The Monty Python founding member discusses the Tony-winning musical’s evolution from cult film to global phenomenon as its new national tour kicks off at Playhouse Square.
"Monty Python's Spamalot ," seen here on Broadway, launches its national tour at Cleveland's Playhouse Square Dec. 1-6. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Fifty years after “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” Eric Idle never thought he’d still be talking about the cult classic film, much less a musical inspired by it.
But here we are, as “Spamalot,” for which Idle wrote the book and lyrics, launches a new national tour at “Luckily, it’s been 20 years since ‘Spamalot’ ,” said Idle, a Monty Python founding member, on a Zoom call from Los Angeles. In those two decades, “Spamalot” has been seen by six million people in 35 countries. This will be the third time the musical has played Cleveland, but first since 2009. Like the film, the stage version, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005, follows King Arthur and his inept band of knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail. But it broadens the joke, skewering not only the British legend but Broadway itself. “We’d been looking to do a musical,” Idle recalled. “We’d done one on radio for BBC about cricket. I knew that wouldn’t work in America.”“If this could make a CD-ROM game, it could make a musical,” he said. “I thought, what a perfect musical because you can’t have horses, you’d have coconuts, which is very funny on stage.” But the idea was one thing. Making it work proved to be another. The film is famously random and chaotic, even by Python standards. Translating that into a cohesive stage production took patience and precision.He credits the late director Mike Nichols for helping shape the material into something that could sustain an audience through two acts. One of the most crucial decisions, Idle said, was opening Act II with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” a song borrowed from another Python film, “Life of Brian.” “That’s the thing I’m most proud of, writing that song, because it’s the No. 1 funeral song in England,” he said. The film’s abrupt, fourth-wall-breaking conclusion — where the police show up and shut the whole thing down — also needed tinkering. “The movie has a s--- ending,” Idle said. “My daughter, who was five, said it was the worst ending she’d ever seen of any movie.” Instead, the musical’s finale is a big, dazzling, feel-good production number. Indeed, Idle was determined not to make a show just for Python devotees. He wanted something that stood on its own. Longtime fans, he said, are often the most critical. “The people who know ‘The Holy Grail’ are the least grateful because they always go, ‘Oh, you changed it from that bit I love.’” Idle said some of the changes were needed to expand the Monty Python universe and make it more inclusive. The musical adds a strong female character in the Lady of the Lake and reimagines Sir Lancelot as gay.He sees that most clearly in the response from newcomers who discover the show without preconceptions. Idle recalled a moment during previews that confirmed he was on the right track. “I was very happy early on in Chicago, where we tried out. I had two little old ladies say, ‘Oh, I never heard anything about Monty Python, but I might have a look now because I really loveIndeed, “Spamalot” is a rare production that clicks across generations and genders. You’ll find everyone “from kids to grandpeople” in the audience, Idle said. “A lot of ladies tell me how much Python meant to them because it enabled them to bond with their fathers.” That kind of emotional connection helps explain the musical’s staying power. Beyond the humor, spectacle and satire, “Spamalot” also carries a timeless message. “It says find your grail when you’re lost on life’s trail,” he said. “You must seek what you want. You must find what you need in your life.”“When people come out, they’re all singing ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.’ Often they’ve bought coconuts and they go clicking down the street,” he said. “That’s wonderful.” Idle is thrilled the new tour is launching in Cleveland, particularly given its proximity to Columbus, where his book “The Spamalot Diaries” has been. He won’t be in town for this run, but he does remember his last visit some 30 years ago. “I was thrown out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I went out yelling, ‘I’m a Rutle, I’m a Rutle,’” he said, referring to his parody of the Beatles. “But that meant nothing to them.” “Monty Python’s Spamalot” is playing at the Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Dec. 1-6. Tickets start at $24 and are available atJoey Morona is an entertainment reporter and occasional film, TV and theater reviewer for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the University of Central...
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