Monty Python a musical

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Python's "Grail" Goes Broadway
Fri Sep 12, 4:45 PM ET Add Entertainment - E! Online to My Yahoo!


By Josh Grossberg

And now for something completely differenton Broadway, that is.


Mike Nichols, legendary director of both stage and screen, has signed on to helm Spamelot, a musical adaptation of Monty Python's wacky 1975 cult film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


The project is the brainchild of Python alum Eric Idle, who wrote the book for the musical based on the script he did with fellow Flying Circus members John Cleese (news), Michael Palin (news), Terry Gilliam (news), Terry Jones (news) and the late Graham Chapman (news).


And according to Idle, the musical's moniker is about as permanent as the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.


"I like the title Spamelot a lot," Idle said in a press release, "but I was thinking it might be smart to ask audiences on my upcoming U.S. tour if they liked it as much as I do. After all, they are the ones who will be paying Broadway prices to see the show. So there's a good chance the title may change."


Somewhere Rodgers and Hammerstien are rolling over in their graves.




For those in need of refresher, Holy Grail was loosely based on the legend of King Arthur, following his coconut-clopping highness and his mostly gallant Britons (minus, of course, the brave Sir Robin) on their silly quest for the famous cup. Along the way they deal with the likes of Tim the Enchanter, a killer rabbit, evil Frenchmen, the quixotic Knights Who Say Ni, a documentary film crew and the Bridgekeeper, aka the Old Man from Scene 24.


The shrubbery-ready musical will feature a new score and lyrics by Idle and John Du Prez, in addition to two songs from the film. Choreography will be supplied by Jerry Mitchell, who provided the footsteps for this year's Tony winner Hairspray, as well as the current revival of Gypsy and the upcoming Never Gonna Dance. The set will be designed by Tim Hatley (Vincent in Brixton, Private Lives).


Nichols, who won an Oscar for directing 1967's The Graduate, is a six-time Tony winner who's no stranger to improvisational comedy, having formed Chicago's landmark Second City comedy troupe and for years teamed with Elaine May (news) on a clever nightclub act that played on the Great White Way back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. (Nichols is one of the handful of celebs who have the Big Four awards--Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy--to his credit.)


After splitting up with May, he directed several successful Broadway comedies, including The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park, before moving on to film.


Spamelot will certainly be a welcomed return to the boards for the filmmaker, whose last venture on the Great White Way was directing the Airel Dorfman drama, Death and the Maiden in 1992.


Nichols recently wrapped production on Angels in America, HBO's miniseries version of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play and is getting ready to shoot the Columbia Pictures drama Closer, starring Jude Law (news) and Cate Blanchett (news).


Idle, meanwhile, is gearing up to star in his own traveling circus, the aforementioned, "Greedy Ba$tard Tour," which gets underway October 1 in Montreal and wraps up December 20 in Los Angeles.


If all goes as planned, expect to see Spamelot make its Broadway debut in the spring of 2005.