Even Stephen Curry’s King Arthur can’t save stale Spamalot, plus other new shows this week

Sydney Event Centre, October 15. Until October 18

There’s a scene early in Spamalot, where a man wanders the streets of a plague-ridden town in medieval England pushing a cart piled with lifeless bodies, shouting “Bring out your dead!” Lancelot enters dragging a body, which struggles out of his clutches crying “I am not dead yet”. Cue music for a jaunty song and dance number.

“I’m not dead yet” is one of those classic Monty Python lines, greeted by laughs and cheers by a hyped-up fandom on the first night. But is there still life in the old thing? I’m not convinced.

Spamalot, subtitled “A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, was created by Monty Python original Eric Idle in 2006. It had a successful Broadway run, scooping up a fistful of Tony Awards. This Australian production, produced and directed by Drew Anthony, is a competent rehash starring Stephen ‘The Castle’ Curry as King Arthur and an enthusiastic all-singing, all-dancing ensemble.

The plot is an undergrad rewrite of the Arthurian legend. God commands King Arthur to find the Holy Grail. Arthur recruits a motley posse of knights and, after a glow-up at Camelot, they grab their coconut shells (clip-clop, clip-clop) and set out. The quest takes them to France, where they meet flatulent locals, knights who say “Ni!”, and a Black Knight who is harder to kill than a cockroach. But do they find the grail?

Curry is not an obvious choice as lead but makes a good fist of the preening role of Arthur, despite his tortuous English accent. His sidekick Patsy, played by Jamie Rolton, who also choreographs the show, frequently upstages the king with his well-timed quips and genial stage presence. Marney ‘Titanique’ McQueen sings her heart out as Lady of the Lake, leaning into the diva energy of Whatever Happened To My Part?, while Gareth Isaac as Sir Robin bubbles with showtime glee while singing You Won’t Survive On Broadway Without Jews. Awkward.

Drew Anthony’s design concept is a deliberate collision of low-fi production values and technological wizardry. The costumes are straight from the dress-up box, and dad made the props, while the backdrop (by Travis Badge of Aquixel) transports us to rolling hills and luxuriant forests, and even provides a fully digital cast member, the Black Knight, yelling “’tis but a flesh wound” as it spurts bloody pixels.

It’s not the cast’s fault that this show fails to dazzle: the gags are desperately dated and the music is derivative. That is not a guarantee of failure in itself – lots of musical theatre shows thrive on in-jokes and self-parody – but the many compromises, including canned music and a terrible venue, do nothing to lift the raw material out of its nostalgic soup. Without the bite of up-to-date satire and the zing of in-the-moment comic improv, Spamalot has no teeth. This one’s strictly for the fans.

Spamalot also shows at Coliseum Theatre, Rooty Hill from October 22-25.