![\"Dan](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/012Dan-Rosales-Chris-Anthony-Giles-Nicholas-Edwards-Juwan-Crawley-and-Nora-Schell-in-SPAMILTON-Photo-by-Carol-Rosegg.jpg\")
<\/a>Dan Rosales, Chris Anthony Giles, Nicholas Edwards, Juwan Crawley (who’s just been replaced by Larry Owens,) and Nora Schell. Photo by Carol Rosegg.<\/p><\/div>\n
The show is absolutely brilliant.\u00a0 Not only from the one mind that conceived it all, Gerard Alessandrini, but by the entire cast. Five actors do the body of the work, and there are also two fabulous surprise performers. And everyone is wonderful.<\/p>\n
But, you know that I have to go in linear order, so here\u2019s a thing or two about the off-Broadway theatre it\u2019s in. It\u2019s The Triad, on the Upper West Side, and is located\u2026above a Turkish restaurant! I love, love, love the location! It has almost a \u201cJoe sent me\u201d vibe. And, once inside, the ambience is that of an old-time supper club, complete with tables-and-chairs seating, and a few banquettes. What a fabulous, different New York City theater experience!<\/p>\n
<\/a>One cozy corner of The Triad. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n
It was totally packed when I saw the show, on what my mother would call “a plain little Wednesday afternoon.” (And I was happy to discover perfect air-conditioning during the crazy fall heat wave in New York. What a pleasure that<\/em> was!)<\/p>\n Spamilton<\/em> is non-stop energy and entertainment, with tons of surprises all the way through. The audience I saw it with was constantly guffawing. I seriously have not heard such hearty laughter in quite awhile. It wasn\u2019t just any<\/em> laughter, either; there was something special about it. I couldn\u2019t even pick-out my own laugh; it felt like the roar of the crowd was coming out of me<\/em>. You\u2019ll know what I mean when you see it. The actors seemed to feed off the audience\u2019s mirth, imbuing their work with what appeared to be extra gusto. The show must be exhausting to perform, but each actor gave it his or her all. (Wouldn\u2019t it be funny if the cast goes on to appear in actual Hamilton<\/em>?! They\u2019d have to do a parody of their parody!<\/p>\n Nicholas Edwards, Nora Schell, Chris Anthony Giles, Juwan Crawley (who has since been replaced by Larry Owens,) and Dan Rosales. Photo by Carol Rosegg.<\/p><\/div>\n I haven\u2019t seen Hamilton<\/em> itself, but from what I understand, that musical is mainly rap after rap. I\u2019m a big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the guy who wrote that whole show, and, up until recently, was the star. But sometimes, I cannot understand what he\u2019s saying. Spamilton<\/em> is also<\/em> rap after rap, but they are all very funny raps, and ones we can understand, to boot! (Miranda gave this company his blessing, it appears. Good guy. I hate to admit it, but when SCTV<\/em> called my<\/em> former TV show to get permission to parody moi, I was not as gracious. Perhaps that was because I knew I was a small fry, so no one would know just whom they were spoofing, which means I wouldn\u2019t even get the credit for just being me to being with, but still\u2026 \u00a0There\u2019s definitely a show business lesson to be learned from just the inception<\/em> of Spamilton<\/em>.)<\/p>\n Chris Anthony Giles, Dan Rosales, Juwan Crawley, (who has now been replaced by Larry Owens,) Nora Schell, and Nicholas Edwards. Photo by Carol Rosegg.<\/p><\/div>\n Even though this take-off is predominantly of Hamilton<\/em>, it\u2019s not the only<\/em> Broadway show to get the Forbidden Broadway<\/em> treatment; the cast gives many others at least a hilarious little mention in the jam-packed brief eighty minutes. One of the best things about the show is that you don’t need to be very familiar with Broadway productions. But I have to admit that it does help a bit. If you miss one or two references, though, I promise that it\u2019s no biggie. (I totally understood what was going on, just by seeing the Hamilton<\/em> numbers on the Tony Awards.) That nescience might even give you a chance to catch your breath for a moment. As I said, I\u2019ve<\/em> never seen Hamilton<\/em>, and now, I may not need<\/em> to!<\/p>\n Dan Rosales. Photo by Carol Rosegg.<\/p><\/div>\n The entire cast is uber-talented; they each sing great, are able to rap, (which is not easy,) be funny, move, and, in some cases, be impersonators. I really did enjoy them all<\/em>. They all have beautiful voices. I was so glad that they all got to sing<\/em>, in addition to all the rapping. I have a feeling that each person who sees this presentation has a different favorite.<\/p>\n Mine was brand new cast member, Larry Owens. I fell in love with that guy\u2019s voice! It\u2019s so smooth and soothing. And the performance I saw was just his third one! That\u2019s pretty amazing. You could not tell he was a newbie at all. As much as I totally loved all<\/em> of Spamilton<\/em>, if just Larry had sung for those eighty minutes, I would have been fine with that.<\/p>\n Dan Rosales, as Lin-Manuel, is so spot-on it\u2019s scary. The casting director, Michael Cassara, struck gold with him!<\/p>\n Nora Schell. Photo by Carol Rosegg.<\/p><\/div>\n But I think that no one does more on that petite stage than Nora Schell as\u2026every single female singer imaginable! I can’t believe that girl just graduated from college! I would not be surprised if she becomes the next Audra McDonald. Everything she does is perfect.<\/p>\n My regular readers know that I can\u2019t help but point-out the weakness(es) of every production I see, so I\u2019m sorry to disappoint those people who can\u2019t wait for my snark\u2014you\u2019re not going to get any here. Oh wait\u2014I do<\/em> have one problem with Spamilton<\/em>\u2014I wish it was longer<\/em>!!!<\/p>\n One big bonus is that it\u2019s totally affordable, even with the two drink minimum. And I have a feeling that many of you will enjoy that<\/em> aspect of the total package, as well.<\/p>\n Spamilton<\/em> running through December 31, 2016 (Say it isn\u2019t so! This show has just got to be extended!)<\/strong> SPAMILTON Spamilton, a parody of the Broadway mega-hit Hamilton, is a perfect, wonderful show. But they don’t need me to tell them that. I\u2019m sure that everyone who\u2019s seen it is raving about it. And, if you\u2019re one of the lucky future audience members, you\u2019ll be doing the same, guaranteed. (I swear\u2014if I was staying<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n The Triad 158 W. 72nd Street New York 212-362-2590 www.triadnyc.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"