SPAMALOT proudly supporting Comic Relief

Monty Python's SPAMALOT, the Tony award winning, smash hit Broadway and West End musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, is coming to Melbourne. And the team behind the production is proudly supporting Comic Relief.

Monty Python's SPAMALOT tells the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, featuring a chorus line of dancing divas, serfs, cows, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and a legless knight. Directed by Mike Nichols, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John Du Prez and Idle, and choreography by Casey Nicholaw. SPAMALOT is "lovingly ripped-off" from the classic film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

SPAMALOT are kindly helping to raise funds, presenting Comic Relief with ticket prizes and providing some very special guests for an hysterical moment on our television show on December 8.

Performances commence at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne on November 20 ahead of the Australian Premiere set for December 1. Tickets to SPAMALOT are now on sale, visit www.montypythonsspamalot.com.au for more information.

SPAMALOT is lead produced in Australia by Boyett Ostar Productions, and Michael Coppel.

FACTS-A-LOT

• 3 kg of confetti is used at each performance.
• The orchestra uses a Spama-horn, an instrument specially developed for and used only in SPAMALOT.
• There are over 100 wigs (including facial hair) in the show, all hand knotted and made of human hair, yak hair, and synthetics supplied from New York, California, London and Australia.
• The mud make-up is a formula specially designed for SPAMALOT.
• The poorest peasants’ costumes in the show are actually made of raw silk.
• 3 feet of “blood” has to be ironed prior to each performance
• There are over 100 undergarments in the show, including 30 pairs of men’s fishnets and 56 cod pieces.
• The Lady of the Lake’s costumes are all comprised of hand-strung glass beads.
• The costumes are not only made of a wide variety of fabrics, but many are made of molded ABS plastics, and even nuts and bolts. You are as likely to see a member of the wardrobe team with power tools as you are with a sewing machine.
• The name SPAM was chosen in the 1930s when the product, whose original name – “Hormel Spiced Ham” was far less memorable began to lose market share. The name was chosen from multiple entries in a naming contest.
• SPAM was one of the few meat products excluded from the British food rationing that began in World War II (and continued for a number of years after the war), and the British grew heartily tired of it. The Monty Python team used this as the context for their Spam sketch, which gave rise to the term spam.
• Among the props is a cow that weighs over 20kg. It takes two stagehands to catapult it over the castle.
• There are 63 moving lights used on the show.
• The lighting department use over 4km of cable.
• SPAMALOT uses approximately 40 coconuts per month, supplied by the Coconut King in Florida.
• The Camelot Hanger is automated and weighs approximately 1100kg
• The “Feet of God” is the heaviest piece manually flown, weighing in at over 600kg
• The Grail Lift that elevates the Lady of the Lake weighs over 1,300kg
• It takes over 80 people on stage and off to run each performance.
• The Electrics Department uses 6 tanks of liquid carbon dioxide per week to create the low-ground fog effect and uses 8 fire extinguishers per week for the Feet of God “blast off” effect.
• It’s a guarantee that one knight will lose their head every night.
  
  
  For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.montypythonsspamalot.com.au