‘Python’ fun pretty much unconstricted

“Monty Python’s Spamalot”

Original Broadway cast recording

(Decca Broadway)

***

That quest for the Holy Grail -- a hit Broadway musical -- was joined this season by this gadabout, which, miracle of miracles, nabbed the sacred cup. An adaptation of the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” it adds a boatload of new songs and a number of plot twists to the British comedy team’s wacky take on the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

The Pythons’ improbably irresistible humor -- an alchemic fusion of the low- and highbrow -- comes across well on this recording. In a Camelot that bears a suspicious resemblance to Las Vegas’ Excalibur casino, “Knights of the Round Table,” a holdover from the movie, morphs into a sendup of song-slaughtering lounge acts. Several setbacks later, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” interpolated from “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” is sung to buck up the spirits of Tim Curry’s King Arthur.

The laugh-out-loud tally spikes, though, in songs that poke fun of musical-theater mannerisms, especially “The Song That Goes Like This,” a mock love ballad in which Christopher Sieber as Sir Galahad and Sara Ramirez as the dishy Lady of the Lake plunge through overheated crescendos and arbitrary key changes.

Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce also gamely deliver Eric Idle’s gut-busting doggerel lyrics, fused to musical styles that Idle and John Du Prez have grabbed from hither and yon. It’s all pretty silly, but since when is that a bad thing?

*

What ‘Women’ wants is stronger material

“Little Women”

Original Broadway cast recording (Ghostlight Records)

* 1/2

As an inspirational musical for ‘tween girls, this treatment of Louisa May Alcott’s novel may serve an admirable function. As listening material for the adult Broadway lover, however, it’s awfully ho-hum.

A theme of sisterly solidarity resonates through these competent yet undistinguished tunes by composer Jason Howland and lyricist Mindi Dickstein, keyed to Allan Knee’s adaptation of the story of the four March sisters, who, with their mother, must soldier on at home while their father is off fighting the Civil War. Incandescent voices make these ballads and anthems -- written in the faux-historical/pop/Broadway manner now familiar from such shows as “Les Miserables” -- better than they really are, especially when the vocal cords belong to Sutton Foster, the breakout star of 2002’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” or ‘70s pop chanteuse Maureen McGovern.

Portraying Jo, the sister with writerly ambitions, the sparkling-voiced Foster conveys the empowerment inherent in songs with such declarative titles as “Better,” “Astonishing” and “The Fire Within Me.” As the mother determined to be strong for her little women, McGovern turns “Here Alone,” a letter to the absent husband, into a dusky torch song.

Emblematic of the score’s lack of inspiration, however, is the inclusion of yet another letter song (sung by John Hickok as Jo’s beau-to-be) and openers at the top of both acts that dutifully if dully evoke Jo’s early literary efforts.

*

Indeed, the rotten thing is that it’s dirty

“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

Original Broadway cast recording (Ghostlight Records)

*

Sure, we expected PG or even PG-13-rated material from a Broadway musical adaptation of the 1988 naughty-boy movie “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” but not the toilet ... I hesitate to even call it ... “humor” that characterizes this show introduced last year at San Diego’s Old Globe.

The rough language and vulgar word pictures -- written, alas, into the lyrics -- are a heavy-handed means of conveying the barely-evolved-from-apes comportment of a small-time American con man (played by Norbert Leo Butz) who invades the French Riviera turf of a suave British grifter (John Lithgow). Lyricist-composer David Yazbek included some similarly character-based blue material in his first stage project, 2000’s “The Full Monty,” but there, his invigorating rock ‘n’ roll melodies and the show’s ultimately sweet message overrode any reflexive shock. Here, he pretty much wallows in crassness.

An exception -- and it’s almost a big enough exception to recommend buying this disc (due Tuesday) for the one song alone -- is “Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True,” a bubbly, Cole Porter-esque tune delivered by a giddy heiress (Sherie Rene Scott) as she tumbles toward romance with Butz, who’s picked her as his next mark. Enjoyable as well is the c’est la vie spirit conveyed by Joanna Gleason, as another patsy, in “What Was a Woman to Do?”

Otherwise, we’re mostly stuck with the likes of “Great Big Stuff,” a pseudo rap number in which Butz’s con man, dreaming of ill-gotten gains, utters a euphemistic word pairing so vile it’s a wonder my CD player didn’t spit the distasteful disc across the room.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).