SPAMALOT Plays NJPAC 3/29-4/3

Monty Python's Spamalot, the outrageous musical comedy lovingly "ripped-off" from the beloved motion picture, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, comes to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Prudential Hall for eight performances from March 29th to April 3rd. Spamalot tells the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as never before, with everything from a chorus line of dancing divas to flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight.

Monty Python's Spamalot opens at NJPAC at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29th and continues Wednesday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 31 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, April 2 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices range from $24 to $100 and may be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), by visiting the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or online at www.njpac.org. Monty Python's Spamalot is made possible in part by Cadillac, TDBank, New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Discover Jersey Arts. It is the second production to come out of NJPAC's Broadway series partnership with New York-based Nederlander Organization.

The cast includes West Milford native Matt Ban, who will be returning to NJPAC in this professional tour four years after training in NJPAC's 2006 summer musical theater production of 'Ragtime,' a collaboration with the New Jersey Youth Theatre. In Spamalot, Ban plays Sir Bedevere, one of the knights of the roundtable.

Monty Python's Spamalot is the winner of three 2005 Tony Awards(r) including Best Musical and Best Director (Mike Nichols), as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. The original Broadway cast recording won the 2006 Grammy Award(r) for Best Musical Show Album.

This production is based on Nichols' direction and the choreography of Casey Nicholaw. Monty Python's Spamalot features a book by Eric Idle, based on the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with music and lyrics by the Grammy Award(r)-winning team of Mr. Idle and John Du Prez.

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 recently 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 followed up Monty Python's Spamalot with another smash hit Broadway musical, 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 recently published by Harper Collins, and his long awaited sequel The Rutles2: Can't Buy Me Lunch was released by Warner Video in March. There's no saying what he might do next...

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

For more information, go to www.MontyPythonsSpamalot.com.

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