Something Completely Different
Musical Director Todd Ellison (CFA'82) Swings to Spamalot
By Taylor McNeil
Todd Ellison dressed casually before heading off to work as musical director and conductor of Spamalot in New York.
In his early teens, Todd Ellison (CFA'82) fell in love with musicals and as a high schooler would take the train down to New York from his Connecticut home for matinees. But he also had other enthusiasms more in keeping for a teenager, such as enjoying Monty Python movies. Who would have thought those two interests could be merged?
Zip ahead to 2004. Ellison was in the final stretch of a 1,000-performance run as music director and conductor of the Broadway hit 42nd Street. He'd already signed on to conduct Elton John's vampire musical Lestat, then still more concept than reality, when he heard on the street that the unstaged reading of Spamalot, the musical by Eric Idle based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, had gone "like gangbusters." But Spamalot's kinks hadn't been ironed out, and the original music director bailed. Ellison quickly got the nod. He got out of his other commitment and set to work.
As a music director, Ellison is responsible for the musical integrity of a show, sitting in on auditions, teaching songs to the actors, conducting the pit orchestra, and overseeing touring companies. He's had his share of winners (besides 42nd Street, his credits include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Matthew Broderick and Once Upon a Mattress with Sara Jessica Parker), but he's also worked on shows that closed in a matter of weeks. Spamalot, a confection of silly bits from the movie with added musical numbers, is decidedly a winner - and a very steady income. It opened in 2005 to rave reviews and multiple Tony Award nominations and sells out wherever it plays. "Who knew it would turn into something as gargantuan as this? " Ellison says. "People are lined up the day tickets go on sale."
He was in Boston early this spring setting up a touring production, which then went to Chicago, with later stops in Washington, D.C., and Toronto. And in a coals-to-Newcastle twist, Spamalot is heading to London this fall, and Ellison will be getting that production on its musical feet, too, before coming back to oversee the Broadway run.
He's not just thinking about Spam and Camelot, though. Ellison is starting to write songs and is collaborating on a musical. "A friend told me: stop making other people look good - write for yourself, " he recounts. "I'll see where that goes. " In the meantime, he's got Spamalot." It's been a charmed career in a way, " Ellison says, "because I've been able to do what I love to do. "