Not The Messiah [Blu-ray]

At the outset, I must admit that my view on this piece may be slightly prejudiced seeing as I was fortunate enough to have been in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall that wonderful night and saw this live.

Having been there and having seen this already, and that as a Python fan since 1973, I can not imagine not having this in my DVD library.

The sad truth is that it is rare for these amazing and gifted performers to get together at all as time goes on and since they are all in their late 60's (at best) future reunions are not quite bloody likely, so gang let's enjoy them while they are here. The only regrettable thing is that the great John Cleese chose not to participate in the grand evening.

The concert performance of HE'S NOT THE MESSIAH, HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY is quite fun. Written by Eric Idle and Jon Du Prez (One Foot in the Grave) and accompanied by a rather impressive choir and the BBC orchestra is a adrenaline shot that most of us geezers-in-waiting really need.

Treasured moments include seeing the look on Eric Idle's face as he sees 6 Gumby's in the front row. Also a great deal of fun is the first appearance of "Mrs. Betty Palin". Not too mention the first note and the audience reaction as the orchestra begins THE LIBERTY BELL MARCH. Although the main focus of the evening is HE'S NOT THE MESSIAH, what Python "reunion" would be complete without a sing a long to conclude the evening.

This DVD is a must for all Python fans!!!!!!!!!

Apparently I am the lone Python fan here who was not only less than thrilled by this show, but almost bored silly.

My MP credentials had me ready for hilarity: I've seen Brian dozens of times since the week it came out and know it pretty much word for word; love the Pythons in general, have seen all the tv shows many times and all the movies many times; have all the records and most all the '70s books, even the rare ones that only Cleese's Mum ever read; love their sense of humor in general and consider them some of the funniest and most literate of all comedians. So, you know, I was well disposed to liking this.

But, at the risk of being a heretic like Brian, and attacked for not agreeing with the herd here ("Stone him! Stone him!!"), I found Not The Messiah to be Not The Greatest, and possibly Yes The Worst Of All (Ever-Increasing In Number) Tertiarily Semi-Pythonic, Sadly Ironic, Somewhat Related, Eric Idleberg-hatched Further Chances To Milk The Python Catalogue.

"Spamalot made a LOT of money! What might we do next along that line?"

"Nothing, Eric. Bugger off. Python is over. Let it go. Haven't you enough money yet?"

"But John, the others have all agreed to do guest spots!"

"That's wonderful, Eric, and I wish you well, but I'd rather not be part of something that's a little too close to the sort of non-stop merchandising we used to mock on the BBC 40 years ago. All the best, but please don't call me for the next project, either. And we all know there WILL be a next one, Eric. You have indeed found a goldmine here. You can market the old bits with new window dressing to the old fans who will do anything to relive the glory days, and that's wonderful, but really....those bits have been done. Move on. Write something completely new. Let it all rest in peace."

"OK, John , but you're really missing out on something special here. We've got a whole symphony and everything! It's been tarted up to a whole new level of tarted-uppedness! It's ironic, it's meta-ironic, it's us laughing at us laughing at them laughing at us laughing at them for still paying more and more to see the same thing over and over! It's brilliant, John!
We'll also be getting 80% of the gross from the wolf nipple chips sold at intermission!
John!
John?"

Watched this with a fellow Python fanatic who was similarly non-enchanted if not disenchanted. We just didn't feel it. A few clever ideas, but it all felt forced and non-Pythonic, lacking the ensemble immediacy and genius writing that distinguished the Pythons. This just feels like another Broadway profit scheme. The singing is good, the symphony is good, but we just didn't laugh, were never surprised, and got none of that special Python feeling that the classics always deliver, time after time. The writing plus the group interplay is what made Python Python, and that was a team effort, even when they wrote in pairs or alone. This is just Idle without any contrasting input, and the group interplay is sorely absent. Idle on his own is simply not that hilarious any more, and he knows it, so he uses the mighty Python name to keep his career alive. Oops, sorry squire, I said it.

But each to their own. I would hope the average Python fan will accept that there are some among their number who are allowed to not worship every new, not-new-at-all Python project to dribble out of Eric's ledgerbook. Nudge, know what I mean?

In a nutshell, if this project sounds to you like the greatest idea since sliced Spam, perhaps for you it will be.
And if it sounds to you like another cash-in from Idle that lacks much if any of the old Python magic, perhaps for you it will be.

All in all, I prefer the Venezuelan beaver cheese.

When it comes to "behind the scenes" material about a live production, you can't get any better than this short piece about the week leading up to the performance of "Not the Messiah" to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the "Monty Python" TV series. I really appreciated seeing short insights into the casting of the solo roles and the composition of some of the pieces, the amount of rehearsal it took, as well as hearing their un-polished thoughts on the entire rehearsal process. Composer John Du Prez's words about the musical choices are golden; I only wish that more focus had been placed on it. In fact, for a true Python geek or classical music geek, there probably should have been an entirely separate video about how the songs were composed and perhaps a different video on the first performance in Toronto.