Monty Python's Spamalot: stage vs screen

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 comedy directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, with a cast of the Pythons: Graham Chapman as King Arthur, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Gilliam, Jones, and Michael Palin. It is not a musical. Spamalot, which opened on Broadway in 2005 with a book and lyrics by Idle and music by Idle and John Du Prez, turns it into one. Here is how they compare.

Stage

Broadway musical (2005)

Screen

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

1. The film has a few songs, the musical has a full score

The film is a comedy with only a handful of songs, among them "Knights of the Round Table" and "Brave Sir Robin," both composed by Neil Innes, who also plays the leader of Robin's minstrels. Spamalot keeps those two and fills out a Broadway score, with songs such as "He Is Not Dead Yet," "All for One," and "Find Your Grail," mostly by Idle and Du Prez. The new songs spoof the habits of musicals themselves.

2. The Lady of the Lake becomes the leading lady

In the film the Lady of the Lake exists only in a story Arthur tells two peasants about how he got Excalibur. Spamalot makes her a character, a diva who leads the Laker Girls and duets with Galahad in "The Song That Goes Like This," and sings "Diva's Lament (What Ever Happened to My Part?)." Sara Ramirez played her on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

3. A different ending

The film stops before the Grail is found: as Arthur's army charges the French-held castle, police arrest Arthur and Bedevere on suspicion of murdering a historian and break the camera. On stage the Grail turns up under an audience seat, Arthur marries the Lady of the Lake, who reveals her name is Guinevere, Lancelot marries Prince Herbert, and after the bows the company leads a sing-along.

4. Camelot becomes a Las Vegas casino

In the film, Arthur leads his knights toward Camelot, watches the knights inside perform a song-and-dance number, and decides not to go there after all because "it is a silly place." Spamalot does take them inside, staging Camelot as a gaudy Las Vegas-style resort with showgirls and oversized dice. The musical also adds theatre jokes, such as the Knights Who Say "Ni!" demanding not just a shrubbery but a Broadway musical.

5. Lancelot and Herbert get a love story

In the film, Sir Lancelot storms Swamp Castle, kills a number of wedding guests, and then discovers that the damsel in distress is the effeminate Prince Herbert. Spamalot turns the discovery into Lancelot realizing he is gay, and the two sing it out in the disco number "His Name Is Lancelot." Hank Azaria created Lancelot on Broadway, with Christian Borle as Herbert.

6. Sir Robin wants to be on Broadway

Eric Idle played Sir Robin in the film, where Robin is serenaded by his own minstrels in "Brave Sir Robin." The musical keeps that number and gives Robin a new motive: he wants to sing and dance professionally, which sets up "You Won't Succeed on Broadway," a satire of Broadway itself. David Hyde Pierce created the role in 2005.

7. A bigger company plays more parts

In the film, six Pythons played nearly all the male roles between them, from Arthur's knights to French soldiers. Spamalot also doubles many parts, though Arthur and the Lady of the Lake are the major roles not doubled. Tim Curry created Arthur on Broadway, Michael McGrath played Patsy, and John Cleese supplied the recorded voice of God.

8. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is borrowed

The film does not contain this song. It comes from the Pythons' 1979 film Life of Brian, and Idle brought it into Spamalot, where Patsy sings it in Act Two to cheer up Arthur and the company leads the audience in it after the curtain call. Songs borrowed from other Python work, including the opening "Fisch Schlapping Song," which nods to Michael Palin's "Finland," show how the musical mines the group's wider catalog.

Monty Python's Spamalot movie vs musical: FAQs