Galavant is an American musical comic fantasy television series, created and written by Dan

Fogelman, with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Fogelman, Menken and
Slater also serve as executive producers alongside Chris Koch, Kat Likkel and John Hoberg for
ABC Studios.[1] The series premiered on January 4, 2015, as the mid-season replacement for Once
Upon a Time.[2][3]
The first season consisted of eight episodes which aired over four weeks, with two episodes backto-back each week. The series was renewed for a second season of ten episodes on May 7, 2015,
which premiered on January 3, 2016, following the same airing scheme as the first season.[4][5] On
May 12, 2016, it was confirmed the series was canceled.[6]

Contents
[hide]

1 Plot

2 Cast and characters

o 2.1 Main
o 2.2 Recurring

3 Production

4 Music
o 4.1 Season 1 (2015)
o 4.2 Season 2 (2016)

5 Reception

6 References

7 External links

Plot[edit]
Main article: List of Galavant episodes
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.
Season
1
2

Episodes
8
10

Originally aired
First aired
January 4, 2015
January 3, 2016

Last aired
January 25, 2015
January 31, 2016

Cast and characters[edit]

Main[edit]

Joshua Sasse as Sir Gary Galavant

Timothy Omundson as King Richard

Vinnie Jones as Gareth

Mallory Jansen as Queen Madalena

Karen David as Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia

Luke Youngblood as Sid

Recurring[edit]

Ben Presley as Steve Mackenzie the Jester. Briefly Madalena's lover, who later becomes
Isabella's confidant. The Jester also serves as the series' occasional Narrator[7]

Darren Evans as Chef Vincenzo[7][8]

Stanley Townsend as the King of Valencia,[7] Isabella's father.

Genevieve Allenbury as the Queen of Valencia,[9] Isabella's mother.

Hugh Bonneville as Peter the Pillager, the Pirate King

Sophie McShera as Gwynne,[10] Madalena's servant and Chef Vincenzo's love interest.

Al Yankovic as the Head Monk, leader of a group of monks who have taken a vow of
singing

Rutger Hauer as Kingsley (season 1),[11] Richard's older brother

Kemaal Deen-Ellis as Prince Harry of Hortensia, Isabella's eleven-year-old cousin and

fianc

Robert Lindsay as Chester Wormwood (season 2), an evil sorcerer and wedding planner
who follows the Dark Dark Evil Way (or "D'DEW")

Clare Foster as Roberta Steinglass (season 2), Richard's childhood friend and later his
love interest

Muzz Khan as Barry, Wormwood's assistant (season 2)

Production[edit]
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).[12] The pilot was ordered by ABC in October
2013,[13] and picked up to series in May 2014.[14] The series is filmed in the Bottle Yard Studios in
Bristol, United Kingdom.[15][16] 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.[17] Other filming locations
include Caldicot Castle and Caerphilly Castle in Wales, Southern Down on the Bristol Channel,
Berkeley Castle,[18] Cosmeston Medieval Village,[19] and Wells Cathedral[20] When the series
premiered in January 2015, it was billed as a four-week "comedy extravaganza".[21]
On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for a 10-episode second season.[22] 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.[23]

On May 12, 2016, it was confirmed that Galavant was canceled.[6] Upon the cancellation of the
series, composer Alan Menken expressed interest on Twitter in continuing the series on stage.[24]

Music[edit]
Galavant is a comedy musical.[25][26] 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",[27] both on Menken and Slater's previous work, as
well as on classic musicals such as West Side Story.[26] 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.[28]
The following songs featured on Galavant are performed by the Galavant cast, with music by
Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater.[29]

Season 1 (2015)[edit]
No.

Episode

"Pilot"

"Joust Friends"

"Two Balls"

"Comedy Gold"

"Completely Mad...Alena"

"Dungeons and Dragon

Lady"

"My Cousin Izzy"

Song Names
"Galavant"
"Galavant Rides"
"Galavant (Isabella Reprise)"
"She'll Be Mine"
"Galavant Wrap-Up"
"Hero's Journey"
"Stand Up"
"Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever"
"Previously On Galavant"
"Oy! What a Knight"
"Jackass in a Can"
"Dance Until You Die"
"Togetherness"
"Lords of the Sea"
"Comedy Gold"
"Togetherness (Reprise)"
"Galavant Gallivants"
"No One But You"
"Hey, Hey, We're the Monks"
"Hey, Hey, We're the Monks (Reprise)"
"If I Could Share My Life With You"
"I Love You (As Much As Someone Like Me Can Love
Anyone)"
"A Day in Richard's Life"
"Love Is Strange"
"Moment in the Sun #1"

"It's All in the Executions"

"Moment in the Sun #2"

"A Happy Ending For Us"
"Moment in the Sun #3"
"Moment in the Sun #4"
"Moment in the Sun #5"
"Galavant Finale"
"Goodnight My Friend (Short)"
"Secret Mission"
"Goodnight My Friend"
"Goodnight My Friend (Reprise)"

An official soundtrack for the first season was released on iTunes on January 19, 2015.[30]
[show]Track listing

Season 2 (2016)[edit]
No.
1

6
7

Episode

Song Names
"A New Season"
"A New Season aka Suck It Cancellation Bear" "Off With His Shirt"
"A New Season (Reprise)"
"World's Best Kiss"
"World's Best Kiss"
"Let's Agree to Disagree"
"World's Best Kiss (Reprise)"
"Build a New Tomorrow"
"Aw, Hell, the King"
"If I Were a Jolly Blacksmith"
"The Happiest Day of Your Life"
"As Good as it Gets"
"Bewitched, Bothered and Belittled"
"Serenade (Maybe You Won't Die Alone)"
"What Am I Feeling"
"My Dragon Pal and Me"
"Different Kind of Princess"
"Giants vs. Dwarves"
"Dwarves Vs Giants"
"My Dragon Pal and Me (Reprise)"
"Today We Rise"
"About Last Knight"
"He Was There"
"He Was There (Reprise)"
"Love and Death"
"Time is of the Essence"

"Do the DDEW"

"Battle of the Three Armies"

10 "The One True King (To Unite Them All)"

"Love Makes the World Brand New"

"Goodbye"
"I Don't Like You"
"Finally"
"A Dark Season"
"Galavant Recap"
"A Good Day to Die"
"Do the D'Dew"
"A Good Day to Die (Reprise)"
"Will My Day Ever Come"
"A Real Life, Happily Ever After"
"Season 2 Finale"

An official soundtrack for the second season was released on iTunes on January 29, 2016.[31]
[show]Track listing

Reception[edit]
See also: List of Galavant episodes Ratings
The first season averaged 4.83 million live viewers, and 6.52 millions including DVR-playback.
[32]
It has received generally positive reviews: On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a rating of 81%, based
on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. 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."[33] On Metacritic, it has a score of 61 out of
100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[34]
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."[35] 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."[36] TV Line's Matt Webb Mitovich wrote, "With some resignation, given a

colleagues 'meh' reaction to the pilot, I finally cued up Galavant and found myself bingewatching the six episodes available to me. (And I seldom binge anything.) Thats 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). Youll want two at a time to come away satisfied."[37] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix,
however, was more negative, writing, "...the whole is less than the sum of its comic and musical
parts."[38]
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."[39] On Metacritic, it has a 77/100 rating based on 4 critics.[