Review:  ‘Spamalot’ a summer treat at Hollywood Bowl

It’s hard to go wrong with “Spamalot” at the Hollywood Bowl. The Tony-winning show, based on the cult movie comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” leaves no silliness unturned as it affectionately sends up the Broadway musical.

Even a production as casually staged as the one by BT McNicholl this past weekend was enough to keep the picnicking crowd tittering in summertime contentment under a full moon.

Naturally, the gags were delightfully familiar to a great many theatergoers, who chuckled as jokes were just being introduced and could occasionally be seen mouthing punch lines. In this respect, the evening was akin to a “Sound of Music” sing-along, with hard-core Python fans relating to the zany routines (involving a flatulent Frenchman, a dead cow and a killer rabbit) as a caroling family might relate to hearing “My Favorite Things” and “Do-Re-Mi.”

SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter >>

The tricky-to-stage black knight sequence was, ahem, cut, depriving devotees of laughing once again at the “arms for the poor” bit. But the production still provided an embarrassment of puns.

Eric Idle, who wrote the show’s book and lyrics, served as the evening’s bow-tie-wearing Historian. His preface added an authentic British touch to the shenanigans about bumbling medieval knights on a quest for the Holy Grail who find any excuse to make musical mayhem.

This wasn’t a production that hit all its marks. But given the truncated rehearsal period for Bowl musicals, the cast should be congratulated for provoking a steady stream of giggling.

Craig Robinson, who played Darryl Philbin on NBC’s “The Office,” was a somewhat tentative King Arthur. At times he was in danger of being upstaged by Warwick Davis’ Patsy, Arthur’s servant, who claps coconut shells to simulate the sound of his master’s trotting horse.

Davis, born with a rare form of dwarfism, is a fraction of Robinson’s size, but he more naturally commanded the theatrical space. Robinson’s awkwardness, however, wasn’t entirely out of character, and he endowed Arthur with an approachable everyman quality that, while not especially regal, kept the audience on his side.

Christian Slater, taking a break from USA Network’s “Mr. Robot,” not only made a dashing Sir Galahad but proved daftly effective with the script’s literal-minded wordplay. Kevin Chamberlin, winning as the clueless Sir Bedevere, added some cross-dressing panache when appearing as Galahad’s mother.

Rick Holmes gamely delivered as he morphed from the French Taunter to Knight of Ni to Tim the Enchanter. But it was as Lancelot that he scored his funniest moments alongside Tom Deckman’s Herbert, the prince who waits for Lancelot to rescue him from an arranged heterosexual marriage.

Idle toyed with updating the same-sex marriage joke that caps the Lancelot and Herbert scene — “Just think, Herbert, in a thousand years’ time this will still be controversial” — but decided to leave well enough alone. There were, however, wry references to Caitlyn Jenner and Tom Brady to keep things au courant.

As Sir Robin, Jesse Tyler Ferguson of ABC’s “Modern Family” flaunted his musical comedy chops in the rambunctious number “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” (“if you don’t have any Jews”). As the Lady of the Lake, Merle Dandridge, another dab theatrical hand, parodied Broadway bathos with powerhouse vocals that could turn unexpectedly guttural in “The Song That Goes Like This” and “The Diva’s Lament.”

“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” the most famous number in the show, is borrowed from the film “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.” But the score by Idle and John Du Prez is crammed with capering ditties, and the orchestra, conducted by musical director Todd Ellison, brought out all the colors in the musical mirth.

“Spamalot” is constructed as a series of skits, so it’s ideal for the Bowl’s laid-back theatergoing ambience. But the originality of the show (which helped pave the way for “The Book of Mormon” and “Something Rotten!”) remains impressive even in a production that seemed a little slapdash in its visual presentation.

Fortunately, perfect stagecraft isn’t required to enjoy the antics. “Spamalot” outdoors was breezy fun that made it easy to look on the bright side of this entertaining crowd-pleaser.

charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

MORE THEATER REVIEWS:

Flawed Atticus should still be celebrated, ‘Mockingbird’ actor says

Generosity overcomes terrorism in unpretentious ‘Come From Away’

‘Girlfriend’ visits the sweet, tender and perilous summer love of two young men