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Monty Python's Spamalot is a comedic musical based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974). Like the film, it is a highly irreverent and very silly mockery of Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many other ways, especially its parodies of Broadway theatre. Eric Idle, a member of the Monty Python team, wrote the musical's book and lyrics, and collaborated with John Du Prez on the music. Running since March 17, 2005, it was directed by Mike Nichols, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004-2005 season.

Spamalot's plot follows King Arthur as he journeys to find the Holy Grail. Arthur, travelling with his servant Patsy, recruits several knights to accompany him on his quest, including Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad. Along the way, they meet the Lady of the Lake and a host of other odd characters, including Prince Herbert, The French Taunter, Tim the Enchanter, the Black Knight and the Knights who say Ni.

Cast

The original cast included Tim Curry as King Arthur, Michael McGrath as Patsy, David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin, Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot and other roles (e.g., the French Taunter and Tim the Enchanter), Christopher Sieber as Sir Galahad (and two other roles, heavily concealed), and Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake. It also included Christian Borle as Prince Herbert and John Cleese as the (recorded) voice of God.

Azaria's roles were taken over by Alan Tudyk starting June 7, 2005; Azaria returned to the cast on December 2, 2005 after working on a new season of Huff. Ramirez left on December 18, to be replaced by Lauren Kennedy, and Simon Russell Beale took over Curry's role as the king on December 20. On April 4, 2006, Azaria and Pierce were replaced by Steve Kazee and Martin Moran, respectively. Beale was replaced by Harry Groener on April 26.

The touring cast includes Michael Siberry as Arthur, Jeff Dumas as Patsy, David Turner as Robin, Rick Holmes as Lancelot, Bradley Dean as Galahad, Tom Deckman as Herbert, Christopher Gurr as Sir Bedevere, and Pia Glenn as the Lady of the Lake.

Characters

The Court of Camelot

  • King Arthur: King of the Britons. Has trouble counting to three.
  • Sir Lancelot the Brave: A near psychopathic knight with a difference.
  • Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot: A cowardly knight well versed in the world of musical theatre.
  • Sir Dennis Galahad, The Dashingly Handsome: Formerly Dennis Galahad, a politically active peasant.
  • Sir Bedevere, The Strangely Flatulent: A wise but smelly knight.
  • Patsy: King Arthur's trusty servant/steed and constant companion.
  • Concord: Lancelot's trusty servant/steed. Can survive an arrow to the chest.
  • Brother Maynard: Arthur's go-to guy for God.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-show: self-explanatory.

Other characters

  • The Lady of the Lake: An aquatic diva. Very hot.
  • Not-Dead Fred: He's not dead yet. He’s getting better.
  • Robin’s Lead Minstrel: Who never knows when to shut up.
  • The King of Swamp Castle: A hardhearted, moneygrubbing king who hates music.
  • Prince Herbert: His son. Loves to sing, and is about as butch as Minnie Mouse.
  • French Taunter: A French soldier who enjoys taunting.
  • The Black Knight: A psychotic knight who will fight even after all his arms and legs have been cut off.
  • Tim the Wizard: A pyromaniac.
  • The Head Knight who says "Ni!": The huge leader of the most feared Cult in the land: The dreaded knights who say "Ni!". Enjoys shrubberies.
  • Dennis’s mother: A Pepperpot. A politically-active peasant.
  • The Killer Rabbit of Antioch: A bloodthirsty puppet.
  • Two Guards: One has trouble understanding simple concepts, one hiccups a lot.
  • Two Sentries: At an unspecified castle. They enjoy talking about swallows and coconuts.
  • A Historian: Our Narrator
  • The Mayor of Finland: A character who really shouldn’t be in this musical.
  • The Laker Girls: The Lady of the Lake's backup dancers/cheerleaders.
  • Knights of the Round Table: They dance when e'er they're able.
  • Robin’s Minstrels: His back-up group.
  • God: Who sounds just like John Cleese.

Cast Doubling

In tribute to the film, where six actors played the majority of all male parts (and a few Female ones), several actors play multiple roles, the only major characters not doubling are Arthur and the Lady of the Lake. One actor plays Lancelot, The Knight of Ni, a Sentry, The French Taunter and Tim the Wizard. Another actor plays Robin, a Sentry, A Guard and Brother Maynard. A third plays Galahad, the Black Knight and The King of Swamp Castle. A Fourth Plays Patsy, the Mayor of Finland and A Guard. A Fifth plays Bedevere, Concord and Mrs. Galahad. And a Sixth plays The Historian, Not Dead Fred, Herbert and Robin's Lead Minstrel.

Production history

Previews of the show began in Chicago's Shubert Theatre (now the LaSalle Bank Theatre) on December 21, 2004; the show officially opened there on January 9, 2005 and was practically sold-out. It previewed on Broadway, at New York's Shubert Theatre, beginning February 14, 2005, and, after some changes, officially opened on March 17, 2005. The Broadway previews were practically sold-out, leaving only obstructed view tickets for sale.

Two musical numbers were dropped from Act One while the production was still in Chicago. During the scene set in the "Witch Village," the song "Burn Her!" was originally performed by "Sir Bedevere, The Witch, Sir Robin, Lance and Villagers." At the French Castle, "The Cow Song," in a parody of a stereotypical film noir/cabaret style, was performed by "The Cow and French Citizens." Before the two songs were cut in Chicago, the lead vocals in both songs were sung by Sara Ramirez. This gave her a total of six songs in Act One, but no further appearances until scene five in Act Two, for "The Diva's Lament."

A North American tour of the musical commenced on March 7, 2006, and ran through April 15 at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. The touring production then moved to the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago (April 19, 2006 - June 4, 2006), and is currently playing the National Theatre in Washington, DC (June 6, 2006 - July 9, 2006). The tour then heads to Toronto and is set to open on July 12 2006 at the Canon Theatre, where it will run until September 10.

Starting in Spring 2007, a production of the musical will reside for ten years at the Wynn Las Vegas Broadway theatre, which previously housed a production of Avenue Q.

Announced on 20 January 2006, a London production will open at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, commencing 2 October 2006 (London premiere 16 October) with tickets on sale from 21 February 2006, booking to 30 March 2007. Tim Curry will reprise his Broadway role as King Arthur until December with Simon Russell Beale taking over from January. Christopher Siebre will also be reprising his role as Sir Galahad. Hannah Waddingham will play the Lady of the Lake, Tom Goodman-Hill will play Sir Lancelot, Robert Hands will play Sir Robin and David Birell will play Patsy. Further casting to be announced.

Critical reception and box-office

The original production has been both a financial and critical success. Variety reported advanced tickets sales of $18 million, with ticket prices ranging from $36 to $101. The advance broke Broadway box office history.

The show proved to be an early success when moving to London's West End. After high advance ticket sales the shows run was extended by four weeks - four months before the shows run commenced. *

Monty Python fans appreciate its many references to the film and other material in the Python canon, including a line from "The Lumberjack Song", nods to the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Election Night Special and Dead Parrot Sketch routines, a rendition of the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), and the "Fisch Schlapping Song" which is a reference to both "The Fish-Slapping Dance" and the song "Finland". Another reference is actually part of the Playbill of the show; there are several gag pages about a musical entitled "Dik Od Triaanenen Fol (Finns Ain't What They Used To Be)".

Broadway musical fans appreciate its visual and auditory references to other musicals and musical theatre in general, such as: "The Song That Goes Like This" (a spoof of Andrew Lloyd Webber productions and many other Broadway power ballads); the knights doing a dance reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof, as well as a dance reminiscent of West Side Story (complete with music); Sir Lancelot's mimicking of Peter Allen in "His Name Is Lancelot"; the character of Sir Not Appearing in This Show being Don Quixote; a member of the French "army" dressed as Eponine from Les Misérables; and a line pulled from "Another Hundred People" from Sondheim's Company by the "damsel" Herbert. The song "You Won't Succeed (On Broadway)" also parodies The Producers, Yentl, and other Jewish-related shows.

According to a New York Times article on the show published in 2005, "Spamalot" has somewhat contributed to the diversity of American musical theatre by bringing back the straight white male to audiences. It is not uncommon to see reunions of men's college fraternities and other groups that enjoyed watching Monty Python fare in college attending "Spamalot" on Broadway.

Awards

The original Broadway production received fourteen Tony Award nominations, more than any other show in the 2004-2005 season. It won three of them:

  • Best Musical
  • Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez)
  • Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols)

The production's eleven other nominations were:

The show's Tony Awards led to a minor change to the song "The Diva's Lament." Initially, the line "I've no Grammy, no reward/I've no Tony Award" became "My Tony Award/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." When Kennedy took over for Ramirez, it became "All our Tony Awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." In the touring production, Glenn sings "All our goddamn awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's."

The touring production has thus far garnered Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Visiting Production.

Origin of the title

Idle explained the title in a February 2004 press release about the musical:
I like the title SPAMALOT a lot. We tested it with audiences on my recent US tour and they liked it as much as I did, which is gratifying. After all, they are the ones who will be paying Broadway prices to see the show. It comes from a line in the movie which goes: ‘we eat ham, and jam and Spam a lot.’

Publicity

On 22 March 2006, to mark the one year anniversary of the official Broadway opening of the show, the "World's Largest Coconut Orchestra" (consisting of 1,789 people clapping together two halves of a coconut shell) performed in Shubert Alley, outside the theatre. The claim was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

The April 30, 2006 episode of The Simpsons featured a reference to Spamalot, as the family attended "Stab-A-Lot: The Itchy and Scratchy Musical", also a spoof of The Lion King. Hank Azaria (Sir Lancelot, Tim the Enchanter, etc.) coincidentally is a regular cast member of The Simpsons, primarily as Moe Szyslak, the bartender.

Songs

Act I

  1. "Fisch Schlapping Song"
  2. "King Arthur's Song"
  3. "I Am Not Dead Yet"
  4. "Come With Me"
  5. "Laker Girls Cheer"
  6. "The Song That Goes Like This"
  7. "All For One"
  8. "Knights of the Round Table"
  9. "Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"
  10. "Find Your Grail"
  11. "Run Away!"

Act III. Wait... No... Act II

  1. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
  2. "Brave Sir Robin"
  3. "You Won't Succeed On Broadway"
  4. "The Diva's Lament"
  5. "Where Are You?"
  6. "Here Are You"
  7. "His Name Is Lancelot"
  8. "I'm All Alone"
  9. "The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"
  10. "The Holy Grail"
  11. "Find Your Grail Finale - Medley"
  12. "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life (Sing Along Reprise/Cast Bow)"

External links

Monty Python and the Holy Grail | Musicals | Musicals based on films

Monty Python’s Spamalot | ספאמלוט

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Spamalot".

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