Broadway's Spamalot to Close One Week Earlier Than Planned

Spamalot, the Tony-winning musical “lovingly ripped off” from cult flick Monty Python and the Holy Grail, will now play its final Broadway performance on January 11, 2009, once week earlier than originally planned. At the time of its closing, the show will have played 1,574 performances and 35 previews at the Shubert Theatre.

Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, the show features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, a killer rabbit and one legless knight.

The musical comedy features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John Du Prez and Idle, direction by Mike Nichols, choreography by Casey Nicholaw and is based on the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with an entirely new score with two songs from the 1975 film and the Python classic “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life” from 1979’s The Life of Brian.

Spamalot opened on March 17, 2005 and went to win the three Tonys—for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical Nichols and Best Featured Actress in a Musical Sara Ramirez. It also garnered the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

The current cast of Spamalot includes Clay Aiken who finishes his return engagement in the production on January 4, 2009, Michael Siberry, Merle Dandridge, Tom Deckman, Rick Holmes, Bradley Dean, Wally Dunn and David Hibbard.