The Arts Club’s upcoming show has the tagline, “lovingly ripped off” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. For true Python fans, fret not, the book and lyrics for Spamalot were written by Eric Idle. However, if you don’t even know what or who this Monty Python person is, Spamalot also parodies well-known Broadway musical tropes.
“We’re taking liberties with the movie and poking fun at the Broadway musical genre,” explains director Dean Paul Gibson. The premise of the play follows the movie where King Arthur travels the land to recruit Knights of the Round Table to Camelot. Silliness ensues as they meet the Knights Who Say Ni, lewd French soldiers, and evil rabbits.
“I’m not going to mess around with a brand like Monty Python,” states Gibson, who grew up watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Even though the show has been off the air since 1974, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail came out in 1975, the Python influence and style continues to entice fans.
Monty Python has become part of global popular culture, spreading from Britain. “It is still popular and enduring,” says Gibson, “but we’ve put our own stamp on it while maintaining its Pythonesque appeal.”
Arts Club artistic manager Bill Millerd approached Gibson with a couple of options for the 50th anniversary season and he jumped at the chance to direct Spamalot.
“It’s great because I get to work on all different types of productions,” said Gibson. He started choosing his creative team and they’re currently in rehearsals. The production crew includes musical director Kim Cormier and choreographer Lisa Stevens, who Gibson worked with on Xanadu in July 2012.
“It’s a big show and the actors all have particular strengths,” says Gibson, noting that David Marr is an Arts Club veteran and leading lady Terra C. MacLeod made a big splash in the Arts Club production of West Side Story last year.
The title is taken from a line in the film: “We dine well here in Camelot / We eat ham and jam and Spam a lot / We’re Knights of the Round Table.” The 2005 Broadway production received 14 Tony Award nominations and won three, including Best Musical. It has been produced across the globe and pokes fun at well-known plays such as Fiddler on the Roof and Phantom of the Opera.
Spamalot will inevitably include the requisite amount of smut, sacrilege, and general silliness we expect from a Python show. So grab your coconuts and practice your “Ni!”
The Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Monty Python’s Spamalot will run May 8 to June 29 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. Tickets and show times available at artsclub.com.
