The first cast
members and opening dates have been announced for the stage musical version of
Monty Python And The Holy Grail. “Lovingly ripped off from the motion
picture,” by Eric Idle, Spamalot will star Tim Curry (Rocky Horror
Picture Show) as King Arthur, David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) as
“Brave” Sir Robin and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons) as Sir
Lancelot. The roles originally played by Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and John
Cleese respectively.
Five more actors are still to be cast and, like
the film, each will be sharing the roles of over 30 characters between them.
The show is being directed by
Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Angels in America) and will
feature the three ‘songs’ from the film - ‘Brave Sir Robin’, ‘He’s Going to
Tell’, and ‘Knights of the Round Table’ – as well as original songs written and
scored by Idle and John Du Prez (A Fish Called Wanda) and “a chorus
line of legless knights, men in tights (with legs), killer rabbits and dancing
divas who create unforgettable musical production numbers.”
Spamalot will
premier inChicago from 21st December 2004 to January 16th 2005 before
moving to Broadway in February. Idle boasted that the production would be
“almost as good as anything else opening in
Chicago that
week.”
