Spammed A Lot and laughed a lot

SHERYL AND I had a great time at the Quincy Community Theater's presentation of Spamalot Saturday night. The acting was top-notch and music from the live band fantastic. We are fortunate to have such talent in our town.

I knew many of the lines, but the musical has some additional dialogue and it was very funny. I particularly enjoyed The Knights Who Say NI! The cast was encouraged to ad-lib and put in their own material - I bet the rendition of "Staying Alive" was just that, and it was hilarious. The finding of the Holy Grail and subsequent naming of Quincy's more nefarious residents was also tremendous - this is farce and they shot straight and you gotta love it.

Monty Python's British humour can be a bit obtuse, which is why you must watch Search For The Holy Grail more than once. Actually, watch it 100 times. You will laugh every time and find things you've missed the first 99 viewings. It translated well to the stage and there were some things that went over the general audience's head, but for the most part it hit home.

Some day I'd love to give theater a go. It's not like I have a real job to get in the way, though playing in four different bands, teaching 30 guitar students and walking three dogs do take up some of my time. I have tremendous respect for the actors and actresses of our local community theater - the time to learn all the lines and rehearse and get everything right is massive.