Our Trip To Spamalot

At the start of this month I wrote several post about presents I received this past Christmas that provided special moments and lasting memories.

Last Sunday, January 16, I received yet another wonderful memory courtesy of a Christmas gift.

My sons and I went to Lexington to see the national touring company's production of "Monty Python's Spamalot".

It is a stage show based on the movie "Monty Python & The Holy Grail". The original Broadway production won the 2005 Tony award as "best musical."

I bought the tickets back in August and gave the boys theirs as a Christmas present.

We has a terrific "guy's day out" together; something we hadn't had since they took me to a Hot Rods' baseball game last summer.

The day began with a stop at a "Cracker Barrel" restaurant just a few miles up the road. After we finished eating a hearty breakfast we headed up I-65 and across the Blue Grass Parkway.

We parked in a nearby private parking lot about a block from the Lexington Opera House. Arriving about 45 minutes before curtain.

Our seats were on the right side of the theater in the very front row. They were good seats but a bit too close to the stage, believe it or not. There were a set of stacked speakers on the stage in front of me that effected my view but otherwise we had a very good vantage point.

The show was a lot of fun and hilarious. We laughed from the time the overture began and the musical director "shot" one of the horn players for playing the wrong note, until the firing of confetti cannons at the end. The confetti flew as the entire cast was leading the audience in singing the song "The Bright Side of Life". By the way, because he wasn't expecting it, those confetti cannons going off right in front of him, surprised my 22 year old son. Although I didn't see it myself, Michael said it really made James jump. His reaction gave people around him an unexpected additional laugh.

The first act basically followed the script of the "holy grail" movie with lots of funny production numbers . But the 2nd act was more of a Broadway style retelling of the story with a tongue-in-cheek "happily ever after" ending.

After the show we stopped at an Applebee's restaurant in Lexington to have something to eat; then we drove home. As usually happens on road trips; my sons slept most of the way home.

It was the best "father and son" day we've had since I can remember. I'm going to be smiling about it for a long time. Although it's only January, for me, our trip to "Spamalot" has already made the list of highlights of the year 2011.