After a lengthy, pandemic-rattled run in Broadway’s “Beetlejuice,” Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer was eager to take a break from musicals. That is, until the role of a lifetime beckoned.
The New York actor and singer delivers a dynamite performance eight times a week in the Broadway revival of “Spamalot,” now playing at New York’s St. James Theatre. Inspired by — or, as its tagline suggests, “lovingly ripped off from” — 1975’s cult classic film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the musical is a cheeky spoof on the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
As the Lady of the Lake, Kritzer employs the diva-esque vocals that made her a standout in musicals like “Legally Blonde” and “Something Rotten!,” as well as on Manhattan’s cabaret circuit, to full effect. She puts her improv comedy chops to use, too. At the Jan. 25 performance, she offered timely zingers about Lea Michele and Britney Spears, as well as Hollywood’s controversial embrace of Ozempic as a weight-loss drug.
Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman
“I never thought this would be a part that would come around for me because, historically, it’s been played by tall, glamorous women,” Kritzer told HuffPost in an interview. “But once we were rehearsing and performing it, it blew my mind. It’s great to be in a show where I have flexibility to create every night. It’s a nice freedom we don’t usually have in musical theater. I can really fly.”
Kritzer, a Broadway mainstay since her 2004 debut in “Hairspray,” was approached to play the Lady of the Lake last spring as the “Spamalot” revival was set to be staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Also tapped for the production were Kritzer’s “Beetlejuice” co-stars Alex Brightman and Rob McClure, the latter of which was replaced by Ethan Slater when the show transferred to Broadway in November. At present, the show’s star-studded cast also features Jonathan Bennett, Christopher Fitzgerald and Nik Walker, along with Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart.
Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman
The original production of “Spamalot” opened on Broadway in 2005 to sterling reviews, garnering 14 Tony Award nominations — just two nods less than “Hamilton” would receive a decade later. Actor and singer Sara Ramírez won a Tony for her portrayal of the Lady of the Lake in that staging.
Still, there were moments in the show that needed a bit of rethinking. This includes “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway,” a pun-filled ode to Jewish artists in theater, and the Village People-inspired “His Name Is Lancelot,” in which a character makes an unexpected discovery about his queer sexuality.
Kritzer, who is Jewish, said she and her cast mates were understandably wary of staging such numbers amid a global rise in antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. After discussions with director and choreographer Josh Rhodes, the company decided to lean into the “straight-up joy” that, when handled with sensitivity, those songs relay.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
“We know the world is crazy outside the theater doors,” Kritzer explained. “We can’t fix that. What we can do is celebrate what’s good in the world and the people we love and support. We’re celebrating the contribution of Jewish and queer culture to the arts.”
And “Spamalot” has also given Kritzer a creative outlet for navigating personal loss. Her mother, Luz, died last May after coping with advanced dementia for several years.
“I went from holding my mother in my arms and saying goodbye to her, and the next day got into a car, drove to D.C. to work on a show that we would open a few days later,” she said. “That was the best possible thing that could have happened, to be able to channel my grief and put it into joy and love and surrounded by the best cast.”
She went on to note: “When I was doing ‘Beetlejuice,’ I was worried about my mom. I’d get phone calls from the nursing home right in the middle of a show. Now that she’s at peace, I really believe I can perform more freely. I can sing with a sense of abandonment in a way that I haven’t for a long time because I don’t have the heaviness of that worry. She’s at peace now, and I’m at peace.”
Watch a trailer for “Spamalot” on Broadway below.
As grateful as Kritzer is to be back on Broadway, her next role could take her in a new direction. Three years ago, she attended the trial of British socialite Ghislane Maxwell, who in 2022 was found guilty of child sex trafficking in connection with financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. She plans to use her courtroom experience as the basis for an original theatrical project.
“I saw characters everywhere,” Kritzer recalled. “I thought of it as theater. I found it a really incredible experience, in terms of the people I met. So I want to start diving into it and trying out material — doing a reading here and there, developing it.”
And though this year’s Tony nominations won’t be announced until April, Kritzer has already been singled out in early chatter about the awards. For now, she’s taking those accolades in stride.
“If that were to happen, it would be wonderful, but I never have any expectation,” she said. “I’m always going to hold myself to the highest standard. This is the best experience that I’ve ever had, and I feel like I’m doing the greatest work of my career. So, for me, I’ve already gotten so much.”
