Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an absurd, cult classic 1975 comedy that parodies the Arthurian legend. It has inspired a Broadway musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot, which won for Best Musical in 2005. It’s currently touring nationwide, and the next stop is at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, from February 17 to February 22nd. (Tickets available here).
Starring as King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot is Major Attaway, who has the title of the longest continuous run of playing the Genie in the Broadway musical Aladdin. As the King of the Britons, he is on a quest for the Holy Grail.
“The Broadway show premiered in 2005, it won Best Musical, and now I get to do the show for a very mixed audience, which is wonderful,” Attaway tells Nerd Reactor. “There are parents and grandparents who know every word that I’m about to say, which is very exciting, except for the random updates that we’ve made. And then you have people who have seen the film recently for the first time or never seen it before. My favorite thing about this show is that they can still come and have a complete experience, even if there are jokes that they don’t already know the punchline to. That means the comedy is still precise and clear enough to still be funny after all these many years. And I think that is fantastic. That’s what’s keeping us going.”
Attaway is no stranger to comedy, who has performed in Aladdin and Little Shop of Horrors.
“With the Genie, I was the person they were most likely looking at because my costume, bright blue, covered in crystals, my head covered in glitter,” he explained. “So I understood what it was like to have to hold the attention, but redirect it. And the King definitely does that. He’s not necessarily the focal point of the situation, which is confusing in a bit of a way, but he’s like the put-upon man. He’s like, ‘I have this job to do, but everyone keeps getting in the way,’ even though I do the job. It definitely helped with how I control pacing on stage. My job is to make sure everyone else is funny in this show, not for me to be funny.”
The actor talks about one of his favorite moments in Spamalot, which allows him an opportunity for some improv.
“Our director described it as doors that open,” Attaway said. “There are doors that open to allow us to do whatever we feel will make the moment funny and move it forward. But then there are clear moments where that improv has come to a close. That means we have to get back on script. That’s how I still have so much freedom in my ad-libbing in the show, because I know when to do it. I know when it’s safe to go off the rails. We have to keep the story on track because my character is the push for the minimal plot that we have anyway. If King Arthur doesn’t remain focused on it, then everything could just fall apart.”
Tickets for Monty Python’s Spamalot are available at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts site. It will be returning to Southern California at the Hollywood Pantages from March 24 to April 12, with tickets available via Broadway in Hollywood.
