# I have been to Spamalot... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634 "2005-04-22T17:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/21 "2005-06-29T21:37:41Z")
When I saw it on 6/17, it was located where it was when **Governor Quinn** saw it. And the gentleman was gracious and very good natured. A bit at sea, since he didn’t seme to be a Python fan, but a good sport. Waste ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/22 "2005-06-29T22:32:26Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I’m _so_ glad I got out of that profession. Sara Ramierez wins a Tony and is the toast of the town, but what happens after this show closes? There just aren’t that many good roles, she has to start over at Square One. Look at Faith Prince, Donna Murphy—both of them brillant, and begging for parts. That’s what sucks about the biz is that even if you’re one of the lucky teensy minority who goes through the ranks and gets a big part in a big show, there’s absolutely no security. You can come off of a brilliant award winning run in the biggest show of the decade and NYC’s your oyster and the next year you’re appearing in a road show of _Nunsense_ in Dothan, Alabama (and with stage, even the most successful show isn’t going to set you up for life- the cast of a moderate TV hit like _Yes Dear_ or _King of Queens_ will at least not have to work again for a long long time. And it’s really terrible for non-white and over-40 performers. When I heard that _On Golden Pond_ was going to have to close due to James Earl Jones’s illness my first thought was how terrible for Leslie Uggams and the rest of the cast- there’s about 1 decent black female role for 20 others. Mary Bond Davis has played Motor Mouth Mabel in _Hairspray_ since it opened on Broadway and by now must be absolutely ready to puke whenever she hears the overture, but at the same point it would be terrifying to leave because as an over 40, overweight black actress it could be straight from Broadway to dinner theater in Utica in one foul swoop. I salute anybody with the fortitude for the business. Sorry for the hijack. I had a thread on the SPAMALOT soundtrack; unfortunately they only showed “Find Your Grail” (far from my favorite number) on The Tony Awards- I so wished they’d shown “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” instead. I’d love to see what’s going on when the klezmer takes over, or to see what Dennis Galahad sees when he cries “Caw, blimey!” to the Lady of the Lake’s appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/23 "2005-06-30T12:59:26Z")
The grail was located in the same place as **Engywook** ’s when I saw it. It was an elderly man who was (surprise!) Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/24 "2005-07-13T18:22:32Z")
I saw Spamalot last weekend. Hank Azaria wasn’t in the matinee I saw but I was happily surprised Alan Tudyck replaced Azaria (Wash in _Firefly_ and Reverend Veal in _Arrested Development_). The grail was found… under seat C101 and the audience member was Jewish ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/25 "2005-07-13T21:11:46Z")
> [@Engywook](#): > > Saw it last night, and my friend (a non-Pythonite who loved the show anyway) and I are debating the exact same question. > > Better put tags up, because I want to know if the experience is exactly the same for everyone - so if you’ve also seen the show, let’s compare notes. > > The grail was found in seat C101. I don’t know if there really is such a seat at the Schubert. A dark-haired woman got up on stage. She said her name was (I think) Susan something… and she added that she was Jewish. > > It might have been carefully calculated not to seem scripted. When she tried to go back stage with the rest of the cast, I was leaning toward thinking she was planted in the audience. But the only way to know for sure is to see the variety of Spamalot experience - if there is any - at the end of the show. > > Sorry to resurrect an aging thread… didn’t think we’d need a whole new Spamalot thread, though. Holy crap! I was at the same performance! As far as the “magic seat” : The seat used to be A101 at every performance until someone tried to auction the seat on eBay. It went for about $1500, if I recall. The producers didn’t want the seat to become that much of a “collector’s item” so they change it from show to show. besides, they said it was worth it to see the look on the face of the guy who won the auction when his seat didn’t get picked. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/26 "2005-07-13T21:14:58Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I’m _so_ glad I got out of that profession. Sara Ramierez wins a Tony and is the toast of the town, but what happens after this show closes? There just aren’t that many good roles, she has to start over at Square One. Look at Faith Prince, Donna Murphy—both of them brillant, and begging for parts. Or Kristen Chenoweth who was wonderful in “Wicked” and is now only a small supporting in “Bewitched.” ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/27 "2005-07-13T21:44:17Z")
I haven’t been to the show but I listened to the soundtrack last night and … I’m kind of disappointed. From the soundtrack, it seems like it’s about 20% Holy Grail and about 80% meta-humor and in-jokes about Broadway (e.g. “The Song That Goes Like This” is just one big winky joke about stage music that goes on for far too long.) And the lyrics just aren’t that clever – they don’t stand on their own like some of the classic musicals, say, Camelot, Pippin, or Fiddler. It might work better if you’ve seen the show, though. ---
**Author:** ![JasonG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@JasonG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JasonG)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634/28 "2005-07-14T17:36:25Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Or Kristen Chenoweth who was wonderful in “Wicked” and is now only a small supporting in “Bewitched.” I also count 13 episodes of _The West Wing_ on her [IMDB page](http://imdb.com/name/nm0155693/). I believe she also has a new album out – she sang from it on a recent _Today_ show. Looks like she’s doing okay (though I haven’t watched _Wing_ in the last six months; for all I know her character was killed off). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-to-spamalot/300634.md?page=1)