Monty Python's Spamalot

Monty Python's Spamalot
Original Broadway Poster
Music	John Du Prez Eric Idle Neil Innes
Lyrics	Eric Idle
Book	Eric Idle
Basis	Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python
Premiere	17 March 2005: Shubert Theatre
Productions	2004 Chicago 2005 Broadway 2006 West End 2007 Australia 2008 North American tour 2008 Barcelona 2009 North American tour 2009 Madrid 2010 UK Tour 2012 West End revival 2013 North American tour 2015 UK Tour
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album

Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways. The original 2005 Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, won three Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004–2005 season and received 14 Tony Award nominations. During its initial run of over 1,500 performances it was seen by more than two million people and grossed over $175 million.

A recording encourages members of the audience to "let your cellphones and pagers ring willy-nilly," and comments that they should "be aware there are heavily armed knights on stage that may drag you on stage and impale you." This was recorded by Eric Idle.

A historian gives a brief overview of medieval England. In a miscommunication between the actors and the narrator, the actors sing an introductory song about Finland ("Fisch Schlapping Song"). The Historian returns, irritated, and tells the frolicking Finns that he was talking about England, not Finland. The scene immediately changes to a dreary, dark village with penitent monks in hooded robes chanting Latin. King Arthur travels the land with his servant Patsy, who follows him around banging two coconut shells together to make the sound of a horse's hooves as Arthur "rides" before him, trying to recruit Knights of the Round Table to join him in Camelot. He encounters a pair of sentries who are more interested in debating whether two swallows could successfully carry a coconut than in listening to the king.

Sir Robin, a collector of plague victims, and Lancelot, a large, handsome and incredibly violent man, meet as Lancelot attempts to dispose of the sickly Not Dead Fred ("He Is Not Dead Yet"). They agree to become Knights of the Round Table together, Lancelot for the fighting, and Robin for the singing and the dancing.