For
the past couple of summers the local theatres in South Florida have
gotten together and offered free theatre tickets having you select 3
choices of what is available and trying to give you your first choice . Two years ago we
went to see "After The Revolution" at the Caldwell Playhouse in Boca
Raton and though I didn't care for the play I did like the theatre and
had been going to see that theatre company from the days they started in
a store front in the mall. Their new theatre was beautiful but they
built it when the economy hit the skids and never recovered officially
closing the doors last year.

Looking
over the list I chose "Spamalot" for a few reasons: 1) I have never
seen it, missing the touring company 2) it was close and 3) though I
don't remember what I saw there a few (many?) years ago I do remember
being impressed with the auditorium and 4) I had seen the other shows
and those nearby weren't worth seeing again.

Bailey
Hall is on the Broward College campus and though the latter is easy
enough to find the former isn't. We eventually passed a building saying
Fine Arts so we figured we were near and did eventually find it.

Bailey
Hall has a sleek, long lobby and the theatre itself is sharp with
bright red seats, no middle aisle and in many ways reminding me of the
Parker Playhoues with good sight lines and both theatres having a
capacity of about 1,165 with a large stage. It is a comfortable place to
see a show.

This
production of "Spamalot" was put on by high school and college students
with a few adults in main roles. They really did a spectacular job with
the scenery filling the stage with many different sets. The lighting,
the costumes were, more or less, adequate but when it came to the cast
most performers were way below par. While the choreography tried
different steps the cast wasn't up to executing it very well. There were
too many sloppy moments with head gear falling off, batons being
dropped which, if it was an experienced cast, could have taken advantage
by playing into the Monty Python humor but it was beyond them.

It's
not fair to blame the cast for it being a bad show because the songs
were pedestrian, the book, though incorporating many of the Monty
Python's group pieces, dragged.

It
was a very small audience--probably 'winners' like us and family
members--spread out, not giving the actors a point to play to which
didn't help keeping focus on to whom they were playing for.
It
is said "You get what you pay for" so what can I say when it was free?
It was an outing on a Saturday afternoon in an air conditioned
impressive theatre hall and let's leave it at that.