Awaiting your knight in shining armor? Based on the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the comedic play, Monty Python’s “Spamalot,” playing at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre through March 30, follows the story of King Arthur, his knights and the Lady of the Lake, played by Lindsey Forgey.
Hailing from Chattanooga, Tenn., Forgey has been performing for as long as she can remember, singing and dancing. She graduated from a performing arts magnet school and was accepted into the New World School of the Arts in Miami, where she earned a bachelor’s in fine arts.
Here’s what Forgey had to say about her role in “Spamalot” and balancing her life as a performer.
On playing the role of a diva
“I’ve heard a lot of stories about people talking about how her character actually got written into the show. At first she wasn’t a character, and then they added two women parts to the show, cast one lady as the role, and then couldn’t find someone to match how great Sara Ramirez [of the original Broadway cast] was in the role, so they just combined the role into one and gave her all these awesome songs.”
“It’s really — in musical theatre — kind of the holy grail of roles that a woman wants to play. She comes out in these incredible costumes with amazing wigs and beautiful makeup. The first thing you see my character do, she rides in on this little part of the stage that moves forward, and the girls are all dancing around her and she’s enticing Sir Galahad to kind of join King Arthur’s army of crusaders, so her job is to get all of these guys to join King Arthur.”
“The coolest thing about it is we get to sing all these styles: I get to do pop song, operatic music, everything, and there’s so much comedy in it. It’s just a perfect role.”
On getting into character
“After you have done a lot of theater, you realize what is right for you. Once you get in your costume and your makeup, you’re already halfway there. I just kind of go to a quiet spot and meditate a little bit and get to a neutral place so that, when it’s time, I can kind of put her on, so to speak.”
On transitioning from one character to the next
“I just finished a production of ‘Assassin’ by Stephen Sondheim at the [Adrienne] Arsht Center with Zoetic Stage, Gabriel Zenone, Shane Tanner, and Henry Gainza. We were all in that production and performing at night and rehearsing in the morning for ‘Spamalot.’”
“It’s stressful on your body and a little bit emotionally because ‘Assassins’ is about killing presidents, and then you come into these rehearsals and it’s Monty Python so it’s very light and very happy so you’re getting this emotional roller coaster going on.”
On her favorite song in the show
“As a personal favorite, there’s a section in the song ‘Knights of the Round Table,’ which is also Camelot. It’s basically when King Arthur and all the knights go to Camelot, which is basically their Vegas, and there’s all these showgirls doing all this cool stuff and there’s all these men tapping around. There’s a monk and a nun who do a fun little dance at one point. I come out dressed as this diva doing this impersonation of what Lady of the Lake would be — a Liza Minnelli type character — sequins all over me and singing and everyone’s on stage at the same time, which I love.”
On stage fright
“Oh my God, I get so nervous, especially the first couple of times we’re in front of the audience. And not because I don’t feel prepared. It’s never that. I think I just get in my own way and I get nervous that I’m going to get nervous. So then I just start getting in my head and I just have to go ‘Lindsey, you have this. You know what you’re going to do. You know this like the back of your hand. You’re going to be fine.”’
On why audiences will enjoy the show
“It’s a laugh a minute. Theatre is such an amazing thing and I think that people don’t realize that it’s still relevant and it’s still very much an art form that needs to be recognized as something that is valid. There is nothing like being in a theater and watching people pour their hearts out live and give you basically a Broadway show if you’re not in New York City.”
