Monty Python’s Spamalot is back, and the Hollywood Pantages has got it, guaranteeing L.A. audiences not only the wildest, wackiest, and winningest of musical comedy rides but a spectacular new scenic design and even more flashy dancing than the 2005 Broadway original.

Featuring an absolutely hilarious book by Eric Idle, sing-alongable songs by John Du Pres, Idle, and Neil Innes, and showcase roles for an octet of triple-threats, the 2023 revival version of the Broadway musical adaptation of the 1975 cult movie classic Monty Python And The Holy Grail is quite literally in a class by itself.

Like the film from which it is “lovingly ripped off,” Spamalot takes us back to the days of King Arthur (Major Attaway) and his quest for The Holy Grail, accompanied by Knights of the Round Table Sir Bedevere (Ellis C. Dawson III), Sir Lancelot (Chris Collins-Pisano), Sir Robin (Sean Bell), and Sir Galahad (Leo Roberts), and by his ever faithful, coconut-clopping servant Patsy (Blake Segal).

Monty Python fans will get a special kick out of seeing brought to song-and-dance life many of the classic comedy sequences that have made “… And The Holy Grail” a hit for more than five decades, but you don’t have to have seen the movie to relish the terrifying-yet-hilarious Knights Who Say Ni (led by Knight Of Ni Collins-Pisano) or the Franglais insults launched on Arthur by an obnoxious “French Taunter” (Collins-Pisano again) or Arthur’s battle with a Black Knight (Roberts) who ends up about as limbless as a man can get without saying “uncle,” or the Knights’ ill-fated attempt to sneak into said castle using a Trojan Rabbit.

Added to these are musical numbers like “He Is Not Dead Yet,” sung by a particularly insistent Not Dead Fred (Steven Telsey); “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” (borrowed from Monty Python’s Life Of Brian); and a pair of affectionate Mel Brooksian jabs, one at the Chosen People (“You Won’t Succeed on Broadway (If You Don’t Have Any Jews)” and the other at the Fabulous Ones (“His Name Is Lancelot”), the latter showcasing Sir Prance-a-lot in Peter Allen mode.

New to the mix is the divalicious Lady Of The Lake (Amanda Robles), whose duet with Roberts’s Galahad of “The Song That Goes Like This” spoofs every Broadway power ballad ever written (and The Phantom Of The Opera in the bargain), as does “Find Your Grail” to every single rousing anthem ever sung on a Broadway stage.

 And speaking of show-stoppers, they don’t come any more show-stopping than “The Diva’s Lament (Whatever Happened To My Part?).”

Director-choreographer Josh Rhodes accomplishes in this revival Spamalot what it took two men (director Mike Nichols and choreographer Casey Nicholaw) to do in the 2005 original, adding flourishes of his own while retaining the Jerome Robbins bottle-dance-spoofing “You Won’t Succeed On Broadway,” the Vegas-style “Knights Of The Round Table,” and the gayer-than-gay “His Name Is Lancelot” to showstopping effect.

Other than Attaway (bursting with zest as Camelot’s King Arthur) and Robles (doing the most dazzling of vocal pyrotechnics as Lady Of The Lake), the entire cast play multiple roles each, and that includes Collins-Pisano’s show-stopping caterpillar-about-to-turn-butterfly Lancelot, his saucy French Taunter, and his théâtre-de-l’absurdish Knight Of Ni; Bell, showing off versatility chops as the not-so-brave Sir Robin and the snootiest of palace guards; Roberts, full-of-himself and fabulous as a Prince Valiant-tressed Galahad and as a Black Knight who won’t let a missing limb or two or three or four get him down; a deliciously droll Segal as the most faithful and (as far as his master is concerned) invisible of sidekicks since Sancho Panza attended Don Quijote; Dawson as both a delightfully dim Sir Bevedere and the battleaxe peasant who gave birth to Sir Galahad, né Dennis, in signature Monty Python drag; and multitasker extraordinaire Telsey as (among others) a stuffy Historian, a hilariously Not Dead Fred, a flamboyant French Guard, a near-naked puppeteer, and the most winsome of Prince Herberts.

Song-and-dance dynamos Lindsay Lee Alhady, Delaney Benson, Connor Coughlin, L’ogan J’ones, Graham Keen, Claire Kennard, Ben Lanham, Nathaniel Mahone, and Meridien Terrell wow throughout as Laker Girls (and Boys), Knights, Monks, Nuns, Guards, Camelot Girls, Minstrels, and a village of Finns.

Spamalot’s Broadway revival takes full advantage of advancements in projection design that allow scenic and projection designer Paul Tate dePoo III’s to double the dazzle of the 2005 original and the many regional productions that have followed.

 Jen Caprio’s costumes, Cory Pattak’s lighting, and Tom Watson’s hair and wig designs only add to the overall pizzazz, and with musical director Jonathan W. Gorst at the baton and Kai Harada and Haley Parcher providing an expert sound design mix of vocals, instrumentals, and effects, Spamalot at the Pantages sounds every bit as fabulous.

Associate director Derek Kolluri and associate choreographer Michael Fatica keep Spamalot’s 2025-2026 National Tour in tiptop shape, with a quartet of swings (assistant dance captain Jack Brewer, Maddie Mossner, dance captain Emilie Renier, and Mark Tran Russ) poised to step into major roles and featured tracks at a moment’s notice.

With its blend of traditional musical theater conventions and off-the-wall madness, Monty Python’s Spamalot is that rarity among Broadway shows, one that musical theater naysayers will enjoy every bit as much as out-and-proud Theater Queens. Simply put, this spectacularly revived Spamalot is the most sensational musical comedy treat in town.

Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles.
www.broadwayla.org

–Steven Stanley
March 25, 2026
Photos: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Broadway In Hollywood, Eric Idle, Los Angeles Theater Review, Monty Python, Pantages Theatre