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Subj : Re: CONTAINS SPOILERS  Re: Spamalot-the musical
To   : John Smith
From : Todd H.
Date : Tue Jan 04 2005 04:18 pm

From: t@toddh.net (Todd H.)

"John Smith" <nospam@nul.dev> writes:

> That being said, the one problem may be the casting.   Azaria is great, but
> I think there are lots of people that could pull the part off and have it
> work.  Curry is great, and he would be harder to replace, but not
> impossible.

I have to disagree a bit here.  I found Curry to be VERY replaceable as King 
Arthur.  For me, what makes Arthur so funny in the movie is that he's got that 
strange mix of being kingly, yet incompetent, and in the end, accidentally 
brilliant. Curry managed to miss most of that and at least this past Sunday 
gave a very dull performance.

> Hyde-Pierce, however, is brilliant and displays so many unique
> talents that he may be virtually impossible to replace in the cast.
> You need a performer with comic timing, a gift for multiple
> characters, great dancing, strong singing and strong keyboard skills
> all wrapped up in a specific type of non-threatening body.....
> maybe Nathan Lane could pull it off.... although I do not know about
> the keyboard and the dancing would have to change a bit...

I don't know if I'd go that far.  He was good indeed, mostly on the shoulders 
of his Act II portions.  But irreplaceable...hrmm.  You're right that the mix 
you cite would be important though.

But did he actually play that piano bit live?  If faking it, he did it credibly 
(I was watching, and as a musician, I was looking to see how bad the fake would 
be and was pleasantly surprised), but I don't think I considered the 
possibility that he might actually play it live.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

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