Why Broadway’s ‘Spamalot’ Cast Can’t Keep a Straight Face

variety.com:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor While the cast of the new Broadway production of “Spamalot” is cracking up audiences, they’re all trying their best not to crack up as well. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: On the new episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast, actors James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer and Michael Urie gave listeners a glimpse of the shenanigans that threaten their poker faces. “There’s this part where [co-star] Ethan Slater, as a mime, is miming dropping a baby off a balcony and it makes me laugh every night,” Urie says.

Among the actors, Chris Fitzgerald (“Waitress”) seems like the troublemaker of the group. “Chris will look at me during my song ‘Find Your Grail,’ and I’m singing, and he’s like crossing his eyes at me,” Kritzer said. “I absolutely love it, and I also can’t break because I’m singing.

There’s no choice in the matter.” Urie chimed in, “There’s a moment where we’re onstage and he’s just staring at me for the express purpose of making me laugh. … So that’s manipulative.” “Chris is literally figuring out bits while he’s doing other bits,” Iglehart added.

When Iglehart, Kritzer and Urie got involved in the show, they came with varying degrees of familiarity with the distinctive humor of Monty Python, the comedy troupe whose film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” was the inspiration for “Spamalot.” Iglehart, for instance, had never heard of them until he got to college. “If you’re in college theater, there’s always a couple of conversations that happen in a green room,” Iglehart explained. “It’s always Sondheim vs.