Spamalot extends booking period
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
WITH 200,000 new tickets available from August 8, 2007, the award-winning, record-breaking hit West End musical Monty Python’s Spamalot will now continue at the Palace Theatre until March 1, 2008.
The current cast includes Peter Davison (King Arthur), Bill Ward (Sir Lancelot), Hannah Waddingham (The Lady of the Lake), Robert Hands (Sir Robin), Steven Kynman (Herbert), Graham MacDuff (Sir Dennis Galahad), Andrew Spillett (Patsy) and Tony Timberlake (Sir Bedevere).
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Previously Posted: The West End production of Monty Python’s Spamalot is to lead an international search for its next Lady of the Lake – in Sweden.
Devised by Anna Carrfors Bråkenhielm, who produced and developed the ground breaking reality TV show Survivor almost a decade ago, West End Story will be hosted by Swedish broadcaster TV3 in late Autumn 2007.
The nine-part live series will operate in much the same way as How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream will Do. A panel of experts from the world of musical theatre from the West End and Sweden will draw up a shortlist of twelve hopefuls from open auditions in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Each week one contestant will be voted off until there are four left.
The last four will be flown from Stockholm to London to begin rehearsals for the role of Lady of the Lake with the cast of Monty Python’s Spamalot, returning once each week to Sweden to face the judges and viewing public in a live TV special. The winner will be announced in the series finale in February 2008.
Sweden is one of the biggest markets for musical theatre in Europe and each year, more than 700,000 Swedes visit London. A high percentage of them see a show. Hence West End Story not only seeks to uncover new talent but also to reflect the undeniable appeal of the West End as a global brand.
Previously Posted: To coincide with the start of the school holidays, the hit musical Monty Python’s Spamalot is moving its midweek matinee from Tuesday (3pm) to Friday (5.15pm) as well as introducing a novel ticket pricing policy for young audiences at this new “family friendly” performance.
Young people, between the ages of 5 and 15, will only pay the price of their age for a top price ticket when an accompanying adult pays full price (one adult can accompany up to two children). In addition, young people aged between 16 and 26 will now be able to buy best available seats for just £20.
To accommodate this change, the Friday 8pm performance will now start at 8.30pm. All other performances remain unchanged.
The specially priced tickets are available only through the Palace Theatre Box Office or online exclusively via Lastminute.com
And on August 29, 2007, between 3pm and 5pm, Monty Python’s Spamalot is offering a workshop covering subjects as diverse as “Learn to Speakez le French good”, “How to ride a horse” and “Discover the joys of Scandinavian folk dancing”.
Tickets for this workshop, which is part of the annual Kids Week events (August 17 to August 31), can be booked on 0870 400 0800.
Previously Posted: On July 23, 2007, television stars Peter Davison and Bill Ward will join the London cast of Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Palace Theatre.
Davison, who’ll be following in the footsteps of Tim Curry and Simon Russell Beale as King Arthur, became a household name when he played the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who between 1981 and 1984.
His extensive television credits include All Creatures Great and Small (as Tristan Farnon), The Last Detective (as DC Davies), At Home with the Braithwaites, A Quick Guide to Parenting, Distant Shores, A Very Peculiar Practice, Ain’t Misbehaving and Fear Stress and Anger, for which he has just won the 2007 Best Actor Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.
His theatre credits include Chicago (Adelphi Theatre), An Absolute Turkey (Globe Theatre), The Last Yankee (Young Vic) and Arsenic and Old Lace (Chichester Festival Theatre). His film credits include Parting Shots, Black Beauty and Molly.
Ward, who will play the brave (though slightly sexually disorientated) Sir Lancelot, is probably best known as Coronation Street‘s psycho misogynist love-rat Charlie Stubbs. His other TV credits include Cold Blood, Jonathan Creek, Footballers’ Wives, Fallen, Rose and Maloney, In Deep, The Bill, Holby City, EastEnders, Swag and Make My Day.
His theatre work includes Oh What a Lovely War (Theatre Clwyd); A Chorus of Disapproval, The Beggar’s Opera and Antigone (Bristol Old Vic); Destiny, Around the World in Eighty Days and Uncle Ebenezer – A Christmas Carol (Battersea Arts Centre); and Harriot (Royal Exchange Studio Theatre).
Davison and Ward will be joining Hannah Waddingham (The Lady of the Lake), Robert Hands (Sir Robin), Steven Kynman (Herbert), Graham MacDuff (Sir Dennis Galahad), Andrew Spillett (Patsy) and Tony Timberlake (Sir Bedevere).
Monty Python’s Spamalot, “lovingly ripped-off” from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, tells the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail. It features a chorus line of dancing divas (and serfs), flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and a legless knight.
Monty Python’s Spamalot, which is directed by Mike Nichols, has a book and lyrics by Eric Idle and a Grammy Award-winning score by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. Other members of the creative team include Casey Nicholaw (choreography), multiple Olivier Award-winners Tim Hatley (sets and costumes) and Hugh Vanstone (lighting), and Acme Sound Partners.