We went to see the Toronto stop on the tour for Todd's birthday. He's a huge Monty Python fan, so he'd been looking forward to it for quite a while. He even bought the CD ahead of time, but didn't listen to it because he didn't want to spoil any of the jokes. He had also shown me the Holy Grail film a few months ago, so I knew the source material now, and was able to spot the pieces that came from the film, and those that deviated.

Anyway, by and large it was the same show I saw on Broadway - I didn't notice any major changes for the tour. The cast, of course, was different, but the lack of the big names of the original cast didn't honestly make that much difference (unlike some other shows, that can't seem to survive without the stars). I especially liked Michael Siberry as Arthur, and Tom Deckman, if not *quite* as hysterical as Christian Borle, was nevertheless very funny in all of his various parts.

The only cast member we were a bit disappointed with was Pia Glenn as the Lady of the Lake. She was quite difficult to understand when singing, and although the role definitely calls for some overacting, it just wasn't as artfully done as Sara Ramirez in the Broadway cast. Guess it just goes to show it's not that easy to overact properly! :-)

I still loved all the musical parody, although "You Can't Succeed on Broadway" wasn't quite as funny as I remembered it - I'd probably hyped it up a bit too much in my mind. I also found the first act dragged a bit in the middle, which I don't remember feeling in New York - it'd be interesting to know if that feeling increased the more times you see it.

All in all though, we both enjoyed it, as did the audience at large. At the end of the night, Todd said he still prefers the movie, but he had a really good time.

The pictures:


Todd at his birthday dinner before the show

The Cast: (in order of appearance)

Historian, Not Dead Fred, French Guard, Minstrel, Prince Herbert TOM DECKMAN
Mayor, Patsy, Guard 2 JEFF DUMAS
King Arthur MICHAEL SIBERRY
Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard DAVID TURNER
Sir Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Tim the Enchanter RICK HOLMES
Sir Dennis Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert's Father BRADLEY DEAN
Dennis' Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde CHRISTOPHER GURR
The Lady of the Lake PIA GLENN
Sir Not Appearing GAVIN LODGE
Monk JUSTIN PATTERSON
Nun CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
God JOHN CLEESE
French Guards JUSTIN PATTERSON
KEVIN CREWELL
TOM DECKMAN
Minstrels TOM DECKMAN
MIA PRICE
DARRYL SEMIRA
KEVIN CREWELL
Sir Bors DARRYL SEMIRA
Ensemble KEVIN CREWELL
ROBYN HURDER
NAOMI KAKUK
AMANDA KLOOTS
GAVIN LODGE
NIKKI LONG
JUSTIN PATTERSON
MIA PRICE
DARRYL SEMIRA
ESTHER STILWELL
CHRISTOPHER SUTTON
CRAIG WALETZKO
PAULA WISE


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