After writing very briefly about Galavant in my last Thursday and Thrilled, It seems a lot of people have never heard of or seen this show. I need to correct this right MEOW!
GALAVANT
The adventures of Galavant, a dashing hero who is determined to reclaim his reputation and his “Happily Ever After” by going after the evil King Richard, who ruined it the moment he stole the love of Galavant’s life, Madalena.(from imdb.com)
First, let me preface this with saying I am an absolute sucker for musicals. I get the most excited for musical episodes of TV shows and when an entire series is musical numbers I’m sold.
That being said, there is a lot about Galavant that should be loved. This show is like the weird love child between Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Robin Hood Men in Tights (though I will say it leans more toward Robin Hood than Monty Python in my opinion). The music for this show is the greatest! Written by Alan Menken (you know, that guy who wrote all of your favorite Disney songs? Yeah, that guy!), the songs work in the perfect amount of humor while still telling a story. While you’re watching the episode you can usually count on at least 2 musical numbers per each 30 min episode, and the cast genuinely surprised me with their talented performances.
CAST
Joshua Sasse | Galavant
As the main character Galavant has to be mixture of suave, proud and heroic. But considering that the Galavant is also heartbroken he has to maintain a small amount of vulnerability. Joshua Sasse pulls this off beautifully! Vocally, he is awesome! I was blown away with his voice as soon as I heard it.
Karen David | Isabella
Isabella doesn’t take any of Galavant’s crap. Which is nice coming from a princess. She tells him what he has to do and lets him know loud and clear how he’s wrong when he didn’t listen. I had never heard of Karen David before now and now I want to watch her in all of the things!
Timothy Omudson | King Richard
As the king you’d want someone who is menacing and commanding, so after Psych, it seemed appropriate for me to see Timothy Omudson as the King. Then I saw his first scene and was rolling on the floor laughing. Timothy brings a sense of innocence and hilarity to King Richard I wasn’t expecting. ALSO, I LOVE his voice. And his beard.
Vinnie Jones | Gareth
Vinnie Jones is suprisingly sweet in this series. I mean, not the hug a puppy and bake you cookies kind of sweet, but he doesn’t kill King Richard, so that’s something. Gareth is King Richard’s right hand man and frequently helps Richard attempt to be a better king (to an extent). While Vinnie doesn’t sing as much as I’d like him to, when he has it’s pretty decent. His voice is pretty gravely so it works well with a lot of the other ones.
Mallory Jensen | Madelena
The women on this show are pretty fierce. But no one is as fierce as Madelena. She is an exemplary villaness, who continues to not let her feelings (if she has any) get in her way to being and maintaining her Queenship. Mallory has an great voice, she’s an alto so she automatically is my favorite to sing a long to.
Luke Youngblood | Sid
Galavant’s squire Sid is the but of everyone jokes, purely because he’s a squire. But he’s a sidekick that isn’t annoying. He handles his own between Galavant and Isabella and even in the new series has managed to keep up with where he was left. He is always the clean up crew but manages to keep everything light and not just constantly say “Why me?”. Luke was another person I had never heard of before this series, but now I want to follow him to everything.
In addition to this fantastic cast, they have some really amazing and unexpected guest stars, like: Hugh Bonneville, Weird Al Yankovic, John Stamos, Kylie Minogue, Ricky Gervais, Anthony Stewart Head and SOOOO many more.
The writing is awesome. All the way to the episode titles, case and point: the season two premiere is titled “A New Season… AKA Suck It Cancellation Bear!”. They work in references to modern day things (Game of Thrones is a bit bit), make fun of themselves and genuinely create a very funny episode.
What are your thoughts on this show? Have you seen it before? Do you want to now?
