Purchase Monty Pythons Spamalot Tickets at Onlineseats
Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria star in the work which begins previews St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) and opens St. Patrick's Day (March 17) at Broadway's Shubert Theatre. The Shubert Theatre in Chicago is at 22 W. Monroe Street.
Monty Pythons Spamalot: The Musical
Spamalot tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table on their quest for the Holy Grail. The show will boast "a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight who create unforgettable musical production." Creator Eric Idle, in the show's announcement, promises it will be "as good as or quite likely better than any other show with killer rabbits and a legless knight opening on Broadway or in Chicago this season."
The musical features a completely new score with music and lyrics by Idle and composer John Du Prez ("A Fish Called Wanda") with songs ("Brave Sir Robin" and "Knights of the Round Table") from the original film.
The Chicago run included the songs "Fisch Schlapping Song," "King Arthur's Song," "I Am Not Dead Yet," "Come With Me," "The Song That Goes Like This," "Burn Her!," "All For One," "Knights of the Round Table," "The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)," "Find Your Grail," "The Cow Song," "Run Away," "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" and "Find Your Grail Finale - Medley."
Sure, the Pythonalia is all there -- from the crenelated castles, reluctant corpses, limb-spliced knight and dastardly shrubbery to the sexy girls and gay-boy 'damsel' in distress. But it all has undergone a drastic sea change, too -- cross bred with a century's worth of Broadway conventions, and with bits of additional genetic material lifted from Las Vegas and Super Bowl halftime shows, from pop music sound bites and the trans-Atlantic trills of Andrew Lloyd Webber. A wacky hybrid (with Broadway proving to be the dominant strain, especially in the show's second act), it has arrived with such a blindingly bright sheen -- and at the same time with such a sense of the loopily quirky teamwork that made the original Pythons who they were -- that you don't know whether you should sing ''Hail to the Queen,'' ''The Star-Spangled Banner,'' ''Havah Nagilah'' or ''YMCA.''
Show Biography - Monty Pythons Spamalot
Some scenes from the film are here in musicalized form, such as 'Burn Her!', an Act 1 witch-burning song, which happens also to be the show's low point. Du Prez and Idle click best with the '70s-style Lloyd Webberisms, heard in the fulsomely emotional 'The Song That Goes Like This,' or the anthemic 'Find Your Grail,' a 'Let It Be' wannabe with such deathlessly inane lyrics as: 'Do not fail/Find your grail/Find your grail/Find your grail.'
Along with Ramirez, there's another ringer in the supporting ranks: Michael McGrath, a seasoned New York performer but not yet a star. He plays Patsy, the servant running around with the coconuts, and his fine eccentric dancing and stalwart singing are put to prime use on the 'Life of Brian' tune, nicely interpolated, 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.' It's deeply catchy and it makes for a swell exit song, as well. Audiences many years into the future, I suspect, will be happy to sing along.
''Spamalot'' opens at New York's Shubert Theatre on March 17. It will no doubt be wearing ''the green'' for quite a long time after that
