Mike Wiencek and Michellle Mauer lead a song and dance routine during a dress rehearsal for "Spamalot" on Monday night.
The Knights of Ni and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog are coming to the Brewery Arts Center this weekend and next.
If you don’t know them, you might want to find out.
If you’re a fan of Monty Python you already know they’re crazy characters in the British troupe’s irreverent reenactment of the King Arthur legend.
“Spamalot,” the musical adaptation of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” will be on stage at the BAC’s Maizie Harris Jesse Black Box Theater Oct. 14-15 and Oct. 21-22 at 7 p.m. and on Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.
The Tony-award winning musical follows King Arthur, played by Michael Weincek, and his servant Patsy, played by Jeffrey Fast, supplying sound effects.
The pair travel around the dark and expensive forest recruiting Knights of the Round table, including Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave, played by Seth Fitzgerald, and Sir Dennis Galahad, The Dashingly Handsome, played by Joe Paslov.
Among the nearly two dozen songs are the cheery “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway.”
The two-act musical also features a killer rabbit guarding a cave and the Black Knight, whose unforgettable sword fight scene, movie fans will remember, can’t be easily rendered on stage.
“We do it with clever costumes and sets,” said Gina Lopez Hill, executive director, BAC, who choreographed and directs the musical.
The musical is more than a recreation of the Holy Grail tale. Fans of the British comedians will recognize references to other Monty Python work, including the Life of Brian, said Hill.
“Spamalot” is a Proscenium Players Inc. (PPI) production featuring seasoned professionals and a few newcomers who wanted to be on stage for the first time because they’re diehard Python fans, said Hill.
“We found a role for everyone who wanted to participate,” she said.
There are 22 characters and most have up to five costume changes.
The show couldn’t have happened without the help of Truckee Meadows Community College, said Hill, who supplied most of the 100 or so costumes.
“We’d never to be able to do it on our own without the costumes,” said Hill, who formerly worked at TMCC. “A year ago I was at TMCC to borrow something for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and Carolyn Wray, the retired director of the theater department there, said I should do ‘Spamalot.’”
Hill said the humor is cleaned up a bit for the Sunday 2 p.m. performances so families interested in bringing older children should attend the matinees.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for students and seniors, and $16 for BAC members.
Tickets are available online at www.carsoncitytheater.com or breweryarts.org, or by calling the BAC at 883-1976.
The BAC is at 449 W. King St.
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