Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)
Encyclopedia
Not the Messiah is a Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 comedic oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 based on Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

. It was written by former Python Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

 and collaborator John Du Prez
John Du Prez
John Du Prez is a musician, conductor, and composer. Du Prez was a member of the 1980s multi-hit Salsa-driven pop band Modern Romance and has since written several Film scores including Oxford Blues and the final Carry On film, Carry On Columbus...

, and commissioned by the Luminato
Luminato
Luminato - Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, is a publicly-attended, multi-disciplinary arts festival held annually for 10 days each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

 festival.
The oratorio had its world premiere in an hour-long performance at the Luminato festival in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada, on 1 June 2007 in Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...

. It received its United States premiere on 1 July at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah
Katonah
Katonah may refer to:Given name:* Chief Katonah, a Native American tribal leaderPlace name:* Katonah, New York, a hamlet within the town of Bedford, New YorkOther:* Katonah , a music album by Apollo Sunshine, named after Bedford, New York...

, New York, during the International Music Festival
Caramoor International Music Festival
The Caramoor International Music Festival is a summer music festival founded in 1945 that is held on the estate of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Inc., which includes a Mediterranean-style stucco villa and is located about north of New York City in Katonah, New York.The Caramoor...

. An expanded 90-minute version premiered at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct....

 in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia, on 5 December 2007. There were also performances of it at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...

, Civic Theatre, Auckland
Auckland Civic Theatre
The Auckland Civic Theatre is a large heritage theatre seating 2,378 people in central Auckland, New Zealand. First opened on 20 December 1929, it was reopened in 2000 after a major renovation and conservation effort...

, and Perth Concert Hall during December.

At the premiere, Idle performed as a "baritone-ish" soloist and narrator as well as reprising some of his roles from the film, including Mr. Cheeky, a man in the crowd who asked if Mandy is a virgin, and the Lead Singer Crucifixee. The other soloists were Canadian bass-baritone Theodore Baerg, Canadian soprano Shannon Mercer (as Brian's lover Judith), American tenor Christopher Sieber
Christopher Sieber
Christopher Sieber is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Kevin Burke in Two of a Kind starring Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen and Lord Farquaad in Shrek the Musical. Christopher studied acting and musical comedy at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City...

 (as Brian) and Canadian mezzo-soprano Jean Stilwell (as Brian's mother). Other active participants were the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...

 (conducted by Idle's cousin Peter Oundjian
Peter Oundjian
Peter Oundjian is a violinist and conductor, the youngest of five children from an Armenian father and English mother. He also claims Scottish ancestry through his maternal grandfather, a Sanderson, and the MacDonell of Glengarry clan.Oundjian was educated in England, where he began studying the...

), members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is a Canadian large vocal ensemble based in Toronto.The choir was co-founded in 1894 by Augustus S. Vogt and W. H. Hewlett. The ensemble was originally an extension of the choir of Jarvis St. Baptist Church in Toronto which Vogt directed and Hewlett accompanied. The...

, and four stolid and kilted bagpipers in British 19th-century army regalia. (They were members of the 48th Highlanders of Canada
48th Highlanders of Canada
The 48th Highlanders of Canada is a Canadian Forces Primary Reserve infantry regiment based in Toronto, parading out of Moss Park Armoury. The regiment is part of Land Force Central Area's 32 Canadian Brigade Group....

 Pipes and Drums.)

The Toronto Symphony's involvement was no coincidence. Conductor Peter Oundjian is Idle's first cousin. "We've been talking for a long time," said Idle, "about wouldn't it be fun to do something with an orchestra."

Production

With the success of Spamalot
Spamalot
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...

, Eric Idle's musical retelling of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...

, Idle announced that he was giving Monty Python's Life of Brian a similar treatment. The oratorio, called Not the Messiah, was commissioned to be part of the Luminato arts festival in June 2007. It was written and scored by Idle and John Du Prez
John Du Prez
John Du Prez is a musician, conductor, and composer. Du Prez was a member of the 1980s multi-hit Salsa-driven pop band Modern Romance and has since written several Film scores including Oxford Blues and the final Carry On film, Carry On Columbus...

, who also worked with Idle on Spamalot. Du Prez owns a cottage in the French town of Condom
Condom, Gers
Condom , also referred to as Condom-en-Armagnac, is a commune in southwestern France in the department of Gers, of which it is a subprefecture.-Way of St. James:...

, which is where the show was conceived. Not the Messiah is a spoof of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

's famous oratorio Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...

. "If our [Life of] Brian was by Matthew then this is by John (but more John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 and John Du Prez
John Du Prez
John Du Prez is a musician, conductor, and composer. Du Prez was a member of the 1980s multi-hit Salsa-driven pop band Modern Romance and has since written several Film scores including Oxford Blues and the final Carry On film, Carry On Columbus...

). In other words, it isn't sketches at all, but recitative and songs and the occasional Nine Carol Service Reader."

The musical style jumps around, and Idle described it as "baroque 'n' roll". It is a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...

, reflecting pop, Welsh hymns, country and western, doo-wop, hip hop, Broadway, Greek chorus, and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 (in his mumbling, electric guitar and harmonica phase, solo-ed by Idle). "Hail to the Shoe" is sung in the style of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

's Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

. The final song is the sing-along Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a popular song written by Eric Idle that was originally featured in the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as football matches as well as funerals.-History:Whilst trying to come up...

, reflecting the British Music Hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 tradition, but originally written for the Life of Brian.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 television program, Idle, Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....

 and Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...

 appeared in a remount of the full, 90-minute version of Not the Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 on 23 October 2009. When interviewed about this production, Idle commented: "It is rare you get to be silly on a mass scale." BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...

 also broadcast a recording of this performance on New Year's Day 2010 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...

 and Chorus
BBC Symphony Chorus
The BBC Symphony Chorus is a British amateur chorus based in London. It is the dedicated chorus for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though it performs with other national and international orchestras....

 conducted by John du Prez. Idle reprised his role, as did Mercer that of Judith, while the other soloists were William Ferguson as Brian, Rosalind Plowright
Rosalind Plowright
Rosalind Anne Plowright OBE is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano range.- Life and career :...

 as Mandy and Christopher Purves as Reg.

Programme

Introit: Overture
  1. The Liberty Bell.
    • Sousa arr. Du Prez


Part One: Apocalypso Now
  1. Chaos and Confusion!
    • A parody of Shostakovich
  2. There Shall Be Monsters.
  3. O God You Are So Big.
    • A reference to one of the lines in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life


Part Two: The Boy Next Door
  1. Mandy's Song.
  2. Woe Woe Woe!
    • A doo-wop
      Doo-wop
      The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

       type song, including a reference to the famous Flying Circus
      Monty Python's Flying Circus
      Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

      sketch Nudge Nudge
      Nudge Nudge
      "Candid Photography", better known as "Nudge Nudge", is a sketch from the third Monty Python's Flying Circus episode, "How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away" featuring Eric Idle and Terry Jones as two strangers who meet in a pub.-Sketch description:As patrons in a...

      .
  3. We Love Sheep.
    • A spoof of "And There Were Shepherds" and "All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray" in Handel
      HANDEL
      HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

      's "The Messiah".
  4. Spiritual.


Part Three: The Temptation of Brian
  1. Brian's Dream.
  2. What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?
  3. The People's Front of Judea.
  4. I Want To Be A Girl.
  5. The Market Square.
  6. You're The One.
    • Composition is similar to "Find Your Grail" from Monty Python's Spamalot. Orchestra is joined by a quartet of bagpipe players.


Part Four: Baroque and Roll
  1. Hail To The Shoe!
    • Spoof of "Hallelujah" from Handel's "Messiah," also contains "beatboxing" by Idle.
  2. Amourdeus.
    • A movement of "choral sex".
  3. The Chosen One Has Woken!
  4. When They Grow Up.
  5. Take Us Home.
  6. The Chosen One (cont.)
  7. Individuals.
    • A Bob Dylan
      Bob Dylan
      Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

       spoof, complete with harmonica, guitar and sunglasses.


Part Five: Miserere Loves Company
  1. Find Your Dream
  2. Arrested!
  3. A Fair Day's Work.
    • References "The Lumberjack Song
      The Lumberjack Song
      "The Lumberjack Song" is a song by the Monty Python comedy troupe. The song was written by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson.It first appeared on the ninth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "The Ant: An Introduction" on BBC1 on 14 December 1969...

      ".
  4. The Final Song.
  5. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
    Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
    "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a popular song written by Eric Idle that was originally featured in the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as football matches as well as funerals.-History:Whilst trying to come up...

    ."
    • From the original movie, has the audience singing along with the soloists, narrator, orchestra and bagpipe quartet.
  6. Encore Lumberjack Song sung by Michael Palin

DVD release

DVD and Blu-ray versions of the Royal Albert Hall show were released on the 8 June 2010 in the United States, September, 2010 in Australia and on the 14 June 2010 in the United Kingdom and Germany.

External references

  • Robert Cushman, "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)", Festival07 Luminato Festival 2007 Program, pp. 17–21).
  • "Not the Messiah." Roy Thomson Hall Performance Program Insert, Summer 2007. pp. 5–13.
  • "Not the Messiah." Australia and New Zealand Tour 2007 Program.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK