First, let me take this opportunity to say how much we miss Youffraita, and hope that she* will be back online soon. I was in rehearsals and production for our local community theatre's production of Monty Python's Spamalot for the last couple months, so I actually missed that she had not returned. Hopefully, she will be back soon to provide our Monday Night entertainment, along with the pleasure of her company. In the meantime, I will do my best to fill in this week with a diary of my experiences with this production.
* (Sheepish confession: For the longest time, I had assumed Youffraita was a man.)
Yours truly, as the Historian:
"In Mercia and the two Anglias, plague, with a 50% chance of pestilence and famine coming out of the northeast at 12 miles per hour."
Head below the Fleur-de-Kos for more:
I am afraid I cannot post any video from the production, due to copyright issues, but I will post a few pix. I only played minor roles in this production, primarily The Historian and Brother Maynard, but this is one show where I am just happy to be along for the ride. Unfortunately, the Director & Musical Director have a rather low opinion of my singing ability, so I was unable to land a major role (Ah, the trials and tribulations of the community theater experience!)
This is also the first musical in which I have been relegated to the Uncoordinated Old Farts Back Row of the few dance numbers I was in. I was torn between feeling slighted or relieved. One physically challenging dance number I was in, however, was the Not Yet Dead scene (mostly because it involved periodically falling face-down on the stage):
One dance scene that would have been fun and challenging, that I did not get to participate in was His Name is Lancelot:
I actually made/provided a lot of costumes and props for the show, including the codpiece you see Lancelot wearing above, and the costumes worn by Sir Robin's Minstrels (and many others):
Sadly, my contributions to the costumes and props were not acknowledged, either in the program, or at the cast party (not that I'm BITTER, or anything). Ironically, my first show with this organization was Camelot, many years ago, and the same thing happened with that - my lovely wife and I provided many costumes and props, yet were not credited. That is one of the downsides of even the best organizations, where some people don't want to share credit where due.
One reason we had many costumes for those shows, and other Medieval/Renaissance ones (like The Lion in Winter) is our involvement in The Society for Creative Anachronism. Although we are not as involved as we used to be, I found that the first helm I had made (when I was a teenager, [redacted] years ago) came in handy for The Black Knight:
On the plus side, I especially had fun with the role of Brother Maynard. Someone pointed out that since I was supposed to be reading from the "Book of Armaments", that I could cheat and have my lines printed in it. I pointed out that since these lines weren't any different from the movie, I have been off-book for 35 years.
"Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it. Amen."
I hope you all enjoy my tale and pictures, and if Youffraita is lurking, please come back soon - we miss you!