Eric Idle’s musical comedy, ‘lovingly ripped off’ from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ and also owing quite a bit to ‘The Producers’, comes home at last after provoking big laughs on Broadway. Python fans will find all the scenes they know and love: the killer rabbit; abusive French knights; peasants who claim to be anarcho-syndicalists. All splendidly performed to cheers from the audience.
Tribute is paid to ‘The Producers’, both in its political incorrectness and with cheesy showgirls whose heavy make up is locked into the style of ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ in the ’70s. Silliness is all, almost reaching its apogee right at the beginning when a confusion of England for Finland leads to a brightly coloured scene in which dancing Finns slap each other’s faces with herrings. In the right mood, you’re sure to laugh a lot (at ‘Spamalot’).
