Eric Idle's Not the Messiah to Debut in Toronto in June

Eric Idle's follow-up to the enormously successful musical Spamalot will be Not the Messiah He's a Very Naughty Boy, a comic oratorio to have its world premiere in Toronto in June as part of the city's inaugural Luminato Festival of the Arts, according to Variety. The show is described as being loosely adapted from Monty Python's 1979 film Life of Brian; John Du Prez, Idle's composing partner on Spamalot, will collaborate on the new show.

Not the Messiah was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, whose music director, Peter Oundjian, is also Idle's cousin. The 63-year-old writer did not disclose details about the new piece to Variety, saying only, "I promise it will be funnier than Handel, although probably not as good." Life of Brian's best-known song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," is already part of Spamalot, Idle and Du Prez's stage adaptation of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Luminato is a new 90-event multidisciplinary arts festival in Toronto scheduled to run June 1-10. Organizers anticipate half a million people will attend the largely free events, conceived to boost Toronto tourism.