When I first saw photographs from a Royal Del Luxe performance several years ago, I was blown away, touched, and inspired.

This is monumental art - interactive and alive in ways that I had only ever before encountered at Burning Man. But Royal De Luxe creates this magic in the middle of cities, turning the mundane world into a stage and the awestruck bystanders into participants.

I was trying to describe Royal De Luxe last night while hanging out for New Years Eve, and words failed me. Only pictures and video could explain this, so YouTube came to my rescue.

The video above is from the visit of "The Sultan's Elephant", when a giant girl and a time-traveling elephant visited London in the summer of 2006.

The entire room had their jaws on the floor after watching this video, so I think it is worth sharing here. Enjoy, and be amazed.

You can read a great article with lots more details about the Royal De Luxe here.

Here's another video clip, this one focusing on the elephant. Amazing!

serolynne got us some student priced tickets to see the touring production of the Pirates of Penzance tonight at the King Center in Melbourne.

Gads - it was awful. I am glad it only cost $10 to attend!

The show was completely pointless. The story wasn't engaging, exciting, interesting, or even witty. I felt no connection to any of the character, or the actors. The music was basic, occasionally catchy, but often tedious. And the banshee howls of the female chorus were mostly unintelligible, and often painful.

I don't think I've ever seen a Gilbert and Sullivan play before. I intend to avoid seeing another one.

Rating: 1 star

Wednesday night my parent's surprised me with an early birthday present: tickets for us to see the touring production of Monty Python's Spamalot being performed at the "Fabulous Fox Theater" in St. Louis.

My pop-culture radar must be getting a bit dusty - I hadn't even heard of this play even though it won a 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical.
It was a complete surprise to me - the kind of present I like best. *grin*

Spamalot is retelling of the classic movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail - "lovingly" adapted for the stage.

But as is often the case, classics are often better left alone.

Many of the original bits from the movie are copied exactly - but without the comic genius of John Cleese and the other Monty Python originals, the magic just isn't there. And the whole new self-referential thread to the play about the knights needing to "put on a broadway show" as a new challenge replacing the quest for a shrubery just felt wrong - particularly the song about needing to have a Jew in the cast to succeed on Broadway. Uhm, uh, ok.

Lancelot winding up gay however sure was an interesting twist. I liked his shiny chain mail speedo.

Even thought the play as whole was lacking, many of the songs were fun indeed. You can check out the cast recording here: Monty Python's Spamalot (Cast Recording on CD)

Overall, it was a fun night out on the town with the folks, and a much appreciated gift.

Rating: 2 stars.

More adventures in Nomadic Serendipity this past weekend...

Dinner with my friends Karin and Thomas Friday night turned in to them inviting me to go along with them to Leah's birthday party - a woman I had met at Burning Man but hadn't gotten to know particularly well yet. At the party, Leah asked me what I was doing Saturday night. It turns out Leah is the Development Director for the Magic Theater in San Francisco, and Saturday night was the San Francisco premier of Sam Shepard's latest play - The God of Hell.

She told me I could meet her there right before show time and I'd get in to the show free, and I'd get to stay after for the VIP party for the cast and donors.

How could I say say no?!? We even ended up with front row seats!

I remember having seen Sam Shepard's Pulitzer-Prize winning play Buried Child performed when I was in college, so I had high hopes for The God of Hell.

Sadly, I was a bit disappointed.

They play was intense and powerful, and the difficult roles were incredibly well acted by the skilled four person cast. But the story itself felt pointless, tedious, and repetitive.

From the show guide: It is a Comedy of Menace, rooted in Naturalism but also embracing the Absurd.

And from Wikipedia: The God of Hell has been described by Shepard as "a take-off on Republican fascism." The plot concerns Wisconsin dairy farmer Frank and his wife Emma, and how their peaceful middle-American life is destroyed by Mr. Welch, a mysterious, ultra-patriotic government employee in pursuit of Frank's old friend, Haynes.

For me - the core point of the play about patriotism run amuck and our government going out of control is actually diminished by framing it as an absurd black comedy. The reality of what has been happening to our government is absurd and scary enough that it doesn't need to be magnified into a farce.

(Speaking of which - the stuff I have been reading today about the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is making me sick to my stomach...)

But regardless of what I thought of the play, I loved the chance to go out and see some live theater. It was also very much fun to spend a night out getting to know Leah better!

Rating: 1.5 stars