By Kristi Casey Sanders
When choosing a choreographer for the original Broadway production of Monty Python’s Spamalot , legendary film and theater director Mike Nichols (The Graduate , Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf , The Odd Couple ) turned to friends, who recommended Casey Nicholaw.
“I got a call out of the blue saying that Mike Nichols wanted to met me,” Nicholaw remembers. “So, I went to his apartment and talked with him for about an hour; and without even seeing any of my work he said, ‘So, you wanna do it?’”
It’s not every day a young choreographer is hired for his Broadway debut on the strength of his reputation. But Nichols works in close collaboration with his creative staff, so working with people he likes is paramount. That his friends thought highly of Nicholaw’s work was the icing on the cake.
Nicholaw was excited about the job, but it took him a while to grasp that they were talking about making a musical from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail . “When they said Spamalot , I was like, what’s that?” Nicholaw says. “When I realized what it was, my heart started racing. I love the comedy of it, and I love the randomness of it. Monty Python puts in all sorts of surprises, so things are always going where you don’t expect it to, and that’s what I’m interested in with dance — exploring comedy in dance.”
Nicholaw is not a choreographer who went to school to study the art. He was a performer first, and being part of eight Broadway shows, seven of which were original productions, taught him how shows get created from the ground up. “[Choreography is] basically driven from what the piece demands,” Nicholaw explains. “In the case of Monty Python, they do sketches; The Holy Grail is basically a lot of sketches put together to make a story.
“I had to think of dancing in that way, so that each dance could stand up on its own, so the audience could get it. The dances each have a different style. It’s like these kooky knights were dropped into a Broadway musical without being aware of it. Our rule was to keep acting like you have a remote control and you’re switching channels. Keep going to a new place and keep it moving.”
Nicholaw says working with Nichols taught him a lot about directing, too. “We both come from the same place about acting,” Nicholaw says. “We have a barometer when something isn’t ringing true. Even though the comedy is big and broad, you have to stay grounded. It has to stay true and be recognizable. The audience has to be able to relate to something, or else I think it alienates them. He does in acting what I want to do in dancing — come from a real place and a recognizable place, and serve the story.”
For his work on Spamalot , Nicholaw was nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Choreography.” The following year, he became a double threat, directing and choreographing The Drowsy Chaperone , earning Tony Award nominations for both. As he looked around the auditorium, he saw fellow nominees who he’d known since childhood; winning was not a priority, he says. The thrill of watching the awards in Radio City Music Hall, surrounded by people he’d known all his life, was enough.
Despite his success with new projects, Spamalot continues to command his attention. Nicholaw oversees the mounting of new productions in Las Vegas and London, and makes sure the dancers on tour are keeping things fresh and true to the spirit of the Broadway production. The show is constantly evolving as he takes inspiration from working with so many different actors playing the same parts in places all over the world.
“The tour is not very different, but the people are different; the performances are different,” Nicholaw explains. “In London, sometimes we had to change things around a little bit … to make it more West End. In Vegas, we’re doing it without an intermission.
“I have to make the numbers work to fit the actors we have, and they all bring new things to it,” he continues. “The people in New York hate me at times because I’ll improve something on tour, and then I’ll want to put it in the New York show. So they say, ‘Now we’re getting the London changes; now we’re getting the Vegas changes!’ But I feel if you’re not happy with something, you want to make changes; I don’t want it to be just one thing.”
Nicholaw thinks the show’s success comes from its comedy and pure entertainment value. “It’s a really funny, enjoyable romp,” he says. “There’s something for everybody. We didn’t plan it that way — we set out to do a great show and make people laugh.
“For anyone that did love Monty Python, it’s such a treat to hear the stuff again and see it re-imagined. … And I have girlfriends that call me and say, ‘Thank god for Spamalot. I can bring my husband, and they don’t want to leave at intermission.’”
Monty Python’s Spamalot plays The Fox Theatre Feb. 20-March 4.
