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Monty Python's Holy Grail goes Broadway
Sixyphe writes "First sighted on Yahoo News, it would seem that Eric Idle of Monty Python fame is working on a Broadway musical adaptation of everybody's favorite source of accurate medieval data, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The goal is 2005, and the working title is Spamelot (and not Spamalot, contrary to what an AP wire claims). And as a bonus to all you North-American Python fans, Eric Idle is soon to be touring in Canada and the US."
the airspeed of an unladen swallow?
One over there, an another over there...
I'm not usually a fan of this kind of stuff, but oh god! do I love monty python.
I guess I'll just wait a bit for the probable flood of holy grail quotes/jests.
find / -name "*.sig" | xargs rm
I think this is the main reason Americans really take to the Monty Python troupe. Rather than the normal subdued humor that is the hallmark of European humor (except for that weird shouting humor of Germany), Monty Python takes absurd scenes and works them over the top. In American culture the bigger, louder, more powerful, and more blatant something is, the better.
How popular is MP in Europe?
How can you write a play using whitespace for blocks?
I just hope that they eat Sr. Robin's minstrels early.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
EVERYTHING DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A MUSICAL!
o oo'
Oh lord, when will it end. Please. Monty Python has created some of the most hysterical movies I have ever seen. Their skit/sketch comedy was genius. Yes, they sometimes had musical bits.
But *ONE MEMBER* reworking Holy Grail?
Sorry, I can't be a fanboy. All I can think is.
'Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This will be the most pathetic thread in this story.
I await proof to the contrary.
Whatever you do do not eat the free 'Crunchy Frog' candy they give you at the entrance.
Seriously though , why does this meret a slashdot posting?
:D I mean, even the term "spam" is purely attributed to Monte Python. Its a nerd thing.
Its Monte Python, for god's sake! Thats why!
I would say "You must be new here" but I don't need the karma.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
and evil Monte Python has an even larger evil cult following.
(In all seriousness, Evil Dead 3 sucks. Evil Dead 2 is "meh". The original is awesome. Can't attest the musical, it's a self respect thing.)
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
"A wonderful play you'll never take a date to!"
Because it's stuff that matters, nerd.
Isn't one of them, uh, deceased? I imagine that makes it terribly difficult to perform on stage.
Gee...if only Eric Idle weren't my least favorite Python. Seriously, his stuff on the show and movies was so-so at best. Do any of the really classic Python quotes or scenes have Idle in them?
(Michael Palin, of course, being the best, with Terry Jones as Most Underrated).
Hopefully the actor that is going save get Galahad from the virgins is late coming onto the stage which will call for some adlibing . . .
Do you think they'll have a Spanish Inquisition? 'Cause I don't think I'd expect it...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
It's sad to see someone who was once so funny and so creative now trying to pump every last dime out of thirty year old material like a talentless hack. I guess comedy truly is a young man's game.
Time for the killer rabbit to shine!
.. the full size cow being catapulted into the audience
The possiblities are endless -
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
Wow, I actually read about something in a newspaper days before it was on /.
Either way I'm excited about watching it. Love those guys.
It's only BASED on Monty Python scripts, not necesarily performed by them.
I have fond memories of sitting in an upscale Japanese hibachi restaurant 15 years ago with a bunch of programmer "nerds" singing the Spam song. That, and an alcohol-induced duet of Sit on My Face with a coworker's wife. Come to think of it, it's surprisingly difficult to get arrested for disturbing the peace.
My God, man, had this not shown up on Slashdot many a fine nerd might have missed Idle's tour. He's no Darl McBride, but he's still pretty damn funny...
That he's not just sitting around being idle
I rather found Monty Python's Life of Brian funnier (and it may perhaps be easier to recreate as a broadway musical, less props and all) than Holy Grail.
But anyway, this'll be very interesting (aside from merely nostalgic of a film many of us have seen multiple times)
Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
But what I'm more interested in is how on earth they're going to end it?
They can't really have a cameraman being bumped into by the press or something because that particular 4th wall doesn't exist onstage.
Maybe they'll have policemen storm the aisles and evacuate the theater.
Kick in the Head
THANKS for ruining the ending for me!
"More organs means more human." - Zim
Okay... so I am going to get mod-ed down into oblivion but I have to ask anyway. I finally rented Monty Python and the Holy Grail from Blockbuster and watched it a week or two ago. It started off very well and I could not stop laughing at the beginning credits.. in fact went through them twice. However, it went a little downhill from that point on. The jokes grew tiring and seemed forced. And to top it all off, the ending was strange.
So why do people like it so much? Instead of mod-ing this as a troll, I would prefer replies to this message. Thanks!
On second thought, let's not go to Broadway. 'Tis a silly place.
And I must say I could see it work quite well as a musical. Especially that foppish Prince Hubert guy, what a riot. I'd like to see his role expanded into several numbers.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Let us not go there for it is a silly place.
Its only a model.
It's a silly place and the castle is only a model.
Run away! Run Away!
KFG
... who are about to be exposed to endless repetitive Monty Python quotes. My gf was so relieved that I'm a Spaceballs fan.
Don't get me wrong, I love Mel Brooks, I think his best works (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein) are better than any of Monty Python's movies, but if he could turn "The Producers" into an excellent musical, certainly the much better "Holy Grail" could be one also.
Of course, some gags, like the bunny might be dificult, it'd be very hard to see on stage. But the tradeoff is, we'll be able to see a chorus line singing, "We're Knights of the Round Table, we dance we e'er we're able...."
Of course, it also means more exposure to Sir Robin's minstrels probably. That could be problematic.
The thing I really want to see though, is how Terry Gilliam's animation transfers to broadway. How exactly do we depict an animator having a heartattack on broadway?! I mean, it's a given that the aptly named, "Sir Not Apperaing in this Musical" won't be there, but how can we cut the monster out?
Oh well, as long as they still depict god talking like a Gilliam creation, you know, head completely detaching, I will be happy.
I mean REALLY.... I fart in your general direction...
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
This would be worth seeing just to see the Black Knight segment done without camera cuts.
...we had to imagine the whole of Macbeth in seven different languages before we got any dinner!!
I can see this becoming a major success because the low-budget nature of the film offers itself to easily adapting to stage as there aren't any flashy special effects to emulate. Except the "non-moving charging knight" scene and of course all those whacky animations. Maybe you should discuss this, at great length, at the new Root Forum I bet it will dethrone the Producers as hottest ticket on Broadway.
The New Root Council, kickin' ass sinc
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Then again, there are plenty of funny quotes to go around.
Hell, just check this poll and you'll see a good summary of the intro modded up in various posts.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
If it's without the original cast it's worthless. Anyone else saying "It's a flesh wound!", "Run Away!", "African or European?", "Ni!", etc, is just blasphemy.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
for an argument.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
BRIDGEKEEPER: Stop! What... is your name? GALAHAD: 'Sir Galahad of Camelot'. BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your quest? GALAHAD: I seek the Grail. BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your favourite colour? GALAHAD: Blue. No, yel-- auuuuuuuugh!
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
Bring to us a beowulf cluster of shrubberies!
/. were bringing this to broadway it would probably end with the entire cast gathe!#$%#$^@#!^&*^%##@NO CARRIER.
While I'm on the subject, I' for one, welcome our new Broadway Holy Grail overlords.
If
Error 666 - Satanic SCO code found in your Linux kernel.
or if you look underneath the slashdot logo thingy, apparently we're "Nerds"!!
Monty Python is pretty popular in all English speaking countries. Lots of British Comedy isn't subtle at all, e.g. Bottom, The Young Ones...
There is no canned laughter in Monty Python.
... Medieval data right here.
...NO SINGING!!
"I DON'T LIKE SPAM!!!
An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan. -- George Patton
I love the monty python works. However i do not believe it possible to turn the holy grail into a play. they do to much random crazy stuff for it to workout. What the could do is some of the old skits or get some new people to write some new stuff.
...is how do they do the Black Knight???
How is the Cartoonist supposed to suffer a heart attack from the man eating rabbit?
Dolemite
_________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
(and I don't mean secure shell!)
I feel like that article (I just read the whole thing, it's 3am now!) is going to ruin my future enjoyment of Idle, whom I thought was so damn funny in Python!
Oh, well, maybe I'll get over it.
"Bring out your dead!" :-)
!@#$% whole-grain cereal. When I want fiber, I eat some wicker furniture. - G. Carlin
This is like, the ULTIMATE Slashdot "post jokes from the Simpsons/Monty Python/etc" for +funny all day long.
Ok, but at least its the first time the word "spam" has appeared on slashdot in the pressed-meat context.
Help! Help! I'm being repressed..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
> I actually read about something in a newspaper days /.
> before it was on
You're new here, aren't you?
Dear Mr The Monster,
...
I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
Wait a minute... Doesn't that mean that
We apologise for the karma-whoring in this post. Those user responsible has been sacked.
Losers choose to abuse the use of "loose".
Did you know that the "Holy Grail" was a huge hit in the Soviet Union at the time - something like No 3 at the box office? The Soviet censors liked the films send-up of religion (& imperialism - remember the socialist peasants!), and passed it as being suitable viewing, maybe missing the strong thread of anarchism that pervades all of Pythons work. You could argue that it was cultural erosion like this that helped bring down the Wall..
The film itself was shot for peanuts in a damp part of scotland in just a few weeks. The actors really were damp and cold when performing it, giving the film an authentic grimness missing from glossy Hollywood takes on medieval Britain. All the music was cheap "mood-music" taken off some LP. Gilliam is a great director who doesnt make nearly enough films, in my view.
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
Some French actors decided to adapt some sketches from MPFC in French and made a show with them. As it seemed to be successful they are doing it again with "new" (still adapted) sketches.
See for example here to book tickets.
McCartney fans pay bus tickets. [...] Lennon fans too, with discretion.
I'd love to attend his tour but he isn't coming to Florida :-(
...if any were needed that Eric Idle does not have a single grain of talent left in his entire body.
The only ex-Pythons to have done anything worthwhile in the last 20 years are Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin. In the last 10 years I'd say Terry Gilliam alone.
The rest are just painfully unfunny, Cleese and Idle especially.
"Information wants to be paid"
This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let's not bicker and argue about who made what into a musical!
Now that's something completely different!
But not, as far as I know, as a musical. It was a straight play
Ni, ni ni ni.
Ni ni nininini
NI
Sorry...
Phil
Just saw Monty Python Autobiography by the Pythons in my local bookstore (London) and, well, it's certainly big. From the same people that brought out the equally massive Beatles tome a couple of years ago. Looks quite good - about 1000 photos they say, but text mostly for serious cases who won't be too bored by the details of early 60s "light ent". Just in time for Xmas, coincidentally.
an art critic!
And now for somthing compleatly diferent - stop that it's silly -doh, I can't do it!
Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasti.
I bet someone replies to this, and sacks me.
The latest Slashdot meme.
Rick Mayall's The Young Ones, is easily the greatest humor to ever come out of England. It took Python to the next level and then went beyond that! Nothing comes close to this show it has it all from Motorhead music interludes to talking hamster mascots. It was smarter than Python and yet somehow more overtop with slapstick humor at the same time.
Adding to the other comments in defense of Eric Idle:
He did a great job with the music as well. Who can't whistle "Always look on the bright side of life"?
With his musical and comical talent.. This might well be worth seeing.
I had been a MP fan for many years, but my dormmate in college had always heard "how stupid MP is"
Well, there used to be a show on the local rock station that played mostly standup comedy bits (it might have even been syndicated as well) So one night, the Argument Clinic was the closing bit. (Not anything to try to follow it with)
He became an instant convert...
Find it one the web somehow, and it will have anyone laughing. It is awesome...
If anyone disagrees (ding)
I'm sorry, I not allowed to argue with you anymore...(wink)
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
What next?!?! They have an LOTR musical, now Monty Python(not that I have anything against Monty Python)but how in the heck are they gonna do that? What about the flesh wound part? OH! I got it, they are really gonna cut off some guys arms and legs, they will just have to get a new one every show. I know, next they can bring star wars to the stage! BRILIANT!
DUKEY!
But that member is Eric Idle who IMHO is one of the most talented comic song writers of all time.
That's very perceptive of you Mr Stapleton and rather unexpected in a G Major
If musicals have taglines the way movies do, the tagline for this one should be:
"Bring out your dead!"
How else are they going to get ticket sales?
that Germans love David Hasselhoff.
for pity's sake, you don't know what it's going to be like. LOTR freaks were wigging out when they first heard peter jackson was adapting it. they were terrified it was going to be an embarrassment and a flop.
it's garnered oscars, is by all accounts wildly successful commercially, and is probably the closest thing to a direct, word for word translation you could realistically expect from a film.
this reactionary rant is understandable, but i really think it's premature to make any assumptions.ed
There's some good filth over here.
--- "1.21 Jigawatts!" -Doc
and so did that dustbuster they broke out towards the end...
ed
or, indeed, a beowulf cluster of 'em...
OK, sorry; couldn't resist.
ed
i was going to observe that generally speaking, that prohibition really should only apply to the area of a stage. then i remembered hamlet's line, that "all the world's a stage" and now can't help but agree.
it's the scottish play, darn it! although i do find it funny you rendered the proper name in a way analogous to the way jews render jehovah--
[disappears under a hail of stones]
ed
Anyone else have problems with MPFC's Web site? Main page links won't left-click for me ... IE6, WinXP (maybe that's my problem).
OK, I'll ignore the others because you mentioned "Black Adder", I miss that show. Maybe they'll do another special.
Americans (and Canadians) watch reality TV and "idol" shows, so subtlety may be lacking. On the other hand these audiences have been clubbed into the ground by TV execs who wanted to bring over "Fawlty Towers" and write Basil out, and who couldn't let Lister be messy in American "Red Dwarf" because he is a minority character.
I've heard that the LA sterrotype still holds, and if you want to make TV or movies you have to convince some old, rich, talentless white guy that you are just like he was at your age (young, rich, talentless), and that your idea is bland and unimaginative enough not to make his brain hurt (cue John Cleese).
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
Don't mention the war!
</obligatory Fawlty Towers reference>
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
Somehow almost everything John Cleese has appeared in since MP, with the major exception of "A Fish Called Wanda" has been terrible. Probably people who respect him have too much respect to ask him to do stuff, and he only gets roles from people who don't know who he is and don't get his stuff. OK, it just means that he needs collaborators. Monty Python was two couples and two individuals who feuded, competed, and synergized (John Cleese worked with Graham Chapman IRIC).
It was good to see Chris Barrie in Tomb Raider.
Does John Cleese as Q mean that James Bond is getting old and stale? Yes. Yes it does.
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
We apologise again for the fault in the posting. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.
Damn this 2 moose Slashdot timeout...
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Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
Slightly offtopic, but pre-web, dodgy transcripts of the Holy Grail would ciculate by mail. These had the sort of distinctive typos that early Bibles (e.g. the Adulterer's Bible) had.
Google for "between our quests" "we seek incest" to see three pages of these.
(Should be "sequin vests")
The concept grew into a 90-minute special shown on TV only once called "All You Need is Cash" featuring cameos of George Harrison and Bianca Jagger as the wife of one of the Ruttles.
The Ruttles offers so much more possibility for new comic ideas and Holy Grail. The the Ruttles you can create new material about their breakup, the spotty record of their post-Ruttles solo careers, the nostalgia for the Ruttles and the resulting Broadway knockoffs (Ruttlemania?). With Holy Grail, you are recycling old material.
I love(d) Monty Python, and entered adolescence sneaking into my parents' room to watch it from the doorway long past bedtime.
But I went and saw Eric Idle's show a year or two ago and, well, the whole schtick simply not aging gracefully. Maybe I've just reached saturation, but seeing this wizened 60 year old (feebly) jumping around singing the Philosopher's song or doing the Crunchy Frog bit just seemed....weak.
I fear the idea of a 'musical' just isn't very good. Michael Palin managed to move on to other things (a very good couple of series on PBS), Terry Gilliam has a great directing career, and John Cleese continues as ever.
I don't see any spark left in the old associations when they do show up together, either.
-Styopa
..the flying circus laughs at you!
This simply can't be: slashdot correcting the spelling of an AP wire article!?! Unbelievable.
:-| have a day
Indeed! We saw the movie in high school english class as background material to the King Arthur / Camelot literature.
About a year ago I watched Monty Python with my GF. She's from Asia, so she didn't get some of the more suble anglo-humour, but she got some of the better bits. I say if a pretty girl from another country can enjoy some of the subtle humour of the "Holy Grail," changes are that many Eurogeeks or those from North America could take your girlfriend to.
Who can not enjoy the bridge warden, or "it's just a little rabbit" (which must be one of the most well-recognised movie-phrases around).
Of course, you could amend this to mean the slashdot audience:
"A wonderful play 90% of you will never take a date too, unless you pay one"
I think this show would make a great Broadway Hit. It's easily as clever as anything Sondheim's done lately. It's got the epic feel of Les Mis, who is not moved by King Author's crossing to the Castle Eaugh! The show Lampoons the french... which will immediately appeal to Americans, and their quest for the holy grail ("I told them we already have one!"). It has sex, or near sex... (Sir Galahad and his near brush with a fate worse than death), it has violence and action, "You twit, I soiled my armor, I was so scared." It has singing... "No-no! NO singing! Not while I'm here!" My goodness! And it's imported from England... just like Andrew Lloyd Webber! It's sure to be a hit!
http://www.beanleafpress.com
alls i know is every time i watch that movie with my friends, we're all trying to outdo each other spouting off quotes... what happens when you can't suppress that instinct at a musical?
It would be perfectly suited for Broadway being there are tons of musical numbers in the movie already. And with the "Mr. Creosote" scene it would be like you were at a Gallagher event as well! Seems like "the Meaning of Life" would be far easier and better to do!
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
...and perhaps the funniest. For more proof, check out the eulogy he delivered at a memorial for Graham Chapman.
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
Its not based on the Terry Pratchet book "Good Omens" by any chance ?
nih! i mean ni!
fs
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
...Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nurnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shonedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm!!!
"Do you want to come upstairs" was the line on the BBC broadcast. Primetime TV in a conservative country.
"Do you want a blowjob" was the line used in the R-Rated (or unrated?) version.
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
Hmmm, yes. And he was involved in writing Fawlty Towers. American moviemakers tend not to let actors write stuff, maybe that's the problem. Not to mention the TV execs who wanted to bring the series to the US and write Basil out of it.
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
Thanks for the heads up -- I had confused Innes with Harry Shearer, who was instead part of the "Spinal Tap" project.