Tony Award-Winner and Best Musical 2005 Monty Python’s SPAMALOT Coming to Academy of Music March 20 - April 8
October 18, 2006
Tickets On Sale Friday, October 20 At 7am!
Box Office Opening Will Feature Spamalot Celebration Including Medieval Characters, Spam Chef, Python Trivia Contest, Parade of Silly Walks, First 100 In Line Receive Spamalot Coconuts!
The Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 2005, Monty Python's SPAMALOT, will make its Philadelphia premiere at the Academy of Music for a three-week engagement beginning Tuesday, March 20 through Sunday, April 8, part of the Kimmel Center Presents Broadway at the Academy theater series.
Tickets for Monty Python's SPAMALOT ranging in price from $28 to $87.50 will be available on Friday, Oct. 20 at the Kimmel Center Box office, Broad & Spruce Streets, beginning at 7:00am. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 215-731-3333 or by logging onto www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway beginning at 9am. A limited number of VIP seats are available for $138. Groups of 20 or more please call 215-790-5883. An exclusive pre-sale opportunity is also available for cell phone users by texting the word SPAM to 22122.
The Spamalot-themed box office celebration will begin at 7 to 9am outside the Kimmel Center box office located at the corner of Broad and Locust Streets. Festivities will include medieval-costumed characters including knights, lords, ladies, a "Parade of Silly Walks" down Broad Street, fish slapping, cow-tossing, sing-a-longs to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," a gigantic, inflatable can of SPAM, an on-site "Spam chef" cooking SPAM recipes, Python trivia contests, ticket & merchandise winners, and SPAMALOT coconut halves/horse hooves to the first 100 ticket buyers in line.
Lovingly "ripped-off" from the internationally famous comedy team's most popular motion picture, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's SPAMALOT is the winner of three 2005 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Director (Mike Nichols), as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. The original cast recording of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT recently won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical.
Sold-out since it opened on March 17, 2005, Monty Python's SPAMALOT has remained the hottest ticket on Broadway, continuing to break box office records at The Shubert Theatre.
Directed by Mike Nichols, Monty Python's SPAMALOT features a book by Eric Idle, based on the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with music and lyrics by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. Casey Nicholaw is the choreographer.
Monty Python's SPAMALOT is produced by Boyett Ostar Productions. Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, Monty Python's SPAMALOT features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight.
Set and costume design for Monty Python's SPAMALOT is by Tony Award-winner Tim Hatley, lighting design is by Hugh Vanstone and sound design is by ACME Sound Partners. Others on the creative and production teams include David Brian Brown (Hair & Wig Design), Gregory Meeh (Special Effects Design), Elaine McCarthy (Projection Design), Joseph A. Campayno (Make-Up Design), Larry Hochman (Orchestrations), Glen Kelly (Music Arrangements), Todd Ellison (Musical Supervision and Vocal Arrangements), Michael Keller (Musical Coordinator), Peter Lawrence (Associate Director), Tara Rubin (Casting), and Gene O'Donovan (Production Manager).
Mike Nichols has been acclaimed as one of the great American directors in film, theater and television. He has won the Academy Award and eight Tony Awards. He recently received the Directors' Guild of America Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as a DGA Award for the direction of the HBO adaptation of Angels in America.
Aside from his work with Monty Python in films and on TV, Eric Idle has written a West End play, Pass the Butler; three novels, including The Road to Mars, The Rutles - A Mockumentary; and many songs too rude to mention. He has sung opera, acted in movies, appeared on television and crossed America performing comedy on The Greedy Bastard Tour. His diary of his 15,000 mile journey by bus was recently published by Harper Collins, and his long awaited sequel Rutles2, Can't Buy Me Lunch was released by Warner Video in March. There's no saying what he might do next...
John Du Prez has composed over 20 feature film scores including A Fish Called Wanda, A Private Function, The Meaning of Life, Personal Services, UHF, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I, II & III. He has worked with Eric Idle since 1978.
Monty Python isn't a person, but a group of British actors and writers (and one American) that performed their famous comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus on the BBC from 1969 to 1974, with subsequent international fame and success.
Broadway at the Academy 2006-07 subscription packages are on sale now and, in addition to Monty Python's SPAMALOT, will feature three other Broadway musicals including: EDWARD SCISSORHANDS ( January 16 - 21, 2007); PIPPIN (Jan 11 - 15, 2007); Monty Python’s SPAMALOT (March 20 - April 8, 2007) and WICKED (July 25 - August 19, 2007). Additional Broadway at the Academy shows will include: DISNEY LIVE! Mickey's Magic Show (Nov. 24 & 25, 2006); THE BEATLES EXPERIENCE performed by RAIN (January 4 - 7, 2007); ANNIE (March 1 - 4, 2007) and RIVERDANCE (May 15 - 20, 2007).
All performances of 2006-2007 Kimmel Center Presents Broadway at the Academy are supported by the Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Company, WPVI-TV 6, The Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Broadway at the Academy.
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