SPAMALOT Comes to Minneapolis, 3/15 & 16

Monty Python's Spamalot, the 2005 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, returns to Minneapolis for a limited engagement of only three performances, Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, 2013 at Hennepin Theatre Trust's Orpheum Theatre. Lovingly "ripped off" from the internationally famous comedy team's most popular motion picture, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," it turns the legendary tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table on its head with a chorus line of dancing divas, knights in tights, flatulent Frenchman and killer rabbits. Single tickets are on sale now. Monty Python's Spamalot is presented by Hennepin Theatre Trust. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit HennepinTheatreTrust.org or call 1.800.982.2787.

Based on the Tony Award-winning direction of Mike Nichols and the riotous choreography of Casey Nicholaw, who is also known for his work on The Book of Mormon, Monty Python's Spamalot features a book by Eric Idle based on the movie's screenplay by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Music and lyrics were crafted by the Grammy Award-winning team of Idle and John Du Prez.

It won 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 earned the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Monty Python's Spamalot is produced by Stephen B. Kane, Michael McFadden and Phoenix Entertainment.

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 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.

Casey Nicholaw's outstanding work on Monty Python's Spamalot earned him nominations for the Tony Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award. He won the 2011 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his work as co-director of The Book of Mormon. His other Broadway credits include Elf and The Drowsy Chaperone for which he earned numerous nominations as director and choreographer.

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 published by Harper Collins and his long awaited-sequel The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch was released by Warner Video. There's no saying what he might do next...

John Du Prez has composed more than 20 feature film scores including "A Fish Called Wanda," "A Private Function," "The Meaning of Life," "Personal Services," "UHF" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 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, Minnesota born Terry Gilliam) that performed their famous comedy show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on the BBC from 1969 to 1974, with subsequent international fame and success.

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