Theatres and Shows- London, United Kingdom

Who can’t do anything with Monty Phyton, please kindly skip this tip as it would not mean the slightest thing to you. Who can, please feel free to continue reading and please listen to the links I added (I hope they stay on youtube, as they seem to be official ones) :-)

Yes – I have added this intentionally as to-do tip as opposed to nightlife, where it might belong to, but:
for all of you Monty Phython’s fans out there in the world, I would not only recommend to go and see it while you are in London, but even say go on a pilgrimage to London just to see Spamalot, the musical. Of course you might say that it is a hard if almost impossible task to transform their original humour and spirit into a musical without having at least one of them on stage. But Eric Idle wrote book, lyrics and music and John Cleese is with us as he lends god his voice.
When I realised that Spamalot is running in London’s Palace Theatre I knew I MUST see this and was happy that Sarah and Chris wanted to join me. Thanks to Chris for booking the tickets for fantastic seats in the Grand Circle (£ 40). Of course I was a bit sceptical as of how I would perceive it given that I adore the movie – but to bring it to a point: I would go again and again and again.
So, Spamalot is based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but contains also parts of the Dead Parrot, the Lumberjack and the famous song from Life of Brian. And it follows the movie sequence pretty close – even the famous opening which is hijacked several times by trouble making crewmembers who add subtitles for the Vikings and mention the bad møøse that bite their sister lately is featuring as the opening song – or möösical – with reference to the Fish Slapping Dance of the Flying Circus. And also the other ones like the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, the Killer Rabbit, the Black Knight (“let’s call it a draw”), Bring Out the Dead, Tim the Enchanter and the famous French Taunts and the flying cow are there! In addition to the movie they have introduced the Lady of the Lake (well, she is mentioned in the film but appears as a person on stage) and her Laker Girls. This is especially funny, as anytime she appears, the musical burlesques the typical musicals and you will immediately realise that the songs then get very much “Andrew Lloyd Webberish”.
Edit, August 15, 2008:
I found the "Finland opening" on youtube, but I am not sure if it will stay on youtube or has to be removed. But as long as it is there - look and... have many tissue paper for the tears that shoot right from your eyes: Finland

Now what can I say more then - GO!

If you are still sceptical, please read what Wikipedia writes (very interesting article) or listen to some youtube videos:
London Opening including the old crew as visitors AND the opening möösical (although only as sound, not the actual dance),
London cast rehearsal with Tim Curry as King Arthur and almost the complete “Not Yet Dead” scene,
Australia TV introduction with many backstage information.

Currently, Sanjeev Bhaskar is King Arthur (photo 1).

GO NOW, as according to Wikipedia, Spamalot willl terminate in London January 3, 2009. But at least I’ve read that it will be running in the Musical Dome, Cologne from January 2009 on. Hurray!! Well, erm... nice, as they... one cannot believe it... perform it... in German :-(( (idiots... none of any Monty Python sketches, movies or this möösical is translatable into any other language but British).

Performances in the Palace Theatre are Monday to Thursday at 8 pm, Friday at 5:15 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m.

Oh and I especially loved the devotional things which were on sale, lovingly called “The Olde Rippey Offey Shoppe” (see photo 3) where you can buy almost everything, included the Killer Rabbit (15 £ for the one in photo 2 and 10 £ for the one in Sarah's photo 5) and the cow as stress reliever toy (photo 4, 5 £). The cow in the photo lives now in my home and we have named her Ethelbertée (thanks Christine.j. for this splendid suggestion).

One note on the side which I didn’t know before, but isn’t all life long learning? The use of the word spam for… well, what we use it for today, is originated in Monty Phyton’s Spam sketch, referring to the famous US origin canned processed meat. No need to mention that a can of Spam also sneaks into the musical and can be bought as devotionalia, with stinkin’ French garlic of course (see where the Killer Rabbit sits on in my photo).

PS: I found a review on Ciao Shopping Intelligence which is fantastic and funny to read:
Spamalot review

Oh my, how grateful I am for the 10.000 characters..... lol

Coordinates on GoogleEarth:
51°30’47,63’’N; 00°07’46,42’’W

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