By Dean Johnson
Thursday, October 16, 2003
If you've always wanted to see legendary British troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus, you better head to the Orpheum on Sunday to take in member Eric Idle's touring solo show.
It's the closest thing to a Python gig you're going to get.
``They won't actually do anything anymore,'' Idle said about the rest of the group's surviving members. ``John (Cleese) doesn't want to do much. Michael (Palin) doesn't want to, either. I tried to get them to do a stage show, but they're just not interested. I'm the only one who wants to perform live.''
That's because performing in front of an audience has always been an Idle favorite. ``I enjoy performing,'' he said. ``It's what I've always done. The reason I went into show business was to write comedy and then perform it. I didn't want to be a movie actor. This is very familiar ground to me.''
The production he'll bring to Boston ``is about what I do and me,'' he said. ``There are bits of Monty Python and Beyond the Fringe, and also some of the stand-up things I do. I also play some songs,'' and he threatened to include a raucous sing-along.
``I spent a couple of months writing this, and it changes every day,'' Idle said.
He reckoned a little more than half the show is new material.
``It's still living and growing, a combination of what I want to do and what people expect,'' Idle said. ``You have to do `Nudge, Nudge,' and a few of the Python things. It's interesting that people seem to prefer to see things they know, which is bizarre to me.''
Boston has been good to Idle through the years, so much so that he revealed, ``I've actually been adapting `Monty Python and the Holy Grail' for a musical, and Boston is one of the places we might open it.''
He's already written the book and a batch of songs for the project, with the working title ``Spamalot.''
``You have to try to make the thing feel like the movie but also give a theatrical shape to it,'' he said, ``with a beginning, a middle and an end. We've had a reading, and it read very well. It's very funny material.''
Idle is looking for ``Spamalot'' to open on Broadway in early 2005. The Black Knight will be in the play, as will the Sir Robin song and new ditties about subjects ranging from spanking to, well, flatulence . . . and probably some other equally classy things, too.
When asked if he was inspired by ``The Producers,'' another cult comedy that was converted into a smash musical, Idle said he'd begun work on ``Spamalot'' before ``The Producers'' opened.
``But when I went to the opening,'' he said, ``I realized the genius of `The Producers' is the direction. It's so witty in the direction.
``The show is not about Nathan Lane. It can be played by good people and still work, and I realized `Grail' isn't about John Cleese and Michael Palin. Other good people can play those parts and be funny.
``It can always go wrong,'' Idle said. ``But I think it's an exciting project to work on.''
And he won't even need any horses, just coconuts.
