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11/14/2018 06:00 AMThe Place:
Medieval England and Here
The Time:
932 A.D. and Now
So begins the written script for Monty Python’s Spamalot, a musical comedy to be performed tonight, Thursday, Nov. 15 through Saturday, Nov. 17 by students at Westbrook High School (WHS).
The show, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005, is officially described as “lovingly ripped off” from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). It’s a wacky retelling of the King Arthur legend in which Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, on a quest for the Holy Grail—the legendary vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper—encounter hostile French soldiers, Knights Who Say Ni, and a killer rabbit.
Eric Idle, one of the members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, wrote the script and lyrics, with music by Idle and John du Prez.
Director and WHS English teacher Nancy Malafronte chose the play for its reliance on male leads and its silliness.
“I’m looking at this group of students that I have. There are several boys, which is unusual. I knew that we wanted to do something funny. And I wanted to go in a different direction” than in years past, Malafronte said.
A chat with WHS Principal Tara Winch led to Winch playing music on her computer from Spamalot. Malafronte knew immediately that they’d hit on the perfect show.
The students will be performing the school edition, which gives directors options to cut or amend sensitive or mature references, create more opportunities to cast girls, and build or purchase less expensive and complex props and sets. In the original show, for example, a cow is shot through the air at the knights; the student edition allows rubber chickens to be substituted.
Senior Ben Schreck, the male lead in Spamalot, is having a great time using physical comedy to portray King Arthur, who seems to tell every character he meets that he is King of the Britons, whether they care or not.
“He takes himself seriously, but no one else seems to take him that seriously,” Schreck said.
Learning British accents was a challenge for Schreck and his fellow actors.
“We had to literally put in on YouTube ‘How to use a British accent’ and then train ourselves to do that... It’s definitely a fun part to play,” he said.
Savannah Marshall, who plays the Lady of the Lake, is having fun with her part, as well. She, Schreck, and Finn McGannon, who plays Sir Robin, are all seniors who have appeared in plays at WHS since their freshman year—but the Lady is a very different character than those Marshall played in previous productions.
“She’s a diva,” Marshall said. “Everywhere she goes, she has to be the center of attention.”
The Lady, who has several vocally challenging songs in the show, performs one in Act II lamenting her lack of stage time.
The role requires a female lead with a strong voice and great range; Malafronte was confident from the start that “Savannah has the voice for this.”
Sir Robin’s defining characteristic is being “frightened of everything,” said McGannon. While Lancelot hopes to join the Knights of the Round Table for the fighting, Robin dreams of “dressing up and dancing.”
“It’s fun and it’s big and it’s campy,” Malafronte said about the show. “The numbers are just really very bright and active. There’s a lot going on on the stage and a lot of laughter.”
Nearly 20 percent of the school’s 226 students are involved in the show: 31 cast members, 6 on the running crew, and 5 on tech crew. A junior, Maddie Shaw, lends her artistic talents each year to painting sets.
“When you look at the stonework and the painting and the detail of that set, it will blow your mind,” said Malafronte. “And that is another one of the things that we’ve become really known for are our cool sets.”
Bill Fredrickson, whose three children came up through the Westbrook school system, still volunteers to build the sets each year.
“This is an incredible place to work, this is my 22nd year directing shows here,” said Malafronte. “That speaks to this community. It’s a long time, it’s an enormous undertaking to put up a show. But it’s worth every minute because I get to work with these kids and their families. It’s awesome.”
The students share her enthusiasm for the theater program.
As WHS freshmen, McGannon said, “[t]heater was a really great way for us to get to know some of the kids who were older than us and have that really strong bond of working toward the goal—putting on a show—that you wouldn’t otherwise have and it would take a lot longer to create that kind of connection.”
“I’m biased,” said Schreck, “but I think [the theater program is] the best organization you can join in the entire school.”
Spamalot will be performed Thursday, Nov. 15, Friday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at whs.westbrookctschools.org.