Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.”
Alex Brightman earned a pair of Tony Award nominations for Broadway’s “School of Rock” and “Beetlejuice,” the latter of which premiered at D.C.’s National Theatre in 2018 before bringing the show to New York in 2019.
On Friday, Brightman returns to the nation’s capital, this time galloping in on a pair of clanking coconuts for a star-studded production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Kennedy Center from May 12 to May 21.
“Being in D.C. for ‘Beetlejuice’ was a billion things, all good,” Brightman told WTOP. “I had the best time in D.C. and I’m not just saying that because I’m talking to you. I talk about it still, about how great it was to be here with the audiences here in D.C. I think they’re really cool and supportive but also discerning, which is important to get honest feedback … I love being back. I was thrilled at the idea of (‘Spamalot’) coming to the Kennedy Center.”
The show features a hilarious book written by Eric Idle based on the classic film “Monty Python & The Holy Grail” (1975) with bonus bits from other Python gems like “Life of Brian” (1979). Idle also cowrote the musical numbers with John Du Prez for the 2005 Broadway production, which earned 14 Tony nominations, winning Best Musical.
“They really did an amazing job at giving you everything you’re expecting — that’s only fair to the Monty Python super fans,” Brightman said. “You’ll hear a musical rendition of ‘I’m Not Dead Yet’ where you get the ‘bring out your dead’ … We have a great rendition of ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ … One of the bigger numbers to come for is called ‘Camelot’ when all of the knights get together and Camelot is posed as this Las Vegas like place.”
Brightman plays Sir Lancelot (and other fun cameos) in a deep cast of James Monroe Iglehart (“Aladdin”) as King Arthur, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (“Something Rotten!”) as the Lady of the Lake, Rob McClure (“Mrs. Doubtfire”) as The Historian/Prince Herbert, Matthew Saldivar (“Guys and Dolls”) as Patsy, Jimmy Smagula (“Billy Elliot”) as Sir Bedevere, Nik Walker (“Hamilton”) as Sir Galahad, and Michael Urie (Apple TV’s “Shrinking”) as Sir Robin.
“I’m surrounded by a cast of dangerously funny people,” Brightman said. “I also play the Knight Who Says Ni, so if you wanted to see two-time Tony nominee Alex Brightman on stilts, this is your chance … I play Tim the Enchanter as well, the one that introduces the gang to the vicious killer rabbit … The Black Knight is Nik Walker and it’s really incredible stagecraft. In the movie it’s easy to do editing and special effects, but to do it live is a feat.”
Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.”
