The District Theatre's Monty Python's Spamalot seems like an amateur talent show, particularly due to the limitations of the company's new performance space in Rock Island's former Grape Life venue. (The new locale is so small, it redefines "intimate theatre" in the Quad Cities.) Yet while the limited movement due to the lack of stage space creates an amateurish feel, I'm happy to say that much of the rest of Friday's production emphasized talent. If it was an intentional decision to present the material as a novice attempt to recreate Monty Python's (arguably) best-loved film, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, it was a smart one on director Tristan Tapscott's part. Space doesn't allow for a big production, so Tapscott embraces the limitations of the new stage area, and it works.
A Depression-era band performs an impromptu concert at a small-town theatre, facing off against an overbearing, somewhat inept police officer who later, after getting plastered, takes a shine to them. The group's biggest adversary is a mean-spirited rich woman who, after boo-worthy attacks on the group, gets her comeuppance when her power is pulled out from under her. The story serves as the bridge to performances of early-20th-Century songs performed by this jukebox musical's cast members, who play on string instruments and out-of-the-ordinary percussion sources.
On Saturday evening, I was reminded of the local treasure that is the District Theatre's A Christmas Carol. Written by Tristan Layne Tapscott with music by Danny White, this holiday musical is something special: a locally created piece so good that it could, and should, be staged by theatres throughout the country. And this year - the second the theatre has produced the show - brings some notable changes from last winter's staging of this theatrical gem.
It only takes the jurors of the District Theatre's 12 Angry Men an hour to deliberate and arrive at a verdict in the play's murder trial, but director Tristan Tapscott's production in no way feels rushed or stunted. Instead, Thursday's 60-minute trip through this classic piece of theatre did a fine job of showcasing the excellence of playwright Reginald Rose's script. Plus, purists be damned, Tapscott's decision to cast women in what's traditionally - even titularly - an all-male drama proves not at all problematic, and allows for the inclusion of Patti Flaherty, and her infusion of humorous personality traits, in the role of Juror Four.Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts
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