Josh Rhodes’ touring revival is loaded with laughs, but Python fans may miss Terry Gilliam’s signature look.

It’s been over 50 years now since the original Monty Python and the Holy Grail film was released, and audiences are still giggling over killer rabbits, hapless knights, taunting Frenchmen and philosophical peasants questioning the rights of the workers.

It’s all there and more in Monty Python’s Spamalot, with book and lyrics by original Python Eric Idle with music by him and Du Prez. Now up at the Denver Center’s Buell Theatre through Aug. 23, this touring Broadway production comes from the 2023 revival of the original 2005 Tony Award winner for Best Musical.

With some timely updates from Idle and local gags inserted by the cast, Spamalot remains a lively, very silly laugh fest that you don’t have to be a Python fan to appreciate (although it doesn’t hurt). The film’s plot is very loosely based on the Arthurian legend of a quest for the Holy Grail — the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper — and Idle’s book for the musical strays even further afield.

Thrown in the mix is a hilarious opening number based on a forgotten song about Finland from a 1980 Python comedy album (melded with the fish-slapping skit from an even earlier Flying Circus skit); a rousing version of the song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” borrowed from the film Life of Brian; and a rolling gag poking fun at Broadway musicals in general mostly led by the Lady of the Lake (Amanda Robles).

It may seem like a hodgepodge, but it’s all quite well thought-out. In Idle’s excellent 2024 book on the creation of the show (The Spamalot Diaries), he recounts the endless rewrites he went through, fully built numbers tossed over the side and battles with director Mike Nichols to tune Spamalot into the laugh machine it is.

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Amanda Robles as the Lady of the Lake and ensemble in ‘Spamalot.’ | Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The revival

Central to the story is King Arthur himself, played here with firmly grounded straight-man energy by baritone Major Attaway. He’s accompanied by his servant Patsy who, in addition to carrying an ungodly amount of luggage on his back, is also charged with banging together two coconuts to accompany Arthur pretending to ride a horse (a throwback to a creative solution from the film whose low budget prevented real horses). Blake Segal is a standout as Patsy, particularly in “I’m All Alone,” where Arthur laments his missing knights while ignoring his faithful sidekick.

Blake Segal as Patsy and Major Attaway as King Arthur in ‘Spamalot.’ | Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Idle’s solution to inject some female energy into the story was to create the Lady of the Lake. In the legend she’s the one who appears to Arthur and gives him the sword Excalibur — a “fact” mercilessly lampooned by the peasant Dennis in one of the wittiest exchanges of the film and the musical. As the Lady, Robles is an absolute powerhouse, using her impressive operatic vocal chops to eviscerate the musical theatre genre by hamming it up with every singing trick and trope imaginable.

But since her role isn’t central to the Grail quest story, Idle threw in “Diva’s Lament,” where she loudly bemoans her shrinking part.

Knights Lancelot (Chris Collins-Pisano), Galahad (Leo Roberts), Bedevere (Ellis Dawson) and Robin (Daniel Beeman) fill out the rest of the Round Table while also taking on other roles throughout. All are solid, but Collins-Pisano goes so far over the top with his three other important roles that it undermines some major scenes.

As the French knight taunting Arthur & Co. from a castle wall, the actor injects so much high-powered silly into every line that it’s hard to understand some of the classic insults (“Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!”) Similarly, as Tim the Enchanter and the head Knight of Ni, Collins-Pisano turns in vein-bursting performances so overwrought that the crass genius behind the lines is buried in hyperventilated fart jokes and spluttering, garbled lines. He’s clearly a talented comic actor, but one who’s perhaps been on the road too long with these roles and trying to mix it up. But it’s simply too much.

Chris Collins-Pisano as the head Knight of Ni in ‘Spamalot.’ | Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Where’s Gilliam?

This updated version of the show uses an array of stagecraft to world-build every new scene to the absolute max. A raft of flown scenery, precision lighting and a powerful series of projections take us where we need to go at max speed with nary a blip evident. For those looking for that big-budget Broadway musical, it’s all here in spades.

What’s missing, though, is one of the most highly recognizable visual elements of The Grail and the entire Python canon: the wildly original art of Terry Gilliam. “The American Python” put his mark on everything the troupe did, from the first Flying Circus TV shows up through the three feature films. Here, scenic designer Paul Tate dePoo III settles for a cheap visual look that’s just shy of AI slop compared to Gilliam’s signature look. (To be fair, that original artwork or style wasn’t much used in the 2005 production either.)

It’s the kind of thing that most audience members won’t know or care much about, but for Python fans, it’s like trotting out the Broncos in black-and-white uniforms — or presenting a bowl of pasta minus grated Romano.

Idle himself has always acknowledged Spamalot to be “lovingly ripped off” from the original material and not necessarily meant for nerds like me who can recite the entire film chapter and verse. Plenty of Easter eggs and deep-cut lines plumbed from the book of Python are still in there for the die-hards while the physical gags, impressive musical numbers and the rollicking score will please anyone else with a pulse. This slick production may be light years from the bootstrapped original film, but as musical comedies go, it’s a truly unique roller-coaster ride that doesn’t fail to deliver the funny.