Pythons reunite to back musical

All the surviving members of Monty Python are to reunite to support Eric Idle’s new musical Spamalot.

The team, who are only very rarely seen together for public appearances, will all attend the show’s opening night on Broadway next month.

The lavish musical, based on the Pythons’ 30-year-old Holy Grail movie, transfers to New York from Chicago, where it has been previewing to rave reviews, on Monday.

And, speaking at London’s Riverside Studios last night, Michael Palin confirmed that the full Python team will attend the official first night on March 17.

He also suggested that the once-controversial Life Of Brian might get the same treatment if Spamalot proves a hit.

“Eric might turn his hand to Brian,” Palin told the audience at a question-and-answer session, adding that the revival of Python material became much easier once the team had agreed that others could perform it.

He said: “There was always the boundary of, ‘should we let other people do the Python sketches?’

“The first licence was given to Monty Python’s Flying Circus... At Last, In French, so we have now crossed that boundary”.

Palin, who was talking to promote the French-language  performance of the sketches now running at the venue, also revealed that he is planning a second comic novel, a decade after his first bestseller, Hemingway’s Chair, was published.

Published: 9 Feb 2005