Monty Python, the brilliantly satirical British comedy group, took television audiences in the late 1960s and early 1970s by storm. Avid fans of offbeat British humor can still quote memorable lines from the show. However, diehard fan of the British group or not, Monty Python’s Spamalot is sheer humorous entertainment.

The songs are clever, and the actors do a fabulous job of keeping the silliness of the show in balance. The Lady of the Lake's Laker Girls chorus, the French taunters’ cancan rout of the knights and the disco coming-out "His Name Is Lancelot”, are a few of the production numbers that keep the audience smiling. A velvet-voiced John O'Hurley of "Seinfeld" fame makes the role of King Arthur his own with easygoing assuredness as he gathers knights for his Round Table and encounters absurd challenges in the quest for the Holy Grail.

Performed at the Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theater (1,600 - 2,000 seats), the sophisticatedly funny production of Monty Python’s Spamalot was professionally executed and brilliantly entertaining. But there’s no need to trek to the City of Angels to enjoy this piece. You can get an in-county viewing shortly because Spamalot comes to Orange County this Fall! 

• Monty Python’s, Spamalot is at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. It is coming to the Orange County Center for the Performing Arts October 6-18 and a promo code of “KNIGHT” offers patrons a special promotion discount ticket price. Call 714.556.2787 for more information.
   
• Playing next week: Oedipus the King, Mama! at the Falcon Theatre, Wednesday - Saturday 8pm, Sun. 4pm, from August 12-September 27, 2009. Call Falcon Box Office for tickets: 818-955-8101 or visit www.falcontheatre.com. 

Eloise Coopersmith is a South County resident who has spent a lifetime in the theater. Her mother Nancy Coopersmith is in Northern California and is a writer of children’s stories and maker of inventive books. Together they wrote this review and it is their hope to get everyone off their couches and back into live performance venues.