By Meaghan Latella
Washington and Lee University’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” offered its audiences a lot of silliness, a little slapstick, and some big belly laughs. But there was something else noteworthy that wasn’t obvious to audiences.
It was a debut performance for its leading man, and its director’s first stab at heading up a musical.
Turner Meeks, the senior who starred as King Arthur, said overcoming butterflies wasn’t his biggest worry.
“Honestly, the hardest part was to not break out laughing in the middle of performing,” he said.
Before “Spamalot,” Meeks said, he’d had no experience acting or singing. But from the moment he rode out on stage on his invisible horse – a routine longtime Monty Python fans remember — he had his audience in stitches.
George Bent, a professor of art history at W&L who was in the cast, said the role of Arthur is a lot more complex than people realize, because Arthur is supposed to be the lone straight man in a show where virtually every character is funny and ridiculous.
“So the temptation, especially for an inexperienced actor, is to inject humor into the character where it really doesn’t belong,” Bent said. “And [Turner] didn’t do that; he resisted that temptation beautifully. And the moments where Arthur did get laughs, [Turner] milked it, which is exactly what you’re supposed to do.”
Director Jemma Levy was hired by W&L in the fall of 2014 as the new head of acting and directing, as well as an assistant professor of theater, dance and film studies. She spent her undergrad years at Amherst College and her post-grad years at The Juilliard School, the University of Chicago and Mary Baldwin College.
She also currently runs a theater company in Chicago called Muse of Fire Theatre Company. So even though it was her first time with a musical, and her W&L directing debut, she was no stranger to directing.
“I don’t get nervous about opening nights,” Levy said. “Because once it’s opening night, it’s not mine anymore. It’s [the actors’ show].”
Bent said he was shocked to learn on the last night of the show that it was Levy’s first experience directing a musical.
“She never got impatient,” Bent said. “Doing a musical is hard. It’s hard to act in it, but it’s really hard to direct it. A lot of it has to do with people management.”
Meeks, a math major and four-year member of W&L’s varsity football team, met Levy when she was guest teaching during her job interview for the assistant professor post.
“Last winter I took Intro to Theater with Professor [Kimberly] Jew,” Meeks said. “[The theater professors] were interviewing a new professor, so [Jew] asked me to go to a trial class.”
The trial professor just so happened to be Levy.
“I made a deal with [Levy] in the trial class that if she came to W&L, I would take her class,” Meeks said. “I took her acting class [last] fall and had a wonderful experience. And then kind of on a whim …. I decided to audition [for ‘Spamalot’]. I talked to [Levy] about it and she encouraged me to audition.”
In addition to a rigorous rehearsal schedule, Levy’s cast members did a lot of work on their own time to perfect their roles.
“I [went] to voice lessons two times a week every week,” Meeks said.
Bent said Meeks approached his role as if he’d been acting for years. He couldn’t recall a time during rehearsals when Meeks forgot his lines or needed a direction repeated to him.
“Turner behaved like an old pro,” Bent said. “He brought an energy onto the stage every single rehearsal.”
Brian Dearing, a resident of Lexington who saw “Spamalot”’s final performance, comes to almost every W&L production. Compared to other shows he’s seen, he said, the production was “dynamite.”
“I was pretty surprised they could pull it off here,” Dearing said. “It’s really [meant] for a much bigger venue, and they did a fabulous job of really making it work.”
Addie Healy, a junior at W&L, thought the show was hilarious. She said she was surprised neither Meeks nor Levy had worked on a musical before.
“I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Healy said. “It’s a high energy play with a lot going on. I would’ve assumed that someone with a lot of practice [with musicals] would’ve tried to take it on. So I’m impressed.”