The musical that uses two coconuts to portray a horse, interacts with its audience, whose name is based off of their main town Camelot and has the audience laughing hysterically is Spamalot, a comical, well-produced show, performed on Mar. 29, 30, 31, April 5 and 6.
The lead, King Arthur, is played by senior Zack Cassidy. During the play, King Arthur is walking around Britain looking for the holy grail. “SPAMALOT takes the famous, hilarious scenes from the movie and adds in some singing, dancing and a whole lot of pizzazz,” Cassidy said.
Director Jessica Speck has been teaching English and directing plays for 21 years in the county. This is her eighth year here. Speck grew up loving school as she participated in theatre in high school and was also a part of marching band and National Honors Society. One of her favorite musicals is one she’s seen on Broadway three times called “Fun House.” Speck is described by her students as “incredible,” “fabulous” and “wonderful.”
The first production of Spamalot ever was in 2004 in Chicago and continued to play there until it made it to Broadway in 2005. Since then, it has won the Tony Award for Best Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
As for students, the journey began back in December where auditions were held. When the cast was selected, rehearsals started right away. To help out Speck with auditions, a committee of teachers got together, including administrator Jackie Lightsey, music teacher Keith Schwartz and various English teachers.
The play was chosen by Speck, orchestra teacher Carolyn Herman and Schwartz.“We feel that this play is beneficial to students,” Speck said.
One of the most special things about the choice of Spamalot is that Monty Python was one of former principal Dr. Michael Doran’s favorite movies of all times. Doran and his wife’s first date was seeing Monty Python theatre. Although not all cast members knew him, they still feel a strong connection to the spring musical as it reminds them of their beloved principal who died in 2015. The auditorium was named after him last month.
The original Spamalot has toured all around the world. Monty Python’s humor is British humor and some may not understand it as well. However, there are die-hard fans out there who live for Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, originally a movie released in 1975. This humor featured in the musical is often underappreciated, but once seeing the play it’s easier to see where these fans are coming from.
