Not the Messiah tells the Life of Brian in a manner meant to spoof the classical Handel oratorio "Messiah." Pretty much every scene from the film makes its way to the stage and many of the songs used to portray the events from the movie mimic the classical piece. These songs include "Hail To The Shoe!" which mimics Handel's "Hallelujah" plus a bit of beatboxing from Idle. Beyond a few songs that sound like the classic work, there is also a fairly large section tacked onto the beginning of Brian's story to match the first segment of "Messiah." This opening segment talks about the creation of the world and leads up to the fathering of Brian.
From the point where Brian's father has a one-night stand with Mindy (sung by Rosalind Plowright O.B.E.), the show moves on to a doo-wop styled song about Mindy's "Woe Woe Woe"'s and then Brian's early life before he leaves his home to fight the Romans (despite his mother's insistence that Brian's father was a Roman soldier). The part of Brian is sung by William Ferguson and he does a great job taking on the bumbling, semi-lost character's actions, especially when he finds himself first amongst the People's Front of Judea and eventually an unintended Messiah figure with a mass of people following him for no apparent reason. This third segment of the show (which spans Brian's joining of the revolution to his promotion to Messiah-dom) is my favorite pat of the production. Here, many great songs arise like "What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?" (where Idle reprises his role of Stan/Lorreta), "The People's Front of Judea," "I Want To Be A Girl" (where Stan expresses his personal conflicts) and "The Market Square" where the various sidewalk prophets speak out. The group's Bass soloist, Christopher Purves, does a great part in this segment taking over the role of Reg (the leader of The People's Front of Judea) and really steals the show. Also introduced in this part is Shannon Mercer's portrayal of Brain's love interest, Judith. Of course, all five soloists (Idle, Plowright, Ferguson, Mercer and Purves) play many roles throughout the show, but they also have their main parts as described above.
The fourth part of the show spans Brian's rise as a unintentional prophet, to his relationship with Judith, to his attempts to get the his followers to leave him alone. It is during this segment that "Hail to the Shoe!" is played, as well as a most unusual sex scene (don't worry, the whole show is as kid safe as the original Life of Brian was). This section of the production ends with "Individuals" where Brian tries to convince the masses that they shouldn't follow him and that they are all individuals. Idle shines once again during this scene as he takes the stage in Bob Dylan regalia and attempts to convey the message with a harmonica, guitar, sunglasses and garbled speech. It's also during this segment that the classic Life of Brian line, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" is sung.
Not the Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy) wraps up with Brian's downfall as the man is arrested, imprisoned and crucified. As any Pythonian would expect, the show ends with "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," but that favored song is proceeded by a couple of others, including a nod to "The Lumberjack Song."
What is great about this particular rendition of Not the Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy) is that it is also the celebration of 40 years of Monty Python's Flying Circus and features quite a few guest stars like Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland. Noticeably missing is John Cleese, but that isn't really unexpected as he rarely makes an appearance at reunion events like this one. While all of the appearing Pythons have minor roles in the show, Palin takes to the stage the most. Not only does he dress in drag and play the part of Mrs. Betty Parkinson to introduce the evening, but he also reprises his role as the lisping Pontius Pilate in full Roman armor. What's great is Palin's part in the event's encore. While I don't want to say too much, I will say that Palin starts off the song by pronouncing the fact that he never wanted to be a Roman.
What makes the experience even grander is the Blu-ray video and (of course) audio capabilities. While I typically enjoy the high definition surround sound that flows from my system while watching a box-office hit, I was absolutely floored by the sounds coming from my home theater system because of this show. While I am by no means the most musically-gifted person I know (in fact, I might be the least), I was able to pick out many of the different instruments and wonderful voices as the production played, and I reveled in the experience. While I'm sure the DVD copy of Not the Messiah is good, there is simply no way it can compare to the quality of the Blu-ray release.
Attached to the release are several behind-the-scenes featurettes that range from Idle and the composer, John Du Prez, working with the orchestra to prepare for the show, to interviews with various singers and performers before, during and after the show and an in-depth talk about "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," both from it's creation in the 70's and now in Not the Messiah, all of which should be enjoyable for any Monty Python fan. Probably the most enjoyable special feature though is the collection of sing-alongs that show the words karaoke-style to songs like "What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?", "The People's Front of Judea" and of course "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life."
In case you haven't been able to tell from the review and the score, I really enjoyed the show and it is a hands-down no-brainier for anyone who has even a slight interest in Monty Python works. I will say though, if it's been a while since you've watched Life of Brain, you might want to give it a quick run-through before popping in this production in order to catch all the nuances of the show.
