By Larry Taylor

Garden Grove Journal

Monty Python fans, and all lovers of hilarious musical comedy, should hurry over to see “Monty Python’s Spamalot, ” the Tony Award-winning hit, now at Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

Former Python regular,  Eic Idle, as the program says, “lovingly ripped off” the comedy group’s film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Idle wrote the musical’s book, lyrics and, with longtime collaborator John Du Prez, the music. After opening on Broadway in 2005, it was a huge hit, closing just recently.

Under Mike Nichols’ creative  direction, the musical gives us a generous helping of favorite bits from the film. They include the outrageous  Knights Who Say “Ne,” the “Run Away” number in which the Frenchmen rudely taunt the knights from their castle wall and Arthur’s duel with the Black Knight whereby the foe gets “unhinged” to say the least.

   Best known as Mr. Peterman in the long-running “Seinfeld” TV series,  John O’Hurley is perfect as King Arthur. Excelling in song and dance bits, his air of clueless authority make him  a forceful if often confused leader. Arthur is always accompanied by his faithful servant, Patsy (a lively Jeff Dumas). Amusingly, it immediately becomes apparent that Arthur’s and Patsy’s horses are non-existent, their hoof beats created by Patsy’s clacking two cocoanut halves together.

 When the stately Lady of the Lake (a haughty diva in Merle Dandridge’s hands) sends Arthur off in quest of the Holy Grail, he gathers a rag-tag bunch, forming the Knights of the Round Table.

  Standing out at the Table are Matthew Greer’s Lancelot, acting super macho but we wonder and James Beaman’ s Sir Robin, who would rather be on Broadway. (Fans remember  Python’s  obsession with words – here the knights don’t know what  a grail is.) 

 At heart, “Spamalot” is a parody of musicals, and  it takes potshots at the genre’s tried-and- true ingredients: a leggy chorus line ( Lady-in-the-Lake’s Laker girls on synchronized display) and  tap-dancing knights (high-stepping in  “All for One.”).

Of course, there is the star’s big show-stopping number, “The Diva’s Lament” as  belted out by Dandridge. Turning up is the big “quest” number  “Find Your Grail.” And, as typical, there’s a “pick yourself up” song, namely  “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” – resplendent with twirling umbrellas in a rainstorm. (Gene Kelly, anyone?)

Fans will also recognize sly digs at blockbusters such as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story” and “Phantom of the Opera.” (Yes, there is a shattering chandelier.)

At the beginning, the scene is set in the Middle Ages’ plague time. In the morbidly hilarious “I Am Not Dead Yet,” bodies are carted off in wheel barrows.

A body on the bottom wanly shouts that he is still alive. This will be a running joke throughout.

A later highlight is the mordant  “The Killer Rabbit.” In this part, the knights venture into an area protected by an overly aggressive rabbit, who leaps out and bites off intruders’ heads. Especially marvelous is the stagecraft used in executing this segment.

At the end, the grail is found – in a very unlikely place. See for yourself. “Spamalot” runs  through Oct. 18 on  Segerstrom Stage at OCPAC.