Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go

The surviving members of Monty Python's Flying Circus (Graham Chapman died in 1989) have aged, but “The Liberty Bell” march that serves as the troupe's theme song never gets old, and hearing it performed live before a rapturous audience here is a thrill. John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam are well past their “When I'm 64” years, but they rose to the occasion for a series of once-(more)-in-a-lifetime reunion shows on July 20, 2014 in the U.K. Unlike the Marx Brothers in Love Happy or Laurel and Hardy in Atoll K, the Pythons have improved with age. They are in real life the ages of their fictional Four Yorkshiremen, a quartet of wealthy codgers who try to one-up each other on their impoverished childhoods, just one of the “greatest hits” here given a last hurrah. Some may carp that there is scant new material, but if you only have the Pythons for presumably the last time, you want to see “The Lumberjack Song,” “Argument Clinic,” and “Parrot Sketch.” A new song might be amusing, but you'd much rather hear an especially spirited “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” which inevitably closes the show. Python muse Carol Cleveland is thankfully present—she's still a goer. (Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge-nudge.) Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. Bottom line: say no more; highly recommended. Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)