Spamalot

Monty Python's Spamalot
Original Broadway Windowcard
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.

One of the musical's creators, Eric Idle, explained the title in a February 2004 press release:

I like the title Spamalot a lot. We tested it with audiences on my recent US tour and they liked it as much as I did, which is gratifying. After all, they are the ones who will be paying Broadway prices to see the show. It comes from a line in the movie which goes: "we eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot."

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.

Synopsis

Before the Musical

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 John Cleese.

Act I

A historian gives a brief overview of medieval England. In a miscommunication between the actors and the narrator, a Scandinavian village appears, with Finnish villagers along with the Mayor of the country on his fort singing the "Fisch Schlapping Song." Ten men grab tiny fish and lightly slap the women in the face with them. After a couple of slaps, the women pull out much larger fish and slap the men in return with great force, making the men fall flat on the floor. The villagers continue to sing and dance. Then, two women slap the mayor hard in the face with enormous fish, both having huge smiles on their faces while slapping him. Because both women slapped him at the same time with so much force, the mayor falls flat on the floor, then leaves the stage. His fort is then taken over by one of the women who slapped him. The villagers continue to sing and dance. The Historian returns, irritated, and tells the frolicking Finns that he was talking about England, not Finland. The scene immediately goes 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.

Arthur attempts to convince a peasant named Dennis Galahad that he, Arthur, is king of England because the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur, the sword given only to the man fit to rule England. However, Dennis and his mother, Mrs Galahad, are political radicals and deny that any king who has not been elected by the people has any legitimate right to rule over them. To settle the issue, Arthur has the Lady Of The Lake and her Laker Girls appear to turn Dennis into a knight ("Come With Me"). Cheered on by the girls ("Laker Girls Cheer"), the Lady Of The Lake turns Dennis into Sir Galahad and together, they sing a generic Broadway love song ("The Song That Goes Like This"), complete with chandelier. They are joined by Sir Robin and Sir Lancelot, and together with Sir Bedevere and "the aptly named" Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show (a knight resembling Don Quixote, who promptly apologises and leaves), they make up the Knights of the Round Table ("All For One").

The five knights gather in Camelot, a deliberately anachronistic place resembling Las Vegas's Camelot-inspired Excalibur resort, complete with showgirls, oversized dice and the Lady of the Lake headlining the Castle in full Cher get-up ("Knights Of The Round Table"/"The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)"). In the midst of their revelry, they are contacted by God (a recording voiced by John Cleese of the original Monty Python troupe and Eric Idle in the version currently touring the UK) who tells them to locate the Holy Grail. Urged on by the Lady Of The Lake ("Find Your Grail"), the Knights set off. They travel throughout the land until they reach a castle, only to be viciously taunted by lewd French soldiers. They attempt to retaliate by sending them a large wooden rabbit in the style of the Trojan Horse; however, they realise after the fact that it was not as simple as leaving the rabbit and walking away – they should have hidden inside it. Defeated, they leave in a hurry when the French begin taunting them again, sending cancan dancers after them and throwing barnyard animals including cows at them ("Run Away!"). Arthur and his followers manage to run into the safety of the wings before the French catapult the Trojan Rabbit at them.

Act II

Sir Robin and his minstrels follow King Arthur and Patsy into a "dark and very expensive forest", where they are separated. King Arthur meets the terrifying but silly Knights who say Ni, who demand a shrubbery. King Arthur despairs of finding one, but Patsy cheers him up ("Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life") and they find a shrubbery shortly after.

Sir Robin, after wandering the forest for some time with his minstrels ("Brave Sir Robin"), encounters The Black Knight, who scares him off, but King Arthur, who happens on the scene, more or less defeats him by cutting off both his arms and legs, impaling his still-alive torso on a door, and leaving to give the Knights their shrubbery. The Knights accept it, but next demand that King Arthur put on a musical and bring it to Broadway (in the United Kingdom, this became a West End musical; on the tour, they must put on a "Broadway musical"), implying that it need only be Broadway-style, "but not an Andrew Lloyd Webber". The mere mention of his name causes everyone to cover their ears and scream in pain. Sir Robin, who has found Arthur by this point, insists that it would be impossible for them to accomplish this next task, since you need Jews for a successful Broadway (or West End) musical ("You Won't Succeed On Broadway"), and proves his point in a wild production number filled with Fiddler on the Roof parodies, including a bottle dance like with Grails instead of bottles. King Arthur and Patsy promptly set off in search of Jews.

(In countries that don't have a tradition of Jews in the theatre, the lyrics of "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" are sometimes changed to instead describe the high production standards and acting talent needed to stage a successful musical in that country. For example, in the South Korean version, Sir Robin sings about recent successful musicals that were staged in Seoul during the previous decade. Meanwhile, members of the ensemble appear onstage dressed as various characters from those musicals. Among these characters are a cat from Cats, Kenickie from Grease, Kim from Miss Saigon, The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera, and Velma Kelly from Chicago. As with the original version of the song, Sir Robin and the entire ensemble end the number with a song and dance routine.)

While the Lady Of The Lake laments her lack of stage time ("Whatever Happened To My Part?"), Sir Lancelot receives a letter from what he assumes is a young damsel in distress. He is very surprised to find that the "damsel" is actually an embarrassingly effeminate young man named Prince Herbert ("Where Are You?"/"Here Are You") whose overbearing, music-hating father, the King of Swamp Castle, is forcing him into an arranged marriage. As Herbert is asking Lancelot to help him escape, the King of Swamp Castle cuts the rope that he is using to climb out of the window, and Herbert falls to his apparent death. Lancelot is a bit puzzled at the king's actions, but it is revealed that Herbert was saved at the last minute by Lancelot's sidekick, Concorde. The King asks his son how he was saved, exactly, to which Herbert replies happily with a song. But the king charges at his son with a spear, preparing to kill him. Lancelot steps in to save him, then gives a tearful, heartfelt speech about sensitivity to the king on Herbert's behalf, and Lancelot is outed as a homosexual in the process, an announcement celebrated in a wild disco number ("His Name is Lancelot").

King Arthur begins to give up hope of ever putting on the Broadway musical and laments that he is alone, even though Patsy has been with him the entire time ("I'm All Alone"). The Lady Of The Lake appears and tells Arthur that he and the Knights have been in a Broadway musical all along. Patsy also reveals he is half Jewish, but didn't want to say anything to Arthur because "that's not really the sort of thing you say to a heavily armed Christian." All that's left is for King Arthur to find the Grail and marry someone. After picking up on some not-too-subtle hints, Arthur decides to marry the Lady Of The Lake after he finds the Grail ("Twice in Every Show").

Reunited with his Knights, Arthur meets Tim the Enchanter who warns them of the danger of a killer rabbit. When the rabbit bites a knight's head off, Arthur uses the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch against it, knocking down a nearby hill and revealing that the "evil rabbit" was actually a puppet controlled by a surprised puppeteer. A large stone block showing a combination of letters and numbers is also revealed. (The letters are based on the seat numbering system used by each theatre. They are changed from performance to performance to discourage audience members from intentionally booking any of the possible seats. The seat is typically on the aisle in one of the first few rows nearest the orchestra. In the Broadway production and on the tour it is either A101, B101, C101 or D101; i.e., Seat 101 – which is house right of the center aisle – of Rows A, B, C, or D. In the West End Production a word is revealed – DONE, CONE or BONE, referring to D1, C1 and B1 respectively.) After pondering the final clue, Arthur admits that they're "a bit stumped with the clue thing" and asks God to "give them a hand". A large hand points to the audience and Arthur realises that the letters and numbers refer to a seat number in the audience. The grail is "found" (with some sleight of hand) under the seat and the person sitting in the seat is rewarded with a small trophy and a polaroid photo. ("The Holy Grail"). Arthur marries the Lady of the Lake, who reveals that her name is Guinevere; Lancelot marries Herbert (who finally has a chance to sing); and Sir Robin decides to pursue a career in musical theatre ("Act 2 Finale/Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Company Bow)").

The overall duration of the show is about two hours plus interval time.

Musical numbers

Eric Idle wrote the musical's book and lyrics and collaborated with John Du Prez on the music, except for "Knights of the Round Table" and "Brave Sir Robin", which were composed by Neil Innes for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. ("Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was originally written by Idle for the film Monty Python's Life of Brian.)

Act I

• Tuning**
• Overture
• "Historian's Introduction to Act I" – Historian
• "Finland" / "Fisch Schlapping Dance" – Mayor and Company
• "Monk's Chant" – Company
• "King Arthur's Song" – King Arthur, Patsy*
• "I Am Not Dead Yet" – Not Dead Fred, Lance, Robin, and Bodies
• "Come with Me" – King Arthur, Lady of the Lake, and Laker girls
• "Laker Girls Cheer" – Laker Girls
• "The Song That Goes Like This" – Sir Galahad and Lady of the Lake
• "All for One" – King Arthur, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad and Sir Bedevere
• "Knights of the Round Table" – Company
• "The Song That Goes Like This" (Reprise) – Lady of the Lake
• "Find Your Grail" – Lady Of The Lake and Company
• "Run Away!" – Company
• The Intermission**

Act II

• "Historian's Introduction to Act II" – Historian
• "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" – Patsy, King Arthur, Knights, and Knights of Ni
• "Brave Sir Robin" – Sir Robin and Minstrels
• "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" – Sir Robin and Ensemble
• "Whatever Happened to My Part?" – Lady Of The Lake
• "Where Are You?" – Prince Herbert
• "Here Are You" – Prince Herbert
• "His Name is Lancelot" – Sir Lancelot, Prince Herbert, and Ensemble
• "I'm All Alone" – King Arthur, Patsy, and Knights
• "Twice in Every Show" – Lady Of The Lake and King Arthur
• "Act II Finale: I Am Not Dead Yet (Reprise) / Find Your Grail (Reprise) / The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise II)" – Company
• "Bows: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Reprise)" – Company and Audience

*Does not appear on the Original cast album.

**On the cast album but not in the show itself.

The song 'You Won't Succeed On Broadway' was changed to the 'Star Song' in the UK tour.

Characters

The Court of Camelot

• King Arthur of Britain
• Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave
• Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot
• Sir Dennis Galahad, The Dashingly Handsome
• Sir Bedevere, The Strangely Flatulent

• Patsy: King Arthur's trusty servant/steed and constant companion.
• Concorde: Lancelot's trusty servant/steed.
• Brother Maynard: Camelot's clergyman
• Sir Bors
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show: Dressed as Don Quixote.

Other characters

• The Lady of the Lake
• Not Dead Fred
• Robin's Lead Minstrel
• The King of Swamp Castle (aka Herbert's Father)
• Prince Herbert
• French Taunter
• The Black Knight: A psychotic, "invincible" knight who will insist on fighting even after all his limbs have been cut off.
• The Head Knight who says "Ni!": The very tall leader of the most feared cult in the land: the dreaded Knights who say Ni.
• Tim the Enchanter
• Mrs. Galahad

• The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog
• Swamp Castle Guards
• Two Sentries
• Historian: the Narrator.
• The Laker Girls: The Lady of the Lake's backup dancers/cheerleaders.
• Knights of the Round Table
• Robin’s Minstrels
• God
• Holder of the Holy Grail: Whoever happens to be sitting in a certain seat at that performance.

In tribute to the film, where six actors played the majority of the male parts (and a few female ones), several actors play multiple roles; the only major characters not doubling are Arthur and the Lady of the Lake. In the Broadway production, the following doubling is used:

• Lancelot/2nd Sentry/The French Taunter/Knight of Ni/Tim the Enchanter
• Robin/1st Sentry/Brother Maynard/2nd Guard
• Galahad/King of Swamp Castle/Black Knight
• Patsy/Mayor of Finland/1st Guard
• Bedevere/Mrs. Galahad/Concorde
• The Historian/Prince Herbert/Not Dead Fred/Lead Minstrel/The French Taunter's Best Friend

Sara Ramirez was intended to double as a witch but this part was cut from the final script. Several pairs of characters originally played by the same Monty Python member were reduced to one: the Dead Collector and Sir Robin (Idle), the Large Man with a Dead Body and Sir Lancelot (Cleese), and Dennis the Politically-Active Peasant and Sir Galahad (Michael Palin).

Casts

Role	Chicago Cast 2004	Original Broadway Cast 2005	First US Tour 2006	Original West End Cast 2006	UK Tour 2010	Second US Tour 2010	West End Revival 2012	Hollywood Bowl 2015
King Arthur of Britain	Tim Curry		Michael Siberry	Tim Curry	Phill Jupitus	Steve McCoy	Marcus Brigstocke Jon Culshaw	Craig Robinson
The Lady of the Lake	Sara Ramirez		Pia Glenn	Hannah Waddingham	Jodie Prenger Hayley Tamaddon Amy Nuttall	Caroline Bowman	Bonnie Langford	Merle Dandridge
Patsy	Michael McGrath		Jeff Dumas	David Birell	Tom Carty	Glenn Giron	Tom Carty	Warwick Davis
Sir Lancelot	Hank Azaria		Rick Holmes	Tom Goodman-Hill	Graham McDuff	Adam Grabau	Kit Orton	Rick Holmes
Sir Galahad	Christopher Sieber		Bradley Dean	Christopher Sieber	Simon Lipkin	Jacob L. Smith	Jon Robyns	Christian Slater
Sir Robin	David Hyde Pierce		David Turner	Robert Hands	Samuel Holmes	Martin Glyer	Rob Delaney	Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Sir Bedevere	Steve Rosen		Christopher Gurr	Tony Timberlake	Robin Armstrong	Matt Ban	Robin Armstrong	Kevin Chamberlin
Prince Herbert	Christian Borle		Thomas Deckman	Darren Southworth	David Lingham	John Garry	Adam Ellis	Thomas Deckman

Production history

Chicago

A ticket from the first preview show

Previews of the show began in Chicago's Shubert Theatre (now the Bank of America Theatre) on 21 December 2004; the show officially opened there on 9 January 2005.

Two musical numbers were dropped from Act One while the production was still in Chicago. During the scene set in the "Witch Village", the torch song "Burn Her!" was originally performed by Sir Bedevere, The Witch, Sir Robin, Lancelot and Villagers. At the French Castle, "The Cow Song", in a parody of a stereotypical film noir/cabaret style, was performed by The Cow and French Citizens. Before the two songs were cut in Chicago, the lead vocals in both songs were sung by Sara Ramirez. This gave her six songs in Act One, but no further appearances until scene five in Act Two, for "The Diva's Lament".

Broadway

The musical previewed on Broadway, at New York's Shubert Theatre, beginning 14 February 2005, and, after some changes, officially opened on 17 March 2005. Mike Nichols directed, and Casey Nicholaw choreographed. The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical and was nominated for 14 Tony Awards. The show played its final performance on 11 January 2009 after 35 previews and 1,575 performances; it was seen by more than two million people and grossed over $175 million, recouping its initial production costs in under six months.

The original Broadway cast included Tim Curry as King Arthur, Michael McGrath as Patsy, David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin, Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot and other roles (e.g., the French Taunter, Knight of Ni, and Tim the Enchanter), Christopher Sieber as Sir Galahad and other roles (e.g., the Black Knight and Prince Herbert's Father), and Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake. It also included Christian Borle as Prince Herbert and other roles (e.g., the Historian and Not Dead Fred), Steve Rosen as Sir Bedevere and other roles (e.g., Concorde and Dennis's Mother) and John Cleese as the (recorded) Voice of God.

Notable cast replacements included:

• Hank Azaria was replaced by Steve Kazee, Alan Tudyk and later by Rick Holmes.
• Sara Ramirez was replaced by Lauren Kennedy, then by Marin Mazzie, Hannah Waddingham, and Merle Dandridge.
• Tim Curry was replaced by Simon Russell Beale, Harry Groener, Jonathan Hadary, Stephen Collins, Michael Siberry, and John O'Hurley.
• Christopher Sieber was replaced by Lewis Cleale, then by Bradley Dean.
• Christian Borle was replaced by Tom Deckman.
• David Hyde Pierce was replaced by Martin Moran, Clay Aiken, and Robert Petkoff.
• Michael McGrath was replaced by David Hibbard, then by Drew Lachey.
• Steve Rosen was replaced by Jeffrey Kuhn, Brad Oscar and Wally Dunn.

US Tour

First National tour (2006–2009)

Spamalot's North American tour took it to Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre in May 2006.

A North American tour commenced in spring 2006, and the cast included Michael Siberry as King Arthur, Jeff Dumas as Patsy/Mayor/Guard, David Turner as Robin/Guard/Brother Maynard, Rick Holmes as Lancelot/French Taunter/Knight of Ni/Tim The Enchanter, Bradley Dean as Galahad/Black Knight/Herbert's Father, Tom Deckman as The Historian/Not Dead Fred/French Guard/Minstrel/Prince Herbert, Christopher Gurr as Sir Bedevere/Dennis's Mother/Concorde, and Pia Glenn (who remains slated for productions as late as June 2008) as the Lady of the Lake. Deckman moved to the Broadway production in November 2006 and was replaced by Christopher Sutton.

The tour won three 2007 Touring Broadway Awards, including Best New Musical.

This same tour returned to Chicago on 20 January 2009 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, this time with Richard Chamberlain as King Arthur. This production costs $419,099.53 in artist fees/royalties for 8 performances in a venue in Florida.

The Tour continued through the summer 2009, with dates at the Golden Gate Theatre San Francisco, the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, the Canon Theatre in Toronto, the San Diego Civic Theatre in San Diego, the Tucson Music Hall in Tucson, and played its final performances at the Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa where it closed on 18 October 2009.

Second National tour (2010)

A Second North American tour launched on 24 September 2010 from Waterbury, CT and ended 26 June 2011 in Dallas, TX. Leading the tour was a non-equity cast, however it used the same sets and costumes as the First National tour. The cast included Steve McCoy as King Arthur, Caroline Bowman as the Lady of the Lake, Adam Grabau as Lancelot, Jacob L. Smith as Galahad, Matt Ban as Sir Bedevere/Dennis's Mother, Glenn Giron as Patsy, Martin Glyer as Robin, Thomas DeMarcus as The Historian, and John Garry as Not Dead Fred/Prince Herbert. Other cast members include Stephen Cerf, Jennifer Cordiner, Carl Draper, William Harrell, Melissa Denise Lopez, Shaun Patrick Moe, Linda Neel, Jeffrey Shankle, Keleen Snowgren, Tara Sweeney, Michael Warrell, Jessica Wockenfuss, Matthew Alexander, and Jenny Holahan. The tour restarted later that year and ran through 2012.

Third National tour (2013),

A third North American tour was undertaken in 2013.

Hollywood Bowl (2015)

A three evening performance at the Hollywood Bowl was undertaken in 2015, with Eric Idle appearing in the role of The Historian, and other cast members including Christian Slater, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Craig Robinson, Merle Dandridge, Warwick Davis, Kevin Chamberlin and Rick Holmes. The script was updated and included many Los Angeles specific jokes.

West End and UK tour

Spamalot showing at the Palace Theatre in October 2008.

A London production opened at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End, commencing 30 September 2006 (London premiere 17 October) with tickets on sale booking to November 2008. Curry reprised his Broadway role as King Arthur until December, with Beale taking over from January. Sieber also reprised his rôle as Sir Galahad before leaving in early 2007, replaced by Graham McDuff. Hannah Waddingham was cast as the Lady of the Lake, Tom Goodman-Hill as Sir Lancelot, Robert Hands as Sir Robin, David Birell as Patsy, Tony Timberlake as Sir Bedevere and Darren Southworth as Prince Herbert. Notable cast replacements have included Peter Davison and Bill Ward in 2007 and, briefly, Marin Mazzie, in early 2008. Sanjeev Bhaskar took over from Alan Dale as the last King Arthur (23 June 2008 onwards). The London production closed on 3 January 2009.

A UK tour scheduled for later in 2009 was initially postponed, the producers commenting "Due to unforeseen circumstances the UK Tour of Spamalot will not be taking place as scheduled in 2009", but eventually started at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 29 May – 5 June 2010 and Nottingham Theatre Royal on 7–12 June 2010. The tour is scheduled to run until June 2011 at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. The production travelled to Trieste's Politeama Rossetti marking on 24 May 2011 the official opening of the show in Italy.

Phill Jupitus played King Arthur in the UK tour. Todd Carty played Patsy, assistant to King Arthur for the duration of the tour. Phil Jupitus finished on the tour after performing at Wycombe Swan theatre. Marcus Brigstocke made his musical theatre debut as King Arthur following Jupitus' departure. Jodie Prenger, Hayley Tamaddon, and Amy Nuttall shared the role of The Lady of the Lake. The tour also featured Simon Lipkin as Sir Galahad, Graham McDuff as Sir Lancelot, David Lingham as Prince Herbert, Samuel Holmes as Sir Robin, and Robin Armstrong as Sir Bedevere.

The UK tour also featured for the first time a re-working of the song "You won't succeed on Broadway" which has been renamed "You won't succeed in showbiz". The theme of the song has been changed from poking fun at the need for Jewish input into Broadway productions and instead mocks the cross over of celebrities in musicals and reality television competitions such as the X Factor. It notably pokes fun at reality TV celebrities including Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Susan Boyle (who is shot by Sir Robin when she begins to sing).

The show was revived on the West End for seven weeks during the summer of 2012 and played for a limited time at the Harold Pinter Theatre (using some of the costumes, sets, and actors from the UK Tour). Marcus Brigstocke (who had appeared on the tour) shared the role of King Arthur with Jon Culshaw for those seven weeks. The production moved to the Playhouse Theatre on 14 November 2012. The show announced in January it would close on 22 February 2014, but was later extended and will now close on 12 April 2014. During 2013 a number of celebrities each played the part of God for a week in aid of charity, including Gary Lineker, Barbara Windsor, Brian May and Michael Palin.

UK Casts:

Role	Original West End	Final West End	UK Tour	West End Revival
King Arthur	Tim Curry	Sanjeev Bhaskar	Marcus Brigstocke Jon Culshaw Phill Jupitus	Stephen Tompkinson Joe Pasquale Les Dennis Richard McCourt
Lady of the Lake	Hannah Waddingham	Nina Söderquist	Jodie Prenger Bonnie Langford	Anna-Jane Casey Bonnie Langford Carley Stenson
Patsy	David Birrel	Andrew Spillett	Todd Carty	Todd Carty Michael Burgen Warwick Davis Dominic Wood
Sir Lancelot	Tom Goodman-Hill	Jake Nightingale	Graham MacDuff	Graham MacDuff Kit Orton Daniel Boys
Sir Galahad	Christopher Sieber	Michael Xavier	Simon Lipkin	Jon Robyns James Bisp
Sir Robin	Robert Hands	Ross Dawes	Samuel Holmes	Rob Delaney
Sir Bedevere	Tony Timberlake	Adam Stafford	Robin Armstrong	Robin Armstrong
Prince Herbert	Darren Southworth	Gerard Carey	David Langham	Adam Ellis

Las Vegas

A production of the musical began Las Vegas, Nevada previewed on 8 March 2007 and opened on 31 March 2007 at the Wynn Las Vegas in the newly renamed Grail Theater (formerly the Broadway Theater, which housed a production of Avenue Q), with an extended balcony to allow for more seating, and a redesigned interior. As with other Las Vegas transfers of Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, Spamalot was condensed to run in ninety minutes without an intermission. Among the cuts were the song "All For One", most of the song "Run Away", the Knights of Ni receiving their shrubbery, and the "Make sure he doesn't leave" scene with Prince Herbert's guards.

Actor John O'Hurley starred as King Arthur. Due to the Las Vegas production, the North American touring company would not perform in California, Arizona, or Nevada. In addition to O'Hurley, the cast included Nikki Crawford as Lady of the Lake, Edward Staudenmayer as Galahad, J Anthony Crane as Lancelot, Justin Brill as Patsy, and Harry Bouvy as Robin, with Reva Rice as the standby Lady of the Lake.

Although initially contracted to run for up to ten years its final performance was on 18 July 2008. The Las Vegas production closed to make way for Danny Gans' move from The Mirage casino hotel; the theater was renamed the Encore Theater and integrated into the newer Encore Las Vegas resort. Danny Gans died unexpectedly on 1 May 2009.

Rochester, NY

Geva Theatre Center opened its 2015-2016 Season with a production starring Hunter Foster as Arthur. The cast included Brandon Andrus (Sir Galahad), Jennifer Cody (Patsy), Mike DiSalvo (Lancelot), Jacob Hoffman (Historian), Ashley Dawn Mortensen (Lady of the Lake), Jim Poulos (Sir Robin), Michael Warrell (Sir Bedevere), with ensemble cast Jessica Azenberg, John Cummings, Nicole Eras, Andy Frank, Leah Hassett, Shannon Mullen, Frankie Paparone, Adam Pellegrine and Jacob Stewart.

The Rochester production was directed by Melissa Rain Anderson with musical direction by Nolan Bonvouloir and choreography by Lenny Daniel. The design team included James Morgan (scenic design), Susan Branch Towne (costume design), Brian Lilienthal (lighting design) and Ian Hildreth (sound design).

Spamalot began on September 9, opened on September 12 and ran through October 11, 2015 in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage

Australia

A new Australian production started in Melbourne in November 2007 at Her Majesty's Theatre, with the official premiere on 1 December. The cast featured Bille Brown as King Arthur and Lucinda Shaw as the Lady of the Lake, Ben Lewis as Sir Galahad, Stephen Hall as Sir Lancelot, Derek Metzger as Patsy, Jason Langley as Sir Robin and Mark Conaghan as Prince Herbert, with Christina O'Neill as the standby Lady of the Lake.

The Australian production closed on 5 April 2008, due to lack of ticket sales and no tour followed.

The Australian non-professional premiere season of Spamalot was presented by Phoenix Ensemble at the Pavilion Theatre in Beenleigh and the Logan Entertainment Centre from 20 March to 25 April 2009 for 16 performances. This production won several awards at the Gold Coast Theatre Awards including Best Musical Direction (Casey Chadwick and Ben Murray), Best Set Design (Tracey and Luke Hutley, Doug McClean) and Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Natasha York). It was also nominated for Best Costumes (Glynis Aubrey) and Best Choreography (Scott Hollingsworth).

The Gold Coast premiere season of Spamalot opened at the Spotlight Theatre, Benowa on 24 July 2009 for a four-week run. The Sydney premiere of Spamalot was held on 9 October 2009 by The Regals Musical Society.

In Adelaide, a new production of Spamalot opened on 12 March 2010 at the Shedley Theatre.

The Brisbane premiere of Spamalot opened 23 April 2010 at the Schonell Theatre. It was also the inaugural production of Queensland's latest new theatre company 'Blue Fish Theatrical Productions.' Spamalot featured a cast of Brisbane performers – Gary Rose as King Arthur, Bradley McCaw as Patsy, Tony Campbell as Sir Robin, Chris Kellett as Sir Lancelot, Lionel Theunissen as Sir Galahad, Steve Norris as Sir Bedevere (also played by Jason Lawson in a special guest appearance), Tye Shepherd as Finland Mayor/Not Dead Fred/Prince Herbet/Robin's Minstrel and Brother Maynard and Ruth Bridgstock as the Lady of the Lake.

The Canberra premiere was in May 2010 at the ANU Arts Centre by SUPA Productions. Max Gambale as King Arthur, Louiza Blomfield as the Lady of the Lake, Will Huang as Patsy, Joseph McGrail-Bateup as Sir Robin, Patrick J Gallagher as Mrs Galahad, Dave Smith as Galahad and Michael Jordan as Lancelot. Director – Ron Dowd

The show had its Tasmanian premiere in October 2010 at the Theatre Royal, Hobart produced by the Tasmanian Theatre Unit Trust.

The Empire Theatre in Toowoomba, Australia's largest regional theatre, presented Spamalot in October 2010.

Spamalot was presented in Perth in November 2010, by Playlovers in Hackett Hall, Floreat.

In October 2014, Harvest Rain Theatre Company under the direction of producer Tim O'Connor staged a production of Spamalot with a cast list including Jon English as King Arthur, Simon Gallaher as Patsy, Julie Anthony as The Lady Of The Lake, and Frank Woodley as Sir Robin. The production was presented in The Concert Hall at QPAC in Brisbane.

In 2016 an amateur production of Spamalot is being done at the Koorliny Arts Centre in Western Australia. An amateur production is also being performed by a partnership between Red Cliffs Musical Society and Mildura Theatre Company in late 2016 at the Australian Inland Botanical Gardens in Buronga, New South Wales. http://www.rcms.org.au/ http://milduratheatre.com/

New Zealand

The New Zealand premiere was staged at the Globe Theatre Palmerston North for a four-week season in November/December 2009. Hillcrest High School in Hamilton, did the second performance of Spamalot in March 2010 whilst the South Island premiere was performed by Bayfield High School at The Mayfair Theatre, Dunedin on 19–22 May 2010. Newlands College in Wellington performed a production of Spamalot in Jun 2014. Saint Kentigern College performed Spamalot as the musical production in March 2015. At the end of June 2015, Spamalot was performed in Tauranga, in a joined production by Tauranga Boys' College and Tauranga Girls' College. Riverlea Theatre in Hamilton performs Spamalot in August 2015. Showbiz Christchurch will perform Spamalot in September 2015 at the newly reopened Isaac Theatre Royal. It was originally due to open there in April 2011, but had to be cancelled after the theatre was damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

Spain

The first translated production, in Spanish, opened at Teatre Victoria, Barcelona on 9 September 2008 and closed on 10 May 2009. Directed by Catalan Comedy Group Tricicle and choreographed by Francesc Abós, the cast included Jordi Bosch as King Arthur, Marta Ribera as the Lady of the Lake, Sergi Albert as Sir Galahad (later replaced by Edu Soto), Fernando Gil as Sir Lancelot, Julián Fontalvo as Patsy, Xavi Duch as Sir Robin, Josep M. Gimeno as Sir Bedevere and Jesús García as Prince Herbert, with Sara Pérez as the standby Lady of the Lake. The Original Barcelona Cast Recording was released in December 2008.

On 10 September 2009 the production was transferred to Teatro Lope de Vega, Madrid with some changes in the cast: Dulcinea Juárez as the Lady of the Lake, Ignasi Vidal as Sir Galahad, Víctor Ullate Roche as Sir Robin and Lorena Calero as the standby Lady of the Lake. The show finally closed on 28 February 2010, after more than 450 performances.

Germany

A German production premiered in January 2009 at the Musical Dome in Cologne. The last performance was held on 13 September 2009 at the venue.

Hungary

The Hungarian production has started in September 2009 at the Madách Theatre in Budapest. Further information

Sweden

The Swedish production opened on the Malmö Nöjesteater in Malmö on 24 September 2010, and moved to Oscarsteatern in Stockholm one year later and opened on 15 September 2011 where it played through 29 April 2012.

Nina Söderquist, who starred as the last Lady of the Lake in the West End production was thought to reprise her role in the Swedish production, but when she became pregnant she was replaced by Anki Albertsson. However, Söderquist returned to the show when it moved to Stockholm in fall 2011.

The show parodied both The Phantom of the Opera and Singin' in the Rain through scenography and choreography. Both shows ran earlier at the same theatre to critical acclaim.

The show was performed in Swedish with translation by Adde Malmberg, who played Sir Lancelot in the show in both Malmö and Stockholm. Kim Sulocki, who played Patsy in the Swedish show will reprise his rôle in Norwegian in Oslo 2012.

Role	Original Malmö cast	Stockholm cast
King Arthur	Johan Wester	Henrik Dorsin
Lady of the Lake	Anki Albertsson	Nina Söderquist
Patsy	Kim Sulocki
Sir Lancelot	Adde Malmberg
Sir Galahad	Robert Rydberg
Sir Robin	Johan Glans
Sir Bedevere	Anders Jansson	Henrik Hjelt
Prince Herbert	Mattias Linderoth

Belgium

The Belgian production will be directed by Belgian actor and director Stany Crets.

Czech Republic

The premiere of Czech production took place on 6 March 2010 in the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen. The play achieved a great success. It is a completely translated version by Adam Novák and directed by Roman Meluzín. The premiere in Liberec will open on 25 April 2014 directed by Petr Palouš.

France

The French production has started on 5 February 2010 at the Comedia Theatre in Paris and is directed by French actor Pierre-François Martin-Laval.

Poland

Since 25 September 2010 "Spamalot" is played at the music theatre in Gdynia, Poland, directed by Maciej Korwin. The première took place on 2 October 2010.

Canada

Mecca Productions of Brandon, Manitoba staged their production of Spamalot 18–21 November 2010. This marks the first time a non-professional company has performed the show in Canada. The production stars James Comrie as King Arthur, Lisa Vasconcelos as The Lady of the Lake, Chris Isaak as Sir Dennis Galahad, Bob Brereton as Patsy, Dylan Woodcock as Sir Robin, Brody Harms as Sir Lancelot, and John Szabo as Sir Bedevere.

Ontario's premiere amateur performance of 'SPAMalot' was staged in Windsor, Ontario at the Chrysler Centre of the Performing Arts in November 2012 through Windsor Light Music Theatre as their 126th successive major musical production. Directed by John Whatley, the production relied heavily on English dialect coaching by Eryl Child making sure it was true to the beloved Python films and gags. The "new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture" featured Ryan Turgeon as King Arthur, Lia Khan as the Lady of the Lake, Matthew Steckle as Sir Galahad, Christopher Hickman as Patsy, Jakob Skrzypa as Sir Robin, Jim Reid as Sir Lancelot, and Christopher Fazekas as Sir Bedevere.

Spamalot was produced in Calgary by Front Row Centre Players as part of their 2012–13 season: shows were 11–26 January at the Pumphouse Theatres.

Spamalot was produced by the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta as part of their 2012–2013 season. It ran 20 April – 19 May 2013

Spamalot was produced by VOS (Victorian Operetta Society) in Cobourg, Ontario in April 2013.

Spamalot was produced by Hatrix Theatre Company and Danceworks in Lethbridge, Alberta, April 15–20, 2013 at the Yates Memorial Theatre.

The 2013 Lawyer Show in Vancouver, BC, in combination with Touchstone Theatre and Carousel Theatre will be Spamalot. The show ran 1–4 May 2013 at Waterfront Theatre.

Spamalot was produced by Drayton Entertainment at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse and Huron Country Playhouse in the summer of 2013. Notable stars include Victor A. Young as King Arthur, Nick Settimi as Patsy, Kristen Peace as The Lady of the Lake, Stephen Patterson as Sir Gallahad and Thomas Alderson as Prince Herbert. The production is Directed by Alex Mustakas.

Spamalot was produced by Schmooze Productions in Nanaimo, British Columbia as part of the 2013 season from 14 November to 7 December at the Nanaimo Centre Stage.

Spamalot was produced by Orpheus Musical Theatre Society and ran from 7 to 16 March 2014 at Centrepointe Theatre.

The show was produced by Medicine Hat Musical Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta from 21-23 and 27–29 March 2014. The cast included Richard Grafton as King Arthur, Bob Donaldson as Patsy, Shannon Clish Welsh as The Lady of the Lake, Pat Weisgerber as Lancelot, Doug Frelick as Galahad, Rob Olson as Robin and Stephen Philpott as Bedevere.

Spamalot was produced by the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. The show runs from 8 May to 29 June at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. The cast includes Andrew Cownden, Josh Epstein, Jay Hindle, Terra C. MacLeod, David Marr, Ashley O’Connell, Scott Perrie and Jonathan Winsby.

Spamalot was produced by Stage West Theatre in Calgary, AB in spring 2015. The show ran from April 16 - June 21, 2015.

Spamalot was produced by the Peace Players in Peace River, AB in Spring 2016. The Show ran from April 22 - April 30, 2016.

Ireland

In May 2011, the show played at the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin.

Italy

In May 2011, the original UK touring production played at Politeama Rossetti in Trieste. Eric Idle attended the opening night on 24 May.

Netherlands

In April 2011 a Dutch touring version opened, starring comedians Paul Groot and Owen Schumacher. The entire cast also appeared in character on Dutch TV in a Python/Spamalot tribute: "Help, mijn man is ridder!" (Help! My husband is a knight!).

Mexico

The premiere for the Mexican version of the show was in July 2011 in Mexico City. The show ran for over 500 performances across the country.

Japan

The Japanese version played at two theaters in January and February 2012. The musical ran from 9 to 22 January 2012, at the Akasaka Blitz theater in Tokyo. It then played at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall in Osaka from 2 February to February to 6 February. The musical stars Yusuke Santamaria as King Arthur, Mao Ayabuki as The Lady of The Lake, Narushi Ikeda as Sir Lancelot, Shigeyuki Totsugi as Sir Robin, Kento Kaku as Sir Dennis Galahad, Sarutoki Minagawa as Sir Bedevere, and Magy as Patsy.

From 16 February to 1 March 2015 the show will be performed at Akasaka ACT Theater, Tokyo.

Role	Cast
King Arthur	Yusuke Sanataria
Lady of the Lake	Aya Hirano
Patsy	Magy
Sir Lancelot	Narushi Ikeda
Sir Galahad	Yuya Matsushita
Sir Robin	Hiroyuki Takami
Sir Bedevere	Sarutoki Minagawa
Prince Herbert	Murotsuyoshi

South Korea

The South Korean production played from 1 October to 28 December 2010, with Yesung of Super Junior and Park In-bae rotating as Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot. The next South Korean production was from 21 May to 1 September 2013.

Norway

A Norwegian production premiered on 20 September 2012 at Folketeatret in Oslo and runs through 15 December.

Role	Cast
King Arthur	Atle Antonsen
Lady of the Lake	Reidun Sæther
Patsy	Kim Sulocki
Sir Lancelot	Trond Espen Seim
Sir Galahad	Håvard Bakke
Sir Robin	Anders Baasmo Christiansen
Sir Bedevere	Espen Beranek Holm
Prince Herbert	Trond Fausa Aurvåg

Switzerland

A Swiss production premiered on 13 April 2013 at Theater am Hechtplatz in Zurich and runs through 8 June 2013.

Role	Cast
King Arthur	Eric Hättenschwiler
Lady of the Lake	Sandra Studer/Marlen Oberholzer
Patsy	Fabio Romano
Sir Lancelot	Tino Andrea Honegger
Sir Galahad	Nathanael Schaer
Sir Robin	Rolf Sommer
Sir Bedevere	Flavio Dal Molin
Prince Herbert	Rolf Sommer

Serbia

A Serbian production premiered on 22 November 2015 at Sava Centar in Belgrade.

Role	Cast
King Arthur	Nikola Kojo
Lady of the Lake	Jelena Jovičić
Patsy	Srđan Timarov
Sir Lancelot	Nikola Đuričko
Sir Galahad	Dejan Lutkić
Sir Robin	Gordan Kičić
Sir Bedevere	Miroljub Turajlija
Prince Herbert	Ivan Marković

Reactions by Monty Python members

I'm making them money, and the ungrateful bastards never thank me. Who gave them a million dollars each for 'Spamalot'?

— Eric Idle

The show has had mixed reactions from Idle's former colleagues in Monty Python.

Terry Gilliam, in an audio interview, describes it as "Python-lite". He later told the BBC News, "It helps with the pension fund, and it helps keep Python alive. As much as we'd like to pull the plug on the whole thing it carries on – it's got a life of its own."

Terry Jones – who co-directed the original film with Gilliam – expressed his opinions forthrightly in May 2005: "Spamalot is utterly pointless. It's full of air…Regurgitating Python is not high on my list of priorities." However, when asked whether he liked Spamalot during an interview with Dennis Daniel on 98.5 WBON-FM "The BONE" on Long Island shortly after the musical's opening on Broadway, Jones said, "Well, I thought it was terrific good fun. It’s great to see the audience loving it. I suppose I had reservations as far as…well…the idea of doing scenes from a film on stage. I just don’t get the point of it. They do them terribly well…I mean, they really are good…but I just quite don’t understand what that’s about. It isn’t really 'Python.' It is very much Eric." Jones went on to say, "...I think the best parts of the musical are the new things. For instance, when they do the Andrew Lloyd Webber take-off and this girl comes in and sings 'Whatever Happened to My Part' since she hasn’t appeared since the opening number and she’s really furious! That is one of the great moments where the show really comes alive for me."

In an Oct. 2006 interview, Michael Palin said, "We’re all hugely delighted that Spamalot is doing so well. Because we’re all beneficiaries! It’s a great show. It’s not ‘Python’ as we would have written it. But then, none of us would get together and write a ‘Python’ stage show. Eric eventually ran out of patience and said, ‘Well, I’ll do it myself then.’ He sent us bits and songs and all that and we said, ‘Yeah, that’s all right, have a go.’ But its success is so enormous that it took us all by surprise, including Eric, and now we’re just proud to be associated with it, rather pathetically."

When asked by a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter in 2008 if he had to be persuaded to provide the recorded voice of God in the musical, John Cleese said, "Yeah, that’s right. And in the end I think Spamalot turned out splendidly. It’s had a tremendous run. I defy anyone to go and not have a really fun evening. It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen and I think Eric did a great job."

Critical reception and box-office

The original production has been both a financial and critical success. Variety reported advance ticket sales of $18 million, with ticket prices ranging from $36 to $179. The advance made Broadway box office history.

The show proved to be an early success when moving to London's West End. After high advance ticket sales the show's run was extended by four weeks, four months before the run commenced. The play makes many references to the film and other material in the Python canon, including a line from "The Lumberjack Song", nods to "Ministry of Silly Walks", the "Election Night Special" and "Dead Parrot sketch" routines, a bar from "Spam" worked into "Knights of the Round Table", a rendition of the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), and the "Fisch Schlapping Song" which is a reference to both "The Fish-Slapping Dance" and the song "Finland". Another reference is actually part of the Playbill of the show; there are several gag pages about a musical entitled "Dik Od Triaanenen Fol (Finns Ain't What They Used To Be)". This gag programme was written by Palin, and echoes the faux-Swedish subtitles in the credits of the original Grail Python film.

Broadway musical fans appreciate its references to other musicals and musical theatre in general, such as: "The Song That Goes Like This" (a spoof of Andrew Lloyd Webber productions and many other Broadway power ballads); the knights doing a dance reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof, and another reminiscent of West Side Story (including the music); Sir Lancelot's mimicking of Peter Allen in "His Name Is Lancelot"; the character of Sir Not Appearing in This Show being Man of La Mancha's Don Quixote; a member of the French "army" dressed as Eponine from Les Misérables; and a line pulled from "Another Hundred People" from Stephen Sondheim's Company by the "damsel" Herbert. The song "You Won't Succeed (On Broadway)" also parodies The Producers and Yentl.

The show has not escaped criticism. In Slate, Sam Anderson wrote, "Python was formed in reaction to exactly the kind of lazy comedy represented by Spamalot — what Michael Palin once described as the 'easy, catch-phrase reaction' the members had all been forced to pander in their previous writing jobs... Spamalot is the gaudy climax of a long, unfunny tradition of post-Python exploitation – books, actions figures, video games – that treats the old material as a series of slogans to be referenced without doing any of the work that made the lines so original in the first place."

The West End version opened to two rave reviews. "It’s a wonderful night, and I fart in the general direction of anyone who says otherwise", wrote Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph (echoing a joke from the show). According to Paul Taylor in the Independent, "it leaves you that high and weak with laughter, thanks not just to the Python provenance of the basic material but to the phenomenal speed, wit, cheek and showbiz knowingness of the direction, which is by the great veteran, Mike Nichols". Michael Billington in the Guardian was less enthusiastic, though, stating "while I'm happy to see musicals spoofed, the show's New York origins are clearly exposed in a would-be outre number which announces "we won't succeed in show business if we don't have any Jews": a Broadway in-joke that has little purchase this side of the Atlantic." Billington adds, "With hand on heart, I'd much rather watch Lerner and Loewe's Camelot than Eric Idle's smart-arsed Spamalot."

The Las Vegas production was awarded the Number 1 show of 2007 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Coconut orchestra world record

On 22 March 2006, to mark the first anniversary of the official Broadway opening, the "World's Largest Coconut Orchestra", 1,789 people clapping together half coconut shells, performed in Shubert Alley, outside the theatre. The claim was officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records. This record was broken by 5,567 people in Trafalgar Square at 7 pm on 23 April 2007, led by the cast from the London production, along with Jones and Gilliam, with the coconuts used in place of the whistles in "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". This formed part of London's St George's Day celebrations that year and was followed by a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Other

A sign at the Shubert Theatre advertising the show's Best Musical award.

In 2006, the London cast of Spamalot performed excerpts at the Royal Variety Performance.

On 10 March 2007, Spamalot partnered with HP Sauce (the classic British brown sauce, now made in the Netherlands following a contentious decision to close its factory in Britain) to produce 1,075 limited edition bottles featuring a unique Spamalot take on the classic HP design. The bottles were available exclusively via Selfridges, London and came in a presentation box with a numbered certificate. 1,075 was chosen to celebrate, absurdly, "1,075 years of the show running in London".

In July 2007 it was announced that the London production would solve the problem of replacing Hannah Waddingham as the Lady of the Lake through a TV talent show in Sweden. The programme, called West End Star, which began airing on TV3 on 8 December 2007, announced Nina Söderquist as the winner on 2 February 2008. Söderquist took up the rôle of The Lady of the Lake, with a standing ovation, on 11 February 2008.

DVD

Portions of the Spamalot original cast recording were featured (with accompanying Flash animation) as a special feature in the 2006 "Extraordinarily Deluxe Two-Disc Edition" DVD re-release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Awards and nominations

In the original Broadway production, Sara Ramirez sang the line, "I've no Grammy, no reward/I've no Tony Award." Ironically, the show's original cast album won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album in 2006 and Ramirez herself won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in 2005. The two awards led to a minor change to the song "The Diva's Lament". Initially, the line became "My Tony Award/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's". When Lauren Kennedy took over for Sara Ramirez, it became "My predecessor won awards/and now she's in Betty Ford's" but was later changed to, "All our Tony Awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." In the touring production, Pia Glenn sings "All our goddamn awards/won't keep me out of Betty Ford's." For a change, Hannah Waddingham in the London production sings "I'm as depressed as I can be/ I've got constant PMT".

The touring production has garnered Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Visiting Production.

Original Broadway production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2005	Tony Award	Best Musical		Won
		Best Book of a Musical	Eric Idle	Nominated
		Best Original Score	John Du Prez and Eric Idle	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical	Hank Azaria	Nominated
			Tim Curry	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Michael McGrath	Nominated
			Christopher Sieber	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical	Sara Ramirez	Won
		Best Direction of a Musical	Mike Nichols	Won
		Best Choreography	Casey Nicholaw	Nominated
		Best Orchestrations	Larry Hochman	Nominated
		Best Scenic Design	Tim Hatley	Nominated
		Best Costume Design		Nominated
		Best Lighting Design	Hugh Vanstone	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Musical		Won
		Outstanding Book of a Musical	Eric Idle	Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Hank Azaria	Nominated
			David Hyde Pierce	Nominated
		Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Christian Borle	Nominated
			Michael McGrath	Nominated
		Outstanding Director of a Musical	Mike Nichols	Nominated
		Outstanding Choreography	Casey Nicholaw	Nominated
		Outstanding Orchestrations	Larry Hochman	Nominated
		Outstanding Lyrics	Eric Idle	Won
		Outstanding Set Design	Tim Hatley	Nominated
		Outstanding Costume Design		Won
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance	Sara Ramirez	Nominated
	Theatre World Award		Hank Azaria	Won
2006	Grammy Award	Best Musical Show Album		Won

Original London production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2007	Laurence Olivier Award	Best New Musical		Nominated
		Best Actor in a Musical	Tim Curry	Nominated
		Best Actress in a Musical	Hannah Waddingham	Nominated
		Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical	Tom Goodman-Hill	Nominated
		Best Set Design	Tim Hatley	Nominated
		Best Costume Design		Nominated
		Best Lighting Design	Hugh Vanstone	Nominated

Television

A special edition of The South Bank Show was a television documentary on the history of Spamalot. It features numerous segments with Eric Idle and John Du Prez explaining the process of writing the songs, plus interviews with UK and US cast members. It included scenes from the rehearsal of the West End show, and was first broadcast on 15 October 2006.

Lawsuit

In 2013 the Pythons lost a legal case to Mark Forstater, the producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, over royalties for Spamalot. He was paid 1/14 of the portion of the profits paid to the Pythons. The court ruled that he was a full Python partner and was to be paid 1/7 of the portion paid to the Pythons. They owed a combined £800,000 in legal fees and back royalties to Forstater prompting them to produce Monty Python Live (Mostly).

References

Bibliography

• A Quest Beyond The Grail, a review of Spamalot from the New York Times (registration required)
• Photos, Videos, Cast Interviews and Information on the West End Production on Theatre.com
• MSNBC/Newsweek interview with Idle and Nichols explaining elimination of some pre-Broadway scenes
• Tim Curry interview from May 2005 from American Theatre Wing Downstage Center, recorded in MP3 format
• Daily Telegraph review of West End version
• Tribute to Richard Chamberlain website Spamalot
• Spot Light Theatre Australia – Spamalot starting 24 July 2009

External links

• Official site
• ​Spamalot​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• Spanish production Official Site
• German production Official Site
• Polish production Official Site
• Dutch production official site
• Swedish production official site