Spamalot

"Suffice to say it is one of the words the Knights of Ni cannot hear".... Or rather, one of several. Please note that despite my one huge problem with the sound in Spamalot, I still really loved what was done with the show. The cast talent and energy was infectious, the costumes and set were beautifully detailed (amazing, actually), choreography and sight gags were cheesy and fun, and the band was terrific. Little details from the conductor wielding a pistol, to the prisoner chained in the courtyard at interval, to the dismembered knight, to the killer rabbit...were all wonderfully realised, and the cast looked like they were having so much fun, it was impossible not to be in the audience and really enjoy it. But I had a huge problem hearing any of the vocals over the music. Not a problem for dialogue scenes where I pretty well knew all the old Monty Python lines anyway. But I was really keen to hear the new material in the show, hoping it would involve the same silly word play I expect from Python. But at least a third-to-a-half of any lyrics were too hard for me to hear in the balance against the 15 piece band. The start of act two seemed a little better, but then there was a whole section where I thought to myself 'This is like watching a funny movie with the sound turned down, with loud music playing at the same time". At least one of the singers was really belting it out (the Lady of the Lake - a brassy, sassy performance), but even miked up I couldn't always hear all the lyrics. Others who made the mistake of assuming that microphones would do the job and so didn't project as much became even more drowned out. (Perhaps that was the problem? Maybe the audio guys couldn't turn the levels up too much on the quieter ones because the projecting ones would've boomed too much? Either way, I would've preferred vocals too loud than not heard at all. I suppose for beautiful singing voices they didn't want to come across like 'the Voice of God' character, who was distorting over the microphone...but he could at least be heard. The contrast really stood out in the final few bars of the closing number where the cast sang a cappella and could be heard in fine and loud harmony, but then were drowned out again. A shame, because it marred what otherwise was an excellent knight. Still worth seeing, and I still had a great time. Thanks! Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------