(L-R) Blake Segal and Major Attaway in the North American Tour of SPAMALOT. Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman. Courtesy of the Fabulous Fox Theater
– By Cate Marquis –
The Broadway tour of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” returns to the Fabulous Fox Theater May 5-17, 2026. Based on the comedy classic of silliness about the King Arthur legends “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the hilarious stage musical version has visited the Fox before but this current tour is updated a bit with a few contemporary jokes along with familiar characters and songs, particularly in the second act. “Spamalot” generally follows the “plot” of Monty Python’s goofy, satiric King Arthur comedy, with a few additional song and dance numbers, less a few characters and scenes, and with a few additions, including a song from a different Python movie.
Still, Monty Python fans will find everything they hope for, including the taunting Frenchmen and those shrubberies.
The Arthurian tale is narrated by a Historian (Steven Telsey), with Major Attaway as King Arthur and Blake Segal as his faithful servant Patsy, who provides helpful assistance and the sound effects of the absent horse, thanks to a pair of coconut shells, as they go about establishing the Kingdom of Britain. Most of the familiar Arthurian characters are present, such as Sir Lancelot (Chris Collins-Pisano) and Sir Galahad (Leo Roberts), and all the favorite Monty Python characters are here, such as the French Taunter, the Knights of Ni, and Tim the Enchanter (all three played by Chris Collins-Pisano), including Sir Not Appearing (Connor Coughlin), who actually gets an expanded part. Every cast member plays multiple parts, apart from Major Attaway as King Arthur and Amanda Robles as the Lady of the Lake. Telsey also plays Not Dead Fred, Baby, Nun, Mime, Minstrel, Prince Herbert, and Bunny, while Segal also plays Mayor and Guard 2. Other cast members with major roles are Sean Bell (Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard), Leo Roberts (Sir Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert’s Father), and Ellis C. Dawson III (Dennis’ Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde). A big cast, with even more parts than cast members, like the film.
Amanda Robles’ diva-like Lady of the Lake is a major character in the musical (although not really present in the movie) and Robles shows off a splendid voice in specialty numbers for her. All the musical numbers are campy send-ups of either Broadway or old Busby Berkeley type movie musicals, with a bit of vaudeville tossed in.
The whole show is filled with laughs. The humor is classically Monty Python and classically British, meaning it is both silly and literate, clever, brainy and dumb at the same time, as only the British can do it. The humor is satiric, irreverent, ridiculous, sometimes borderline offensive, meaning it is in the same vein as the movie, but all very funny.
The humor and songs by Eric Idle still sparkle with nonsense, with a few bits reworked a bit, like rescuing the damsel in distress that turns out to be a guy, to update them but others, like the dark-humor bit about the plague victim who is “not dead yet” and offers to get up and run around to avoid being tossed on the cart of bodies, is much the same. The ragged Dark Ages peasants who spout Marx economics while rejecting the idea of a king are still as absurd and hilarious as ever. And that deadly rabbit still takes his victims.
The cast is great, in the singing and dancing as well as the comedy. In comedy, Chris Collins-Pisano doing much of the heavy lifting is his many roles, and especially good as the rude and crude French Taunter, but all the cast give good performances. Robles has the knock-out voice but other singers soar too. Major Attaway makes a fine King Arthur, patiently and repeatedly explaining to his clueless subjects that he is king of the Britains, and Blake Segal is wonderfully funny as overlooked, overworked servant Patsy.
This is the show to see if you need a good laugh, and particularly if you like that cockeyed British type of humor.
“Monty Python’s Spamalot” is on stage at the Fabulous Fox through May 17, 2026.
© Cate Marquis
