument" still hold up after all these years. Silly Walks is absolutely goofy in a good way, as is the skit where the Unstoppable Talker plows through the audience, tightly tailed by Jane Leeves, who's unable to restrain him.
The bad: Many skits seem terribly dated. I feel they should be retired, but true Python fans apparently do not. The Spanish Inquistition and the Lumberjack didn't work for me at all. The skits with gay humor were probably highly risque in their era .... read decades ago, but as a Straight, long term resident of West Hollywood, I can vouch for the fact that Gayness has moved a long way since then. Still I wouldn't mind having one of those corsets to round out my own wardrobe.
Much an improvement on Eric Idle's earlier Montalban production -- a bunch of ringers performing Rutles material -- "An Evening Without Monty Python" answers the unasked question: will audiences accept a series of beloved, almost overly-familiar landmarks of British sketch comedy performed by none of the original cast, and with only one genuine Brit among the performers?
The answer, which should please all the financially-participating Pythons, is: "absolutely." With only a limited number of performances scheduled in Los Angeles and New York City, my guess is that Idle had bus-and-truck, community and dinner theater productions in mind. Lots of them.
Of course it may be difficult to find farceurs as skilled as this bunch, which may be difficult.
Hank Azaria, originally announced, pulled out of the production for a better gig (the currently-filming "Love and Other Drugs"), a fact unmentioned in Tuesdays lengthy Los Angeles Times feature on the show. That said, it'd be hard to imagine that he'd have done any better than his excellent replacement, Jeff B. Davis.
Jane Leeves, the British actress I first saw as "Blue," the punk receptionist in the syndicated sitcim "Throb" (what -- you don't remember? Diana Canova? Jonathan Prince?) appears here as a full member of the cast, though of course all the original Pythons were (and remain) male. She fit in very well, even performing in drag for a couple of sketches.
The music seems to be prerecorded, which is something of a cheat, but probably results in a better sound mix than would have been possible with a live band. A couple of totally unnecessary (and, to me, not all that funny) local and timely references were inserted. And there's a small amount of audience involvement, some more rewarding than the rest on Wednesday night.
Sure, the show was a lot of fun, and yes, it was definitely on the short side -- I figure about 1'20", including a single encore but with no intermission. It moved exceedingly quickly, which I found amazing for what was announced as their first performance in front of an audience (which is to say, Wednesday was a preview). I'd see it again in a minute.
Almost (and just by a hair) as funny as the Python program is Ricardo Montalban's prerecorded "turn off your cell phones" announcement. Take your seats early, so's not to miss it.
Tips are provided by Goldstar members and West Beth Entertainment. Goldstar is not responsible for their content or accuracy.
The Ricardo Montalban Theatre is a landmark theater built in 1926 by Cecil B. De Mille and and famous Los Angeles architect Myron Young. An intimate venue with 1,200 seats, the theater is located in the heart of Hollywood, just south of Hollywood and Vine. It was previously known as the Doolittle Theatre and, before that, the Huntington Hartford. A recent partnership with Nike has brought a Nik
Website: http://aneveningwithout.com/
From the creators behind the Tony Winning Blockbuster musical Spamalot comes a very silly night of sketches and songs drawn from the Python cannon, An Evening without Monty Python. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eric Idle has collected a paeanastic laudatory exaltation of the works of John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin & Eric Idle himself. Starring the Pythonesque Jane Leeves, Alan Tudyk, Jeff B. Davis, Rick Holmes & Jim Piddock. Partly directed by Eric Idle & BT McNicholl. It's like an evening with Cole Porter, just funnier.
Eric Idle, one of the original creators of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, co-created with John Du Prez the Tony and Grammy Award Winning Broadway hit Spamalot (based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and the comic Oratorio Not The Messiah (He’s a very naughty boy) based on Monty Python’s Life of Brian, performed last year at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and previously in Toronto, Caramoor, Perth, Brisbane, Auckland (NZ), Houston and Wolf Trap.
In October, to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee of Monty Python, Not the Messiah will be performed by Idle and Du Prez with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at Royal Albert Hall, London with special guest appearances by Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam (hopefully) and Carol Cleveland.
In addition Idle created The Rutles (with Neil Innes) for NBC TV and in conjunction with WestBeth Entertainment premiered What About Dick? a film for radio and Rutlemania! The Tribute Concert at the Ricardo Montalbán Theater in Los Angeles. His previous play Pass The Butler ran for five months in the West End of London.
Spamalot, directed by Mike Nichols, ran for almost four years on Broadway, two years in London's West End, and has also been produced in Las Vegas and Melbourne, Australia. The phenomenally successful United States tour (which just concluded a run at the Ahmanson Theatre in LA) continues, and there are currently hit productions in Barcelona, Spain and Cologne, Germany.
As well as the new book Monty Python Live! published by Hyperion, Idle edited Monty Python’s Big Red Book, Monty Python’s Brand New Bok (and Papperbok) and produced the hit album Monty Python Sings.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus, written and performed by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, began life on BBC TV in October 1969. It first appeared on PBS in 1974 and has remained in re-runs on US TV ever since.
The six original Pythons also wrote and appeared in the movies And Now For Something Completely Different, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life and Monty Python Live at The Hollywood Bowl. Sadly, Graham Chapman died in 1989 around the 20th Anniversary. Their new book is dedicated to his memory and as well as recounting their wacky exploits on the road, contains new reminiscences by the Pythons and all the material that they ever performed live.
Co-director BT McNicholl has directed on Broadway for the Roundabout Theatre Company, and directed the European premiere of The Producers for Mel Brooks. Internationally, he was nominated for Best Director in Paris, Madrid and Australia (winner, 2002) for Cabaret.
An Evening Without Monty Python - 3He has staged productions for Disney (fifth year of a world-wide tour) and is a Creative Development Consultant for MGM's theatrical division.
McNicholl has served on the creative teams of 10 other Broadway shows including the current hit Billy Elliot and directed award-winning plays and musicals for Goodspeed Opera House (2004 Best Musical), Dorset Theatre Festival, and the Walnut Street Theatre. A BMI-Award winning lyricist, he has written the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical The IT Girl and is the author and co-lyricist of the upcoming musical of 101 Dalmatians directed by Jerry Zaks, opening at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in 2010). He spent three years with the Shubert Organization and has been associated with directors Mike Nichols, Sam Mendes, David Hare, James Lapine, Rob Marshall and Jerry Zaks. He is presently working with Eric Idle and Monty Python as the Associate Director of their award-winning success Spamalot.