COCONUT FRENZY IN NEW YORK!

It was with coconuts and clipboard in hand that we found ourselves outside the Shubert Theatre in New York on 22 March 2006 to officially recognize a most stupendous Guinness World Record attempt – the Largest Coconut Orchestra or just to clarify the Most People Playing Coconuts Simultaneously!

All sorts of questions ran through our minds: How many people would be present? Would the coconuts be strong enough? Would they be played for long enough? Would there be any dead parrots?

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Broadway show ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’, the cast and crew thought that there was no better way to mark the occasion than synchronized coconut playing. Anyone who has seen the show will understand why – instead of using real horses the cast simulate these by clapping coconut shells together!

As the big moment approached Christopher Sieber, Michael McGrath and other members of the cast counted down the gathered masses. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…and they were off! To the tune of Eric Idle’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ 1,789 Month Python fans officially marked the 365 days the show had been on stage and clapped their way into the Guinness World Records book. Congratulations to them all!

Our photo on the right shows Christopher Sieber (Sir Dennis Galahad) and Michael McGrath (Patsy) holding the Guinness World Records Certificate for "World's Largest Coconut Orchestra" shortly after setting the record outside the Shubert Theatre on March 22, 2006. © 2006 Joan Marcus.

28 April 2006