Galavant, a preview

Our stable mates over in the United States of America have had some hit and misses, blighting the world with such infernal ideas as popularizing the Glee club, a variety of spray-on items (from cheese to hair) and friendly fire. However, their television output has generally rested on the right side of terrible, with many critically acclaimed dramas ranging from The Sopranos to The West Wing and comedies like The Simpsons suggesting that the American televisual experience is one of immense quality. Certainly, it is less afraid of taking risks than Auntie Beeb (unless you consider leaving 80s DJs alone with their viewers) and often has great success in doing so.

Galavant is to be aired next year – it is a fairy tale-themed musical comedy, a description that oozes fun in every word. The story sounds simple enough – our hero, Galavant (), sets out to rescue his true love and reclaim his ‘Happily Ever After’. The only issue is that his intended bride, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), has chosen to remain with the evil King and live a life of luxury. Galavant falls into a depression, only to be called back into action by new companion Isabella (Karen David) to rescue her people – he must be the hero he once was.

His adversary is King Richard, played by Timothy Omundson. Better known to audiences as Detective Carlton ‘Lassie’ Lassiter from Psych, Omundson is a master of fusing authority figures with humour and his role as the big bad is a reason to be excited about this show. His henchman Gareth rounds out the main cast, and is portrayed by Vinnie Jones, because why not?

A number of guest stars have been confirmed already – Hugh Bonneville as pirate king Peter the Pillager, Ricky Gervais as Xanax the wizard, Anthony Head as a knight and, most interestingly, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic as a monk. There is an impressive amount of musical credentials just in that list, with Head in particular known for his dramatic musical roles and ‘Weird Al’ being the kind of singing novelty that suits the madness of the world to the ground.

It would be remiss to not mention the music. The composers are Glenn Slater and Alan Menken, the latter being known for his work on many Disney films, having won 8 Oscars and having created some of the most iconic songs of childhood. At the moment, only one song has been trailed, a musical recount of the story that is as catchy as ‘Under the Sea’ or ‘Be Our Guest’, and I have no doubt that many more will follow. Pretty much anything Menken touches turns to gold (we’ll brush Newsies under the carpet for the moment), so I suspect this’ll follow suit.

Another good point is the lack of episodes – rather than the usual US system of commissioning 22 episodes, we have a rather minimal run of eight. This ought to mean that the quality is very high, with no fluff making the cut. The only risk I can really foresee is it failing to cross the line between brilliant and cheesy, and even that could play into its hands if it so intends.

All-in-all, it’s looking very promising for Galavant, and when it aired in January, I fully reckon having a look.