Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.
What: "Monty Python's Spamalot"
When: Times vary for preview performances March 8-29. Beginning April 8 showtimes will be 8 p.m. Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays; 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Where: The Grail Theater at Wynn Las Vegas
Tickets: $49 through $99, some prices will change after March 29; 770-9966
The moment is "Ni!"
Another Broadway show tempts fate as the 2005 Tony-winning musical "Monty Python's Spamalot" arrives at Wynn Las Vegas.
Previews begin March 8, and the official premiere is April 8.
Eric Idle, one of the founders of the legendary Python comedy troupe, mined the 1975 movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" for farcical material for the musical:
A killer rabbit. Legless knight. Cart full of corpses ("I'm not dead yet!"). A gay Sir Lancelot. The French taunter ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!") and the Knights who say, "Ni!"
The musical also is based on the search for the Holy Grail by King Arthur (played by John O'Hurley) and the Knights of the Round Table, transformed into a roulette wheel for the Las Vegas production.
Although Broadway shows in Las Vegas seem to be going down like the Hindenburg, Idle is confident "Spamalot" will survive.
During interviews to introduce the show, Idle, 63, always looked on the bright side:
On the chance of success in Las Vegas
"It's a perfect fit. We're not really a Broadway show. It's very localized. Those that have opened here and closed are all Broadway shows. It's a silly show. It's a show for people that really don't like shows. It's a show where dead people dance, and has my secret ingredient, girls."
On its similarity to "Mamma Mia!" which has run for four years at the Mandalay Bay
"We're 'Spam-a-mia.' "
On how "Spamalot" came to Las Vegas
"About two years ago we were doing 'Spamalot' in New York, that is a big town on the Eastern Seaboard, and one night our producer Bill Haver said, 'Steve Wynn is coming tonight. Eric, would you meet him and sit next to him?' and I said, 'Of course.' So I met him, and he was a very nice man and about five minutes into the show I felt a hand on my knee and a voice whispered in my ear, 'This would be great in Las Vegas.' I said, 'Yes, it would.' Then I realized he was referring to the show."
On director Mike Nichols
"We did about 17 drafts over four years and the last three I had the assistance of Mike Nichols. I can't say too much about him, because he has very good lawyers."
On meeting Beatle George Harrison
"When I first met George I had been in a hospital having something removed - an ex-wife or something. I was feeling very unhappy, and out of the blue I told him I was going off to Australia, because Australia is the place where English people go to have emotions."
At the airport, Idle received a package wrapped elegantly in Indian silks. Inside was an envelope with a note from Harrison: "Shag a Sheila for me."
"That was my spiritual advice from George Harrison."
On Beatle backing
"The entire budget of 'The Life of Brian' was out of (Harrison's) own pocket because he wanted to see the Monty Python movie. That was $4 million, which is more than anyone has ever paid to go into a cinema."
On the bottom line: money
"I need it to get my daughter through college and my wife through collagen. I have adopted a male marital position: flat on your back with your wallet wide open."
O'Hurley the King
John O'Hurley becomes King Arthur in "Monty Python's Spamalot," at least until his contract ends Sept. 1.
Then he's probably off on another venture.
"This is one of the great brands," O'Hurley says. "It's is everything that the movie is, and it's a spoof on Las Vegas as well. Even if you've seen the show, this is a different slant, which makes it fun."
He's a busy man by anyone's standards: singer (Billy Flynn in the musical "Chicago"), dancer (who won the dance-off on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" with professional ballroom dancer Charlotte Jorgenson), actor (J. Peterman on "Seinfeld"), businessman (part owner of the J. Peterman Co., along with the real J. Peterman), game show host (took over "Family Feud" in September), author ("It's Okay to Miss the Bed on the First Jump, and Other Life Lessons I've Learned From Dogs"), husband (married Lisa Mesloh in 2004) and new father (William Dylan O'Hurley was born Dec. 6).
So expect O'Hurley to abdicate the "Spamalot" throne when his run is up.
"I've got a lot of commitments," he says. "I do television for the flexibility it gives me to do theater; I go back and forth. No one's hiring me to do an A (list) film. I've had some really good B and D movies, some D-minus and some right to video.
"But I can certainly headline a Broadway show, so for me that's all the joy that I need in my life. I enjoy the theater. It's so much more fulfilling."
Just dance faster
Lopping 30 minutes from a musical can create some challenges, especially for a choreographer.
Just ask Casey Nicholaw, who received a Tony nomination for the Broadway version of "Spamalot" and must cut the dancing to fit the 90-minute Las Vegas production.
"When you do something in two acts, it's built for two acts. So now we've condensed it," Nicholaw says. "So the number that was a hit in New York maybe is not working so well."
He echoes the frustration of others who have faced the challenge of bringing Broadway to Las Vegas.
"The challenging thing with 'Spamalot' is to keep it comedic," he says. "It's not the type of show where you can stop and do a dance number for six minutes."
The life of Python
Eric Idle met John Cleese and Graham Chapman in the Cambridge University Footlights Club. The trio teamed with Oxford chums Michael Palin and Terry Jones and animator Terry Gilliam to produce the classic British TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" from 1969 to 1974.
With bizarre openings, quirky animation and skits about everything from dead parrots to the Spanish Inquisition, the Pythons became a comedic touchstone on both sides of the Atlantic.
Monty Python also produced four movies: "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) and "Monty Python's the Meaning of Life" (1985).
Members have pursued solo careers, sometimes cross-pollinating with other Pythons on projects such as "Fawlty Towers," "Time Bandits," "Brazil," "A Fish Called Wanda," "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," "Yellowbeard" and "Fierce Creatures."
Any hopes of a Python reunion evaporated with Chapman's death in 1989. The five surviving members reunited for an interview in 1998 - although they apparently spilled Chapman's ashes on stage.
Pin the tale on Arthur
Eric Idle and the Pythons certainly weren't the first to explore Arthurian legend.
The first written text, in Latin, dates to the 9th century, and the classic telling, Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur," to 1485. Other authors including Edmund Spenser, Alfred Tennyson, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Stephen King have tackled the tale. Two of the most popular modern versions: T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" and Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon."
Composers have turned it into operas, including Henry Purcell's "King Arthur" (1691) and Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" (1882), and even a rock opus (Rick Wakeman's 1975 concept album "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table").
It has turned up in the funny papers; Hal Foster's "Prince Valiant" began in 1937 and continues in some newspapers today.
The cast album for the 1960 Lerner & Loewe musical "Camelot" was a favorite of John F. Kennedy's and became a metaphor for his presidency.
Filmmakers have put the legend on screen more than 80 times since 1904, including John Boorman's classic "Excalibur" (1981) and Disney's animated "The Sword in the Stone" (1963). Connecticut Yankees, Indiana Jones, Tennessee Ernie Ford and men from outer space have ended up dropped in on the knights.
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