Looking for reviews of Not the Messiah<\/a><\/i>, the oratorio based on Monty Python\u2019s Life of Brian<\/a><\/i> (1979) which premiered in Toronto last Friday? Here are a few for your reading pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n First, John Terauds<\/a> of the Toronto Star<\/i>:<\/p>\n Not the Messiah (He\u2019s a Very Naughty Boy)<\/i> felt like a time capsule of the best of 1970s British humour, with the old double-entendres and verbal shtick neatly laid out in sealed glass cases. . . .<\/p>\n On stage with the TSO were conductor Peter Oundjian, his first cousin Idle and four excellent soloists \u2013 soprano Shannon Mercer, mezzo Jean Stilwell, Broadway tenor (and Tony-winning Spamalot<\/i> alumnus) Christopher Sieber and bass-baritone Theodore Baerg \u2013 and a core group from the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.<\/p>\n They told us about poor Mandy Cohen, the \u201crather less than immaculate conception\u201d of her bastard son Brian and how Judea mistook him for the Messiah.<\/p>\n Longtime Idle collaborator John Du Prez has fashioned a patchwork quilt of music to fit the 22 numbers divided into five parts \u2013 from imitation do-wop and gospel to Gilbert and Sullivan, via Mozart and Handel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all silly fun, with the five singers (including the tonally challenged Idle) standing in front of the orchestra, each taking turns with solos backed up by the eager choir.<\/p>\n A half-dozen of the numbers brought down the house \u2013 the best being Idle\u2019s spot-on parody of Bob Dylan, with acoustic guitar, harmonica and mumbled lyrics.<\/p>\n Besides being able to leave the hall whistling \u201cAlways Look on the Bright Side of Life,\u201d we were treated to equally quaint instrumental program fillers, such as Edward Elgar\u2019s \u201cNimrod\u201d from the Enigma Variations<\/i> and John Philip Sousa\u2019s \u201cLiberty Bell March.\u201d<\/p>\n It was all well done but missed capturing the spirit of today, which is what Luminato is really about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Second, Colin Eatock<\/a> of the Globe and Mail<\/i>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s lively stuff, to be sure. In true Monty Python fashion, it\u2019s a crazy soup-to-nuts, heavy on the nuts, hodge-podge. There\u2019s bawdy music-hall humour, a touch of Noel Coward cleverness in the lyrics \u2013 \u201cfreer\u201d is rhymed with \u201cJudea,\u201d and a range of musical styles from gospel to mariachi.<\/p>\n But Mr. Idle was right about the \u201cripped off\u201d part. Not The Messiah<\/i> is a retread, a pastiche, and a send-up of a send-up, right up to the final Always Look On the Bright Side of Life<\/i>, a song directly imported from the movie. A few of the musical novelties suggest Python\u2019s wacky heyday, such as the highland pipers who appear, in full regalia but for no apparent reason, in the number You\u2019re the One<\/i>.<\/p>\n But some numbers are reminiscent of the musicals Godspell<\/i> and Jesus Christ Superstar<\/i>: rather bland and a little too earnest to be funny.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And now, Robert Cushman<\/a> of the National Post<\/i>:<\/p>\n As well as being a filleted adaptation of the movie, the new piece functions as an homage to, or more frankly, an exploitation of, all things Python. For example: As is well known, Brian was born in a stable to the Non-Virgin Mary while a more momentous birth was taking place just next door. (\u201cIs it A.D. yet?\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s about a quarter to.\u201d) And There Were Shepherds \u2014 that\u2019s the title of one of the numbers, if an oratorio has numbers. In it, the shepherds sing about how happy they are in their jobs because, simply, \u201cwe like sheep.\u201d They don\u2019t, they make it clear, have much time for any other variety of livestock. They are as enhusiastica bout sheep as others have been known to be about Spam. There\u2019s also a strong hint that they enjoy shepherding as much as others might enjoy, say, lumberjacking. This theme becomes more explicit at the other end of the legend when Brian is about to be crucified. One of his fellow prisoners sings A Fair Day\u2019s Work, which is really the imperishable Python anthem about cross-dressing timber cutters as it might have been structured by Gilbert and Sullivan.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t remember exactly how Brian, in The Life of, came to the cross, but I\u2019m sure there was a reason. In Not the Messiah, which is less a narrative than a series of jump-cuts, it just sort of happens. It can\u2019t be traced to his involvement with the People\u2019s Front of Judea; though that, which provided the best scene in the film, also provides the best song here. Entitled What Have the Romans (as in \u201cwhat have the Romans ever done for us?\u201d), it covers exactly the same satiric ground but does so within the satisfying disciplines of rhyme and meter. Honour the lyricist who can make creative use of the word \u201caqueduct.\u201d John Du Prez, Idle\u2019s composing collaborator, has written an amusing and eclectic score, and in something called The Final Song reaffirms the talent he showed in Spamalot for writing Andrew Lloyd Webber pastiches that are better than Andrew Lloyd Webber. Of course, it isn\u2019t the final song. It has to give way to a full-scale rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. . . .<\/p>\n But much of the evening\u2019s appeal undoubtedly depends on its sense of lesemajeste. I don\u2019t mean by that irreverence towards the Bible. The show begins with a rather heavy-handed anti-hymn, O God You Are So Big (\u201cand we are garbage in your sight\u201d) and it retains the exhortations of Brian, the reluctant messiah, that his flock should learn to think for themselves. But this element is muted, and the music actually dilutes it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cAll things Python\u201d indeed \u2014 that bit about the shepherds and \u201cIs it A.D. yet?\u201d and so on is actually from a deleted scene<\/i>, which as far as I know is only available on the Criterion DVD version of Life of Brian<\/i>. (It\u2019s hilarious<\/a>, BTW.) And if I\u2019m not mistaken, \u2018O God You Are So Big\u2019 can be traced to The Meaning of Life<\/a><\/i> (1983).<\/p>\n FWIW, I note that, according to this article<\/a> in the Toronto Sun<\/i>, the oratorio will next be performed at the Caramoor<\/a> festival in New York state July 1. Presumably it will travel elsewhere, too.<\/p>\n If I find any more reviews, I\u2019ll post them here, too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Looking for reviews of Not the Messiah, the oratorio based on Monty Python\u2019s Life of Brian (1979) which premiered in Toronto last Friday? Here are a few for your reading pleasure. First, John Terauds of the Toronto Star: Not the Messiah (He\u2019s a Very Naughty Boy) felt like a time capsule of the best of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n