Trivia / Spamalot

• Acting for Two: Just like in the movie, even with the Composite Character effect going on, most of the actors play several roles. The exceptions to this are Arthur and The Lady of the Lake. In the case of the former, he's the main character, and this is reflective of Graham Chapman mostly sticking to that one role in the original movie. As for the latter, she gets plenty to do as the show's biggest soloist. For the actual examples though, while it's not necessary to follow this exactly, this is how it was cast on Broadway and often played as since in professional productions:
  • Lancelot was combined with the Large Man with a Dead Body and doubles with the 2nd Sentry, the French Taunter, the Knights of Ni's leader, and Tim the Enchanter.
  • Robin is combined with the Dead Collector and doubles as the 1st Sentry, Brother Maynard, and the Second Guard at Swamp Caslte (the chattier one).
  • Galahad is combined with Dennis the Politically-Active Peasant and doubles as the King of Swamp Castle, and the Black Knight.
  • The same actor plays Prince Herbert, The Historian, Not Dead Fred, Sir Robin's Lead Minstrel, and The French Taunter's Best Friend. Herbert is their largest showcase and the role they bow as, but unlike the other principles, they don't have a primary character who appears frequently, just a good deal of small parts. Despite this, the role is larger than Bedevere's part.
    • In the 2023 revival, instead of the French Taunter's Best Friend, this actor now plays the Mime, as well as a Baby and a Nun during "Knights of the Round Table" and the Killer Rabbit Puppeteer.
  • Patsy's actor doubles as the Mayor of Finland and the mostly silent 1st Guard. The low number of small roles makes sense as Patsy is present in all of Arthur's scenes, so the actor gets plenty to do through that part.
  • Bedevere doubles as Mrs. Galahad and Concorde. Unlike Patsy there's not really a reason for the low number of minor roles, especially since Bedevere is Demoted to Extra here.
• Approval of God:
  • Michael Palin and John Cleese are fans. The latter initially had to be persuaded to lend his voice as God, but like Palin he was very congratulatory about the final product's success saying "I defy anyone to go and not have a really fun evening. It's the silliest thing I’ve ever seen and I think Eric did a great job." Meanwhile Palin voiced his pleasant surprise at how huge the show wound up being stating "We’re just proud to be associated with it, rather pathetically."
  • While Terry Jones was initially very disapproving of the product, he admitted to having a good time seeing it even if he still found the concept questionable. He said his favorite parts were the new material, specifically shouting out the Andrew Lloyd Webber parody and the song "Diva's Lament".
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: During the show's Broadway run, Alan Tudyk took over for Hank Azaria when the latter had to temporarily leave the show to film Huff. When House of Geekery interviewed Tudyk years later, they included a photo from the show with the caption "Tudyk joins the cast of Spamalot", despite the fact that it pictured the original cast with Hank Azaria; Tudyk was nowhere in the shot. It can be safe to assume that Galahad's actor, Christopher Sieber, was mistaken for Tudyk due to their facial similarities.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Terry Gilliam says he'd like to pull the plug on the whole thing claiming and called it "Python-lite". Despite this though, he did note that the show keeps Python alive and appeared smiling at the UK premiere. And as noted below, he was willing to admit he liked all the money the show got him.
  • Terry Jones had a mixed reaction. At first he hated the idea of it saying the show was pointless and he didn't care for regurgitating their past work. Though after it opened on Broadway he claimed that it was "terrific good fun". He still wasn't 100% approving though, noting that while the execution was strong, he still didn't quite get recreating scenes onstage. He also said "It isn't Python. It's very much Eric." As noted above, he was most approving of the new elements.
• Money, Dear Boy: Aside from helping to preserve the group's work, Terry Gilliam only likes it because the royalties help with his pension fund.
• Playing Against Type: Tim Curry as the heroic King Arthur in the original Broadway and London casts. Aside from his role as Nigel Thornberry, he is best known for playing villainous characters.
• Promoted Fanboy: Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce were all huge fans of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and jumped at the chance to do the show.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Notice how the otherwise large role of Lancelot doesn't get much in the way of solos? That's because original actor Hank Azaria wasn't much of a singer. Additionally, they changed the choreography around a bit since he wasn't much of a dancer either, changing it back once he left the show.
• Recursive Adaptation: It's based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail and a Spamalot movie was announced in 2018, but has since been canned.
• Self-Adaptation: It was written by Eric Idle who was one of the writers for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• Voice-Only Cameo: Either John Cleese, Eric Idle, or Steve Martin as the (recorded) Voice of God.
• What Could Have Been: Act I originally featured a scene based on the witch trial segment, which would’ve given Bedevere a proper introduction and even included a song called “Burn Her!” Unfortunately, it was cut for pacing reasons, leaving Bedevere seriously Demoted to Extra in the final musical.

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