Saturday, June 30, 2007

My Great Big Musical Saturday

This is going to be a quick, completely personal post. I have a busy day ahead of me.

I am not a particular fan of Monty Python. Despite my dearest friends' earnest efforts to convert me, that type of humor simply doesn't appeal. So when a close friend asked if I wanted to see the musical Spamalot, I later made a previous engagement and pled off.

Then the assault came from a different front. One I couldn't so easily ignore.

About ten years ago, my sister-in-law K decided a subscription to the Dallas Summer Musicals would be a good learning experience for my six-year-old niece (Yes, my brother and sister-in-law are the complete helicopter parents). K purchased three seats (front row center) at the Dallas Music Hall so that she, my brother and my niece could attend a half dozen musicals every summer.

There have been lots of funny family stories that came out of those three seats. When L was in first grade, her teacher called K to say she had some concerns about the child.

The teacher had instructed the children in her class to write a sentence using the word "hair." Fresh from a weekend viewing of South Pacific, my precocious niece wrote the sentence, "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair."

The twenty-four-year-old teacher, who had never heard of South Pacific, was appalled by L's choice of sentence, prompting the phone call home. K was forced to explain the reference.

Now, ten years later, the lovely sixteen-year-old L is a veteran of every major musical ever produced on stage, which brings me to my present dilemma.

K cannot attend the play today. My brother P called to ask if I would like to go to lunch and a matinee of Spamalot with him and L.

Of course, I agreed to go. I never ignore opportunities to spend time with my brother or niece. Monty Python or not, I'll be there front row center at 2:00 PM.

And, because I spent thirty minutes last night figuring out how to post videos to this site, I'm going to share a scene from Spamalot with you.

Pray for me.



I've already decided that--as a reward for attending Spamalot--I'll be at the late viewing of the new Die Hard movie tonight. Bruce Willis' wise-cracking John McClane is all the grail I need.

5 comments:

B.E. Sanderson said...

Oddly enough, I'm a fan of Monty Python, and I have no urge to see Spamalot. I'm also a fan of musicals. Maybe I just don't want to see another thing I like messed up.

LOL about your niece. Silly teacher.

Maya Reynolds said...

B.E.: I had a great time. We had a terrific time at the Cheesecake Factory over lunch, and I had as much fun watching my niece and brother at the show as I had watching the stage.

poetica in silentium said...

If Tim Curry was Arthur, as in the clip, he could just about carry the show. Te man is amazing!

B.E. Sanderson said...

Ahh. Thanks, Maya. It's good to know they didn't kill Monty Python. Maybe if it ever comes to somewhere near me, or if I ever go anywhere, I'll see it. (Better yet, for me, on video/DVD.) I'm really glad you liked it.

Something about British humor has always killed me. Maybe it was too much exposure to Benny Hill at an impressionable age.

SlipOn said...

a