Will the Pythons Ride Again?

This week’s Broadway opening of Monty Python’s Spamalot–Eric Idle’s musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail–won’t just mark the arrival of an all but certain Broadway hit. It will also be the occasion for a rare Python reunion. Along with Idle, all four other living members of the British comedy troupe (Graham Chapman died in 1989) will be in New York City for the show’s opening. And at least some in the group think that might provide the spark for a new Python project.

Just getting Spamalot onstage required some unusual cooperation. All the Pythons must approve any project that uses the group’s name or material–and they have turned down plenty. In 1998, after the troupe met for a tribute at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., Idle and Cleese began work on a Python stage show. But Terry Gilliam was too busy with his own films, and Michael Palin vetoed the idea. “Mike felt that we all look so much older now, and it would look a bit sad,” says Terry Jones. Idle went off to develop Spamalot on his own. By the time it was finished several years later, the group had mellowed some. “There was a new generation who wanted to see more,” says Palin. “So we relaxed the rules a bit and said, ‘What the heck?'” Idle at least could be trusted to protect the hallowed name. “We felt that if somebody was going to rip us off,” says Gilliam, “it might as well be one of us.”

This week’s reunion could get talk started again about a new Python film or stage show. “The trick is trying to get us all together these days,” says Gilliam. “But we do get all excited when we get together. Ideas fly around, and we feel the old magic is still there.” –By Richard Zoglin and James Inverne