Singing knights and silly humor are coming to a TV screen near you. ABC premiered its new comedy, "Galavant," a four-week long comedic musical series, on Jan. 4.The show features music by composer Alan Menken, who composed scores for numerous Disney films, including “The Little Mermaid” (1989), “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) and “Aladdin” (1992)."Galavant" focuses on a typical heroic knight named Galavant (Joshua Sasse), a conventionally handsome, scruffy hero.Early in the first episode, the titular protagonist is spurned by his girlfriend Madalena (Mallory Jansen) in favor of the hilarious tyrant King Richard (Timothy Omundson), and so he must embark on a quest to regain his honor and his love.
"Galavant" uses its trope-filled story to its advantage. The plotline and characters are stereotypical, but written and played with tongue-in-cheek wit. In true fairy tale fashion, this is a story about a knight on a quest to save his fair maiden. So of course he'll discover the power of teamwork and find his true love along the way. "Galavant" is your ordinary fairy tale and musical, but with a twist: It is actually quite clever.
Sasse is fairly charming as Galavant, the self-centered knight with the voice -- and abs -- of an angel. Joined by his faithful squire Sid (Luke Youngblood) and the Princess Isabella (Karen David), Galavantsets off on a mission to save Isabella's kingdom of Valencia and regain the love of Madalena. While the show is ostensibly about this quest, it meanders in storylines of non sequitur enjoyment completely unrelated to the main plot. The group takes random excursions unrelated to the main quest, such as a visit to Sid's village, complete with singing. Many of these scenes draw humor from Galavant disproving several knight-in-shining-armor stereotypes. In the first episode, the knight partakes in an intense '80s-style training montage. Afterward, Galavant is too sore to compete in a jousting tournament, which continues anyway with hilarious results. Although much of the show is absurd, the physicality of its humor and the exploitation of stereotypes make for a successfully entertaining hour.
Omundson is the true MVP of this show, playing the murderous-yet-inept king as a cross between "Richard III" (1597) and Andy Dwyer of "Parks and Rec" (2009-present). King Richard may be an evil conqueror with violent tendencies, but he's also just a hapless man-child in a crown. Much like his nemesis, Richard just wants to earn the love of Madalena, who loathes him.Omundson is so clearly enjoying himself in the role that it's impossible not to laugh along with him. Richard is aided and abetted in his antics by right hand man Gareth (Vinnie Jones), a towering body guard with surprisingly good comedic timing, and the mousy Chef (Darren Evans), whose entire family has been killed by the king. The three's dynamic is delightful and odd, a small-yet-winning aspect of the series as a whole.
"Galavant" also features a host of guest stars in increasingly ridiculous roles. John Stamos is the French knight Jean Hamm in the first episode, a man with an incredibly off-putting laugh and an inability to hold his liquor. Hugh Bonneville appears as a Pirate King stranded on land who still attempts to carry out the pillage-and-plunder model while not actually at sea. Sure, it makes no sense, but it's also pretty funny.
The music of "Galavant" is entertaining enough. It's very catchy and succeeds at furthering the plot. Much like the show itself, the music won't win any awards, but neither are attempting to achieve anything grand. This is a fun show -- it manages to execute a unique concept yet feel completely familiar. "Galavant" may not be groundbreaking, but it sure is entertaining, and that's enough.
