Galavant

Plot

The series follows the adventures of Galavant, a dashing knight hero down on his luck who is determined to reclaim his reputation and his "Happily Ever After" by going after the evil King Richard, who ruined it the moment he kidnapped the love of Galavant's life, Madalena. Galavant is assisted by Princess Isabella, whose kingdom of Valencia Richard has conquered, and Sid, his squire. Meanwhile, the malevolent but weak-willed Richard tries to win over the scheming Madalena and seeks help from his brawny henchman, Gareth, and his chef, Vincenzo. The episodes chronicle Galavant's journeys (and the twists and turns that go along with them) through musical numbers composed and written by Menken and Slater.

In the second season, after Gareth takes both Madalena and the throne of Valencia from the absent Richard, Richard allies himself with Galavant, who now hopes to rescue Isabella from being forced to marry Prince Harry of Hortensia, her eleven-year-old cousin, against her will. Along the way, Richard attempts to find a new role for himself in life, and he falls in love with Roberta Steinglass, a childhood friend. Galavant goes to great lengths to recruit an army to help him on his quest. Richard also adopts a lizard, believing it will grow into a dragon, and draws a sword that he does not know can only be drawn by the "one true king to unite them all." At the same time, Chester Wormwood, an evil sorcerer who doubles as a wedding planner, attempts to hypnotize Isabella into accepting being married to her cousin. When his plan backfires, Isabella exiles him, and he flees to Valencia, where he encourages Gareth and Madalena to start an unplanned war with Hortensia. Wormwood also offers to teach them his "dark dark evil way" (abbreviated as D'DEW) of sorcery, which Gareth rejects but Madalena secretly accepts. All the episodes of the season lead up to a large battle among three armies, including the Valencians, the Hortensians, and a swarm of zombies led by Galavant and Richard.

Main

Recurring

Production

The series reunites screenwriter Dan Fogelman, composer Alan Menken, and lyricist Glenn Slater, who had worked together on the 2010 animated film Tangled (produced by ABC's corporate sibling Walt Disney Animation Studios). The pilot was ordered by ABC in October 2013, and picked up to series in May 2014. The series is filmed in the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, United Kingdom. Peter the Pillager's pirate ship in series one is filmed on the life-size reproduction of The Matthew which lives in Bristol's Floating Harbour. Other filming locations include Caldicot Castle and Caerphilly Castle in Wales, Southern Down on the Bristol Channel, Berkeley Castle, Cosmeston Medieval Village, and Wells Cathedral When the series premiered in January 2015, it was billed as a four-week "comedy extravaganza".

On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for a 10-episode second season. The title of the first episode of the second season, "A New Season aka Suck It Cancellation Bear", mocks the predicted cancellation by the ratings website TV by the Numbers after the first season.

On May 12, 2016, it was confirmed that Galavant was canceled. Upon the cancellation of the series, composer Alan Menken expressed interest on Twitter in continuing the series on stage.

Music

Galavant is a comedy musical. The music of the series is composed by Alan Menken and Christopher Lennertz. The songs are composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Glenn Slater, and have been described as "self-knowing parodies", both on Menken and Slater's previous work, as well as on classic musicals such as West Side Story. According to Dan Fogelman, the lyrics of the opening song of the second season makes fun of the "eventization" of every limited-run series. They also comment on the shows' broadcast time slot and the missed Emmy nomination. The following songs featured on Galavant are performed by the Galavant cast, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater.

Season 1 (2015)

An official soundtrack for the first season was released on iTunes on January 19, 2015.

Season 2 (2016)

An official soundtrack for the second season was released on iTunes on January 29, 2016.

Reception

The first season averaged 4.83 million live viewers, and 6.52 millions including DVR-playback. It has received generally positive reviews: On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a rating of 90%, based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads, "While the jokes in Galavant ride the line of predictability, their execution, along with campy themes and silly musical numbers, make it memorably entertaining." On Metacritic, it has a score of 61 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The New York Times' Neil Genzlinger gave it a mixed response saying, "Despite some amusing bits and clever songs, it's only occasionally as much fun as it ought to be." Brian Lowry of Variety gave it a mostly positive review saying, "Owing a strong debt to Monty Python and a lesser one to spoofs like When Things Were Rotten, Galavant largely overcomes the challenges that have traditionally bedeviled TV musicals with rambunctious energy, cheeky lyrics and music, and — significantly — a half-hour format, thus condensing the need to create songs into a manageable task." TV Line's Matt Webb Mitovich wrote, "With some resignation, given a colleague’s 'meh' reaction to the pilot, I finally cued up Galavant… and found myself binge-watching the six episodes available to me. (And I seldom binge anything.) That’s why I think ABC is smart to double-pump episodes, because yes, the plot progression is a bit slow, pausing as it does to allow for song-and-dance numbers and vamping by the more colorful characters (the king included). You’ll want two at a time to come away satisfied." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix, however, was more negative, writing, "...the whole is less than the sum of its comic and musical parts."

The second season was met with equally positive critical response: On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 100% rating, based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The consensus reads: "The surprise second season of Galavant sends its cast in many directions, but keeps the fun and music that made it a hit firmly at its center." On Metacritic, it has a 77/100 rating based on 4 critics.