As Susan already posted she and I went to Wolftrap on Thursday night to see Eric Idle and The National Symphony Orchestra perform "Not The Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy"
See here post on this here.
We weren't sure what we were in for as neither of us had ever heard of the show. Susan had found an article on google about the show (it's linked on her blog)and basically it was based on The Life of Brian the way Spamalot is based on The Quest for the Holy Grail.
Not The Messiah is quite the production! It features the NSO, however the music is anything but classical! The composer described the music as like listening to an iPod suffle where you can listen to a bit of a rock and roll piece followed by some jazz and then a bit of classical, etc. That was an apt description of the format! Very unique!
They had the orchestra, a chorus behind them and then the 5 soloists/actors in front - there were minimal props and special effects - although the singing sheep, bagpipers and leaf blower (not sure of that...other than just to be different) were priceless! The 5 solosits all had "parts" although they all played multiple roles, making it hard to follow in places.
The other interesting thing was the audience. Not sure what I was expecting but it seems like a stage performance of a Monty Python movie would draw a younger, less refined crowd, although Susan and I were sitting in the pavilion, the ex-nerds who could recite the entire movie were probably sitting out on the lawn having a grand ol' time!
The other funny thing about the evening....Susan had gotten her ticket before I did, she mentioned it at book club and I really wanted to come so I bought a ticket the week before - we had both clicked "best available" and we ended up 2 rows apart in the same seat #! We were in the 4th and 6th row - it was a little close for me, although it was a treat to be that close to Eric Idle. It looked like the show was almost completely sold out! There were 2 seats near me that were empty and there were some people who left at intermission.
Last night I dug out my old VHS of The Life of Brian and popped it in as I was doing some chores! Hysterical! I hadn't watched it in years - prob not since High School or maybe College - yet it was still just as funny! It made the performance the evening before even funnier! I think it helped seeing the movie after so that I could focus on the performance and appreciate the show for what it was not try to make it more like Life of Brian (if that makes any sense at all!)
It appeared that the show had limited performances in the states - just 3 I think. If it ever comes near you, go see it!!!!!
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