Monty Python's Broadway Musical SPAMALOT is Being Adapted Into a Movie
20th Century Fox is set to produce a feature film adaptation of Monty Python's Tony Award-winning Broadway hit musical Spamalot. This musical is fantastic and it's great to learn that it will be getting the big screen treatment. Now everyone can experience it!
According to Deadline, the studio has hired Monty Python vet Eric Idle to write the script and produce the film, and they’ve set Casey Nicholaw as the director. I'm not really familiar with the director, but the report says:
He is arguably Broadway’s hottest helmer, having just opened Mean Girls — with Tony noms for Best Director and Best Choreographer — and credits that include The Book of Mormon and Aladdin. He also has Prom coming, which will give him the rare achievement of having four shows running on Broadway at the same time. Nicholaw was the choreographer on the original Broadway production of Spamalot.
The musical is based on the Arthurian legend that inspired the 1975 classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here's the plot summary of the play:
Spamalot tells the legendary tale of King Arthur’s quest to find the Holy Grail. Inspired by the classic comedy film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical also diverts a bit from more traditional versions of the legend. Instead, Spamalot features shenanigans including a line of beautiful dancing girls, flatulent Frenchmen, and killer rabbits. Outside, there is plague with a 50% chance of pestilence and famine. Throughout the show, Arthur, traveling with his servant Patsy, recruits several knights to accompany him on his quest, including Sir Bedevere, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad. Besides the rabbits and farting Frenchman, they meet such characters as the Lady of the Lake, Prince Herbert, Tim the Enchanter, Not Dead Fred, the Black Knight, and the Knights who say Ni.
According to insiders, the movie is "more than just an adaption, it’s the movie musical based on the Broadway musical, based on a movie that is based on the legend."