Spamalot

From Freepedia

(Redirected from Monty Python's Spamalot)
Broadway Show
Image:Spamalotalbumcover.jpg
Spamalot
Theatre Shubert Theatre
Opening Night March 17 2005
Tony Nominations 14
Tony Awards 3
Author(s) Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle; book & lyrics by Eric Idle; based on the screenplay Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Director Mike Nichols
Leading Original Cast Members Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce

Monty Python's Spamalot is a comedic musical based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). 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. 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 Knight of Ni.

Contents

Cast

The original cast includes Tim Curry as King Arthur, Michael McGrath as Patsy, David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin, Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot and other roles (including the French Taunter and Tim the Enchanter), Christopher Sieber as Sir Galahad, and Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake. It also includes 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 is scheduled to return to the cast on December 2, 2005, after his work on a new season of Huff is completed.

Two other cast changes are planned for December:

Azaria and Pierce are contractually committed to the show until April 2006.

Production history

Image:Spamalot promo.jpg

Previews of the show began in Chicago's Shubert Theatre on December 21, 2004; the show officially opened there on January 9, 2005. It previewed on Broadway, also at the Shubert Theatre, beginning February 14, 2005, and, after some changes, officially opened on March 17, 2005.

Amongst the changes, a musical version of the film's witch-hunting scene was eliminated when it moved to Broadway, as was a sequence featuring a dancing cow.

A national tour of the musical will commence on March 7, 2006, at the Colonial Theater in Boston, Massachusetts. Starting in 2007, a production of the musical will reside for ten years at a Wynn Las Vegas theatre being built specifically for the show.

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.

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 "Fish Schlapping Song" which is a reference to both "The Fish-Slapping Dance" and the song "Finland".

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, the Laker Girls doing a dance reminiscent of West Side Story (complete with music), Azaria's mimicking of Peter Allen in "His Name Is Lancelot", the character of Sir Not Appearing in This Show being Don Quixote, 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, among other Jewish-related shows.

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":

I've no Grammy, no rewards/I've no Tony Awards

became

My Tony Awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's.

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 jam, and ham and Spam a lot.’

Songs

Act I

  • "Fisch Schlapping Song"
  • "King Arthur's Song"
  • "I Am Not Dead Yet"
  • "Come With Me"
  • "Laker Girls Cheer"
  • "The Song That Goes Like This"
  • "All For One"
  • "Knights of the Round Table"
  • "Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"
  • "Find Your Grail"
  • "Run Away!"

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

  • "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life"
  • "Brave Sir Robin"
  • "You Won't Succeed On Broadway"
  • "The Diva's Lament"
  • "Where Are You?"
  • "Here Are You"
  • "His Name Is Lancelot"
  • "I'm All Alone"
  • "The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"
  • "The Holy Grail"
  • "Find Your Grail Finale - Medley"
  • "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life (Sing Along Reprise)"

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Spamalot.html"


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