The Revolution Orchestra with Rivka Michaeli, Avi Greinik and Adi Cohen perform for the evacuees of Nativ Hathara/Omer Lekner
The comedy troupe Monty Python taught the world how much intelligence and depth can be found in insisting on being as silly as possible.
With the television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus", in addition to four films that are still considered to be some of the greatest comedies in the history of cinema, they not only made millions laugh, but also challenged the way a joke should be told in the first place, and found the point where the world's dumbest humor becomes breaking A basic convention, laugh at the level of the grotesque and on the way to become a British iron sheep property of the kind that stands in genius next to the Beatles, James Bond and Shakespeare.
I admit that I am personally ambivalent towards them: not every sketch of theirs does that to me and in front of certain of their works I give up in advance trying to understand what is so funny there, but I have no interest in arguing with the test of the result: the burned fans there, they cry with laughter at the word " spam".
Of course I applaud.
And for them is intended the musical tribute of the Revolution Orchestra that is playing these days at the Opera House: "The Gospel according to Monty Python - an original work for orchestra, choir and dead parrot".
But even those who don't necessarily like this composition in their hearts will be able to enjoy it.
The Revolution Orchestra: "The Gospel according to Monty Python", February 2024/Moshe Chitiat
The Revolution Orchestra (led by Zohar Sharon and Roy Oppenheim) likes to take the formal format of the musical concert and have fun with it, as they did in their tribute to the pale tracker and when they accompanied the screening of the movie "Gold Rush".
There is no populist flattery or elitist pretension here - here is a particularly fun evening made with talent, and with Oppenheim's gracious insistence on also being the winner of the evening and eager to note some gags that are all his.
The show combines pieces of live theater with orchestrated screenings of some of Monty Python's favorite skits and scenes.
Part of the time we see the orchestra's interpretation of rhythmic music videos that function as a collage of some of the band's recurring motifs: a beautiful mash-up performed by Ensemble Moran to the Beatles' "Something" and Charles Aznavour's "She" is accompanied by a music video editing the band's greatest drag moments.
Verdi's "Dies Irae" accompanies their most morbid moments.
Do these moments provide a refreshing new take on classic skits?
Not necessarily.
The Monty Python fan sitting next to me did enjoy every moment, but admitted that in the end she would have also enjoyed re-watching the same skits and movies as they are.
This prevents the show from being a standalone piece with meat, but that's also why it succeeds - there's no attempt to innovate anything here.
The original is good enough on its own, and this is simply a loving tribute to it.
If anything, some of the best moments in the show are of basic musical accompaniment for classic sketches - like in the sketch "The Office of Stupid Walks", where every silly step of Michael Palin and John Cleese gets its own music.
The Revolution Orchestra: "The Gospel according to Monty Python", February 2024/Moshe Chitiat
And this is where the show really shines: Sharon and Oppenheim's clever orchestration (with the help of Itay Zebulon's direction, not just "Yanir HaHmash") draws our attention to the melody of the gag, to the music of the pythonic nonsense, thus adding grace and beauty to it that were not necessarily supposed to be there - But how fun it is to find them in things like a song about the excessive importance that the Catholic Church gives to the male seed.
And if the evening was carried on the shoulders of the conductor Oppenheim, he flew in the air thanks to the main actor, the host of the event, Ben Perry (one of the founders of "Tsipurla", who raised entire generations of children Perry is a total comedian who goes as far as possible to make us laugh, and it works for him, both when he demonstrates a devout loyalty to the Pythonic origin and when he decides to fly into the realms of Jim Carrey.
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Perry appears like he's been shot out of a cannon, and it makes the show a great joy, whether he's getting on drag and asking us to look under our seats for a fish, whether he's singing the "Lumberjack Song," or performing "The Bright Side of Life," Monty Python's biggest hit, and one of the best songs ever written for a movie.
It's a shame that the show didn't address the plot context of that song (and in general, Monty Python's films are relatively underrepresented here compared to "The Flying Circus"), but in the end I left the hall with a smile on my lips and a new song in my heart, and that, in the end, is the goal (Even if the group itself aspired and managed to achieve more than that).
The Revolution Orchestra: "The Gospel according to Monty Python", February 2024/Moshe Chitiat
"The Gospel according to Monty Python" is a well-made and respectful tribute show that will surely make fans very happy - and if those fans have friends who don't necessarily know the difference between "The Holy Grail" and "And now something completely different", they too could be a great date for the evening .
The lay viewer of Monty Python probably won't get all the jokes, but Perry's excellent music and energetic direction might make even them, like top star Brian, see the bright side of the evening.
And considering the fact that the original song was sung by a bunch of men nailed to a cross awaiting their death, most of us can appreciate the irony, which is relevant for anyone trying (and succeeding) to make jokes in the Israel of winter 2024.
The Revolution Orchestra will perform "The Gospel according to Monty Python - an original work for orchestra, choir and dead parrots" on March 23 at the Herzliya Hall of Arts, on April 18 at the Haifa Auditorium, and on April 20 at the Israel Opera.
More on the same topic:
Monty Python
The Revolution Orchestra
Ben Perry