Courtesy of huffingtonpost.com
America can’t seem to get enough of Weird Al these days and it’s only taken them thirty years to realize it. Fans were excited to learn from Weird Al’s Twitter and Facebook accounts that he is currently in England, not on vacation, but shooting scenes for an upcoming ABC TV series. Typical of Weird Al, it’s not your average show he’s participating in; it’s a medieval fantasy musical comedy. Well, at least the last two descriptors definitely apply to Al. On his Facebook, he posted, “I just flew to England to play a singing monk on the upcoming ABC series “Galavant” (another one of those medieval fantasy musical comedy TV shows they’re always making these days).” On Twitter, he let word (or rather, let a picture) slide, revealing that his medieval character is in fact a monk.
Fans are beyond stoked, posting comments under both of Weird Al’s posts, all along the lines of, “OMG MUST WATCH,” (from Scott Sandler), “Medieval comedy musical? I’m sold,” (from Marissa Mo LoL), and the more extemporaneous, “I was thinking about passing this show up but…. now I HAVE to see it. I just have too. And I hope that somewhere in this you play an accordion or concertina,” (from Dany Fryling). Weird Al’s followers are definitely not just cult fans.
Karen David, the actress who will play Princess Isabella in the medieval fantasy musical comedy TV show, also shared her excitement to be working with Weird Al on her Facebook page, saying, “4:40 a.m. The eyelids are heavy…never thought I’d say this, but I’m looking forward to being in a confessional booth…with the very lovely, Weird Al Yankovic! @AlYankovic Can’t wait for our scenes together! #Galavant @Galavantabc.” Galavant, which is the title of the show, will be “musical comedy fairy tale of epic proportions,” according to ABC. In the show, Galavant, the hero played by Joshua Sasse, must avenge his love Madalena, played by Mallory Jansen, against evil King Richard, played by Timothy Omundson.
Dan Fogelman (who worked on Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tangles, Cars) is the show’s executive producer, working with Alan Menken (composer of music for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) who has Glenn Slater (the lyricist for Tangled) on board with him. Musically, we can expect great catchy things from this comedy. Watch a trailer for the show here, but fans be warned that it does not include Weird Al. It’s also unclear yet as to whether Weird Al will be a regular or just a few guest appearances on the show. Stay tuned.