“I’m not dead yet”: Monty Python and the Holy Grail Coming to Broadway

Though the personalities of the actual Pythons are irreplaceable, this could be a lot of fun:

Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it will star Frasier actor David Hyde Pierce, alongside Tim Curry and Simpsons star Hank Azaria.

Python star Eric Idle wrote the book for the musical, and collaborated on music and lyrics with John Du Prez.

Directed by Mike Nichols, the show will open in Chicago in December and preview on Broadway in February 2005.

It features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights in the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table and their quest for the holy grail.

Pierce, who was Dr Niles Crane in Frasier, will play the character Sir Robin. Curry, known for his part in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, will play King Arthur, while Azaria – the voice of Moe the bartender on The Simpsons – is Sir Lancelot.

….Monty Python and the Holy Grail was named by film fans as the best British picture of all time in a 2004 survey by the UK arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database. [BBC]

There are innumerable classic scenes, but among my favorites are the Knights Who Say Ni, the sound taunting of Arthur by the French guard, and the minstrel’s rather too literal celebration of the exploits of Sir Robin.