Python's "Grail" Goes Broadway ("Spamelot" to be musical stage version of "Holy Grail")

Yahoo! News - E! Online ^ | 9.12.03 | Josh Grossberg

[mhking]

And now for something completely different on 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.

[mhking]

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[sirchtruth]

"You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're bangin' 'em together!"

[Lil'freeper]

And there was much rejoicing!

(Yaaaay!)

The question is, will Hillary star as the witch?

[mewzilla]

We're Knights of the Round Table,
We dance when ere we're able,
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot,
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.

[Lil'freeper]

This is silly!

[TomB]

No Llamas were injured in the production of this musical.

[listenhillary]

Bump for perusal of witty comments later.

Is there a Monty Python bump list yet?

[Lil'freeper]

[mewzilla]

LOL!

And the Lord spoke, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."

[Reaganesque]

I wish Mr. Idle success. I just hope it doesn't burn down, fall over and then sink into the swamp.

[Lil'freeper]

For your amusement.

[sushiman]

SOLDIER
You're using coconuts!

ARTHUR
...What?

SOLDIER
You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're banging
them together.

ARTHUR
(Scornfully)
So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this
land, through the kingdom of Mercea.

SOLDIER
Where did you get the coconuts?

ARTHUR
Through ... We found them.

SOLDIER
Found them? In Mercea. The coconut's tropical!

ARTHUR
What do you mean?

SOLDIER
Well, this is a temperate zone.

ARTHUR
The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin
or the plover seek warmer hot lands in winter, yet these are
not strangers to our land.

SOLDIER
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

ARTHUR
Not at all. They could be carried.

SOLDIER
What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

ARTHUR
Why not?

SOLDIER
I'll tell you why not ... because a swallow is about eight
inches long and weighs five ounces, and you'd be lucky
to find a coconut under a pound.


ARTHUR
It could grip it by the husk ...

SOLDIER
It's not a question of where he grips it, It's a simple
matter of weight - ratios ... A five-ounce bird could not
hold a a one pound coconut.

ARTHUR
Well, it doesn't matter. Go and tell your master that
Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here.

A Slight pause. Swirling mist. Silence.

SOLDIER
Look! To maintain Velocity, a swallow needs to beat
its wings four hundred and ninety three times every
second. right?

ARTHUR
(irritated)
Please!

SOLDIER
Am I right?

ARTHUR
I'm not interested.

SECOND SOLDIER
(who has loomed up on the battlements)
It could be carried by an African swallow!

FIRST SOLDIER
Oh yes! An African swallow maybe ... but not a European
swallow. that's my point.

SECOND SOLDIER
Oh yes, I agree there ...

ARTHUR
(losing patience)
Will you ask your master if he wants to join the Knights
of Camelot?!

FIRST SOLDIER
But then of course African swallows are non-migratory.

SECOND SOLDIER
Oh yes.

ARTHUR raises his eyes heavenwards and nods to PATSY. They turn
and go off into the mist.

FIRST SOLDIER
So they wouldn't be able to bring a coconut back anyway.

SECOND SOLDIER

Wait a minute! Suppose two swallows carried it together?

FIRST SOLDIER
No, they'd have to have it on a line.

[Wrigley]

fyi

[drstevej]

***The question is, will Hillary star as the witch? ***

Burn her!

[wku man]

This is a good idea on the surface, but the more they get outsiders, AKA Broadway types, involved, the lamer it will get. Why hire some stupid-ass Broadway queer to do the choreography? Hell, get John Cleese to do it...if he could come up with the steps for the Ministry of Silly Walks, I'm sure he could choreograph the stage show.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[KarlInOhio]

The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.

Signed RICHARD M. NIXON

[GladesGuru]

Just to make sure that someone at the Echelon center drops his/her coffee, may I bring to your attention a justification for the "Burn her!" suggestion? Contemplate the Rev. Cotton Mather's famous statement "Suffer ye not a witch to live."

If that doesn't wake someone up in the email spook set, nothing will.

Expect John Ashcroft, the Attorney General, to ask that all texts have the Rev. Mather's comment expunged to make the world safe for the HillaBeast, and witches in general.

/spoof off. Or should that have been /spook off?

[wysiwyg]

Ni!

[drstevej]

***Contemplate the Rev. Cotton Mather's famous statement "Suffer ye not a witch to live."***

Exodus 22:18
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

Cotton got it from the Old Testament.