Wednesday 30 July 2014

And Now for Something Completely Different....

I’m appalled to see how long it has been since I’ve updated this blog.  I regularly go to talks, exhibitions, events and quirky places and often stat, bashing something out to post here about it, but I’ve been so busy that I’ve not had a chance to finish it before attending the next thing, or having to focus on work commitments.  I may well put some ‘old’ things up here when I get a chance because I have done several interesting things that I’d like to log for posterity, if nothing else, even if it won’t make for a timely post.

One recent event that kept me smiling for well over a week was attending the Monty Python reunion at the O2 Arena, something a bit beyond my means but which I knew would be worth it, so I got there.  It seemed impossible that the show would live up to towering expectations, but I enjoyed it more than I ever could have imagined.  The Pythons treated us to the best of all their sketches, and delightfully kept to the lines and even facial expressions that we’ve adored for decades, but also added some new material, creatively combined sketches, or ad libbed magically (even giggling at times) to make it all even more special.  Even the added music and dance numbers were slick.
I particularly love how it was not just a reunion of the original Pythons—all except for the late Graham Chapman, of course, who was there in spirit and on film so he did take part—but also their musical director, choreographer, costume designer and the great Carol Cleveland, the woman in the show who really was a woman.  Every bit of it was utterly magnificent fun, and every Python is just so impressive.  I’m thrilled they agreed to do this reunion and that we’re so privileged to still have them with us, putting their talents to regular good use.

So rather than say a few words here (as I’ve accidentally just done), I treated the show the way I do concerts.  Since the year dot, long before blogs and YouTube, I have been putting play-by-play accounts of concerts on my About Last Night website, and I couldn’t resist putting a  (perhaps excruciatingly) detailed review of the joy I felt when watching the Monty Python Live show. 
The show has been shown on Gold and it will be released on DVD in November (hurrah!), so if you don’t want to see spoilers, avoid it.  But if you can live with knowing what happens and want to pretend you were there, or relive the fun of being there, or just want to see several photographs of the outstandingly talented Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam dressed up doing silly things, you can find my account of it on my concert website here:  http://aboutlastnight.org.uk/MontyPythonO2tc16Jy14.htm
 (This link skips my home page, which seems to be severely ailing at the moment so please avert your eyes from its shortcomings. But so far, the Monty Python page is behaving well.)