Monty Python’s Spamalot opened the 60th season of the California Musical Theater Music Circus on Friday. This, the 500th show produced by Music Circus, makes it is easy to see why the theater has not only survived but thrived for 60 years. The book and lyrics by Eric Idle take the best of the popular Monty Python movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail to another level. While much of Spamalot spoofs the Broadway Musical genre, Idle has created a great Broadway Musical. The Music by John Du Prez and Idle is classic Broadway Musical style and in this case it is a very good thing. Everything in this Music Circus production shines, starting with Glenn Casale’s direction. Much is made in theat

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Directed by Terry Gilliam By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly This is a movie that will be seen for two reasons: The movie itself and morbid curiosity associated with the death of its star, Heath Ledger. Ledger had completed “The Dark Knight” and was shooting this when he died of an accidental drug overdose, leaving Director Terry Gilliam with half a movie, no lead actor, and an uncertain future for the project. Gilliam is still best known by some of us as the wacky animator for the original Monty Python shows. But he’s also an accomplished director of not just Python movies, but also “Brazil,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and “Twelve Monkeys,” amongst