REVIEW: MONY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT—Segerstrom Center for the Arts

TheShowReport
2 days ago
6 min read

Gags and punch lines seem almost irrelevant for those who value the virtues of shrewd idiocy, artful tackiness and wide-eyed impiety.

FEBRUARY 17, 2026—COSTA MESA

With the expert manipulation of director/choreographer Josh Rhodes and a cast riding high — a little too high at times — on infectious enjoyment, Monty Python alumnus Eric Idle (Book & Lyrics) and co-composer John Du Prez (Music by John Du Prez & Eric Idle) deliver a rowdy entertainment simply called MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, that remains sufficiently faithful to its source, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

Indeed, the legions of Python obsessives in the audience was spewing laughter throughout the night over many of the classic scenes and key dialogue from the movie. It’s not hard to imagine an imminent future in which auds will be shouting along with vocal wizard Chris Collins-Pisano’s French-accented taunt, “I wave my private parts at your aunties, you tiny-brained wipers of other people’s bottoms.”

Segerstrom Center for the Arts Presents, MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT, Now Playing from February 17th through February 22.

And there’s more where that came from in a show so delightfully funny and asinine, it’s genius – of course that includes the incomparable comic aplomb of the tour’s brilliant cast. Presently, you can find SPAMALOT on stage at Segerstrom Center for the Arts through February 22nd.

Like the film, Idle’s book here is a string of comic sketches posing as an Arthurian epic, instilling fluidity or momentum into the slapdash chronicle of Arthur’s (Major Attaway as the slightly clueless monarch surrounded by absurdity) recruitment of the knights and their quest for the Holy Grail.

With help from Paul Tate DePoo III’s animated projections and medieval-funhouse set designs and period costumes from Jen Caprio, the show successfully appropriates the look of the Pythons’ vintage TV skein and films, albeit with significant departures into glitzy, Vegas extravaganza. The creatives have successfully developed workable formulas to replicate many of the seminal gag moments from the film, such as the vicious, cave-guarding killer bunny, or Arthur’s trusted servant/steed and constant companion Patsy (Blake Segal) clapping coconuts to evoke the sound of nonexistent horses’ hooves, or the stage translation of the Black Knight’s dismemberment.

The “Bring out your dead” scene is among the best expansions, with catchy tune “I’m Not Dead Yet” smoothly serving to enlist the prissy Sir Robin (Sean Bell) and the homicidally brave Lancelot (also Mr. Collins-Pisano, playing a psychopathic knight...with a difference) into Arthur’s band of knights. Idle and Du Prez here display a better grasp of the conventions of advancing a narrative through song than might be expected. Likewise, Lancelot’s high-casualty rescue in act two of the fey Prince Herbert from marriage is a comic high point, not least thanks to Steven Telsey’s effetely antic perf.

But the tastiest satiric juice is provided by Amanda Robles, who plays Arthur's buxom but ethereal love interest, the Lady of the Lake. Whether warmly overseeing her (yes) Laker girls as they cheer the knights, mangling a soul ballad "American Idol"-style or working the stage like Liza at Caesars Palace, Ms. Robles’ aquatic contessa knows how to send up vintage performance styles until they go into orbit as she shimmies into showgirl-populated Camelot.

The Lady scores when cheerleading through “Come with Me,” belting out the overblown gospel thunder of “Follow Your Grail” and ascending with Galahad (Leo Roberts) into the soaring romantic mush of Frank Wildhorn/Andrew Lloyd Webber territory in “The Song That Goes Like This,” all of them distinct first-act peaks. But it’s the Lady’s second-act song “The Diva’s Lament,” a furious protest at the diminishment of her role that stops the show dead in its tracks, creating a revelatory, jaw-dropping turn.

Each of the key thesps grabs the spotlight at some point, making this a refreshingly democratic ensemble show. After coasting through the first act with too little to do in his customary deadpan, Sean Bell’s Sir Robin comes alive in the splashy and hilarious “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway,” in which he gives vent to his own song-and-dance ambitions and expounds on the necessity of Jews to make it on Broadway.

Chris Collins-Pisano’s big song, “His Name Is Lancelot,” is a campy Peter Allen kitsch and feels like a take-off from “The Producers.” But the vocally dexterous actor gets to shine in a number of character bits, notably as the Scots-brogued pyromaniac Tim the Enchanter and the shrill chief Knight of Ni (a very tall leader of the most feared cult in the land).

While the chuckles come in harder and heartier than most productions from that point in time, SPAMALOT’s boisterous energy evokes the idea of a group of naughty schoolboys running riot with a budget. Still, the uninitiated may be bewildered when laughs arrive even before a scene gets under way. The mere appearance of a figure in a certain costume (say, a headpiece with ram's horns) or the utterance of a single word (i.e., "ni") is enough to provoke anticipatory guffaws among the cognoscenti.

Worthy of note, there's also the pepperpot Mrs. Galahad (Ellis C. Dawson III, who's also Sir Bedevere), Dennis' mother; Leo Roberts as Herbert's father, Sir Galahad and the invincible Black Knight (who becomes a quadruple amputee); Steven Telsey (as Robin's lead minstrel and who doesn't really know when to shut up), who also plays Not-Dead-Fred (who's getting better), as well as the bloodthirsty Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog with big pointy teeth; Blake Segal as the Mayor of Finland (who shouldn't even be in the musical); the Knights of the Round Table, who dance when e'er they're able; and the Historian/Narrator (again, Mr. Telsey).

Those moments when SPAMALOT rises into the ether are those in which it pays homage - à la "The Producers" - to other kinds of Broadway musicals, with bobble-headed nods to the Vegas revue thrown in. The "Knights of the Round Table" number that introduces the swinging pleasure palace called Camelot is a deliciously cheesy, cheesecake-laden floor show, with Arthur morphing into a Rat Pack-style master of ceremonies.

That zestiness is enhanced by Josh Rhodes’ bouncy choreography, driven primarily by his peerless skill in pulling together a show that’s really just an unruly bundle of engaging bits and pieces, and giving it theatrical body.

SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS – MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT; With Book & Lyrics by Eric Idle; Music by John Du Prez & Eric Idle; A musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture “MONTY PYTHON and the HOLY GRAIL;” From the original screenplay by GRAHAM CHAPMAN, JOHN CLEESE, TERRY GILLIAM, ERIC IDLE, TERRY JONES, MICHAEL PALIN; Directed & Choreographed by JOSH RHODES; Scenic and Projection Designer PAUL TATE DEPOO III; Costume Designer JEN CAPRIO; Lighting Designer CORY PATTAK; Sound Designer KAI HARADA & HALEY PARCHER; Hair & Wig Designer TOM WATSON; Orchestration LARRY HOCHMAN; Music Arranger GLEN KELLY; Music Coordinator DAVID LAI; Music Director JONATHAN W. GORST; Music Supervision & Additional Arrangements by JOHN BELL; Production Stage Manager MATTHEW BROOKS.

CAST: STEVEN TELSEY - Historian, Not Dead Fred, Baby, Nun, Mime, Minstrel, Prince Herbert, Bunny; BLAKE SEGAL - Mayor, Patsy, Guard 2; MAJOR ATTAWAY - King Arthur; SEAN BELL - Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard; CHRIS COLLINS-PISANO - Sir Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Tim the Enchanter; LEO ROBERTS - Sir Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert’s Father; ELLIS C. DAWSON III - Dennis’ Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde; AMANDA ROBLES - The Lady of the Lake; L’OGAN J’ONES - Frog DJ; CONNOR COUGHLIN - Sir Not Appearing; LINDSAY LEE ALHADY - Knights of the Round Table Dancer; CONNOR COUGHLIN/L’OGAN J’ONES - French Guards; L’OGAN J’ONES/NATHANIEL MAHON – Minstrels; BEN LANHAM - Monk (“Arms for the Poor”); L’OGAN J’ONES – Sir Bors;

ENSEMBLE: LINDSAY LEE ALHADY, DELANEY BENSON, CONNOR COUGHLIN, L'OGAN J'ONES, GRAHAM KEEN, CLAIRE KENNARD, BEN LANHAM, NATHANIEL MAHONE, MERIDIEN TERRELL

UNDERSTUDIES: King Arthur—CONNOR COUGHLIN, ELLIS C. DAWSON III; The Lady of the Lake—DELANEY BENSON, CLAIRE KENNARD; Sir Robin—CONNOR COUGHLIN, GRAHAM KEEN; Sir Lancelot—L'OGAN J'ONES, BEN LANHAM; Sir Galahad—JACK BREWER, BEN LANHAM; Sir Bedevere—GRAHAM KEEN, NATHANIEL MAHONE; Patsy—L'OGAN J'ONES, NATHANIEL MAHONE; Historian—CONNOR COUGHLIN, L'OGAN J'ONES

SWINGS: JACK BREWER, MADDIE MOSSNER, EMILIE RENIER (Dance Captain/Fight Captain), MARK TRAN RUSS

SPAMALOT runs from February 17th–22nd, 2026. For Tickets and further information, contact www.scfta.org/