Monty Python will celebrate its Ruby Jubilee later this year on stage, in print and on television in London, Hollywood and in New York. As well as performances of An Evening with Without Monty Python at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre (23 September - 4 October) and at the Town Hall New York (6 - 10 October), the publication of a new book, Monty Python Live! and a new 6 part documentary series - Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) scheduled for transmission on October, London will host, for one night only on Friday 23 October 2009, the European premiere of Eric Idle and John Du Prez's Not The Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall.
Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)
Starring
Eric Idle (baritonish) with guest appearances from fellow Pythons
Michael Palin,
Terry Jones &
Terry Gilliam and
Carol Cleveland & Neil Innes, Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), will feature
William Ferguson (Brian) Shannon Mercer (Judith), Rosalind Plowright (Mandy), Christopher Purves (Reg) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by
John Du Prez.
Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) is a comedic oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian. It is a night of baroque 'n' roll on a grand scale, with a full orchestra, massed choir, bagpipers and classical soloists, all hosted by
Michael Palin as Mrs. Betty Parkinson, with
Eric Idle as a 'baritonish' soloist - reprising some of the best-loved roles from the film, including Mr. Cheeky and Stan the Revolutionary who wants to be called Loretta.
Eric Idle said: "It is rare you get to be silly on a mass scale. This work was commissioned by the Toronto Luminato Festival in 2007 where it was conducted by my cousin Peter Oundjian with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It was performed later that year in Australia and New Zealand, including two sell-out nights at The Sydney Opera House, and last year at the
Wolf Trap to 7,000 with the Washington Symphony, in Houston with the Houston Symphony, culminating in two nights at The Hollywood Bowl (to 19,000 people) with the LA Philharmonic and fireworks. It tells the tragic tale of Mandy, impregnated by a Roman soldier, giving birth to Brian, a reluctant revolutionary who falls in love with Judith, gets mistaken for a Messiah and is condemned to death. It ranges in reference from Handel, through a naughty Mozart duet, to the Festival of Nine Carols,
Bob Dylan, and the classic finale Always Look On The Bright Side of Life."
Monty Python's Flying Circus first aired on the BBC on October 5, 1969. The television series, originally broadcast from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by
Graham Chapman,
John Cleese,
Terry Gilliam,
Eric Idle,
Terry Jones and
Michael Palin. After the immense popularity of the television series, Monty Python continued it global domination with three films, stage tours, numerous albums, books and a stage musical, launching the members to individual stardom.
Eric Idle has multi-hyphenated his way through life assiduously avoiding a proper job, from being a writer and actor in the semi- legendary Monty Python TV series and movies, to the creator and director of The Rutles, the Pre-Fab Four, whose legend will last a lunchtime. He has appeared on stage in drag singing rude songs at
Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl as well as performing in two highly successful US tours,
Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python (2000) and The Greedy Bastard Tour (2003), for which he journeyed 15,000 miles across North America in a bus. His Greedy Bastard Diary of that tour is published in the UK by Orion. As well as appearing in several movies, including Nuns on The Run, Casper and Shrek the Third, his play Pass the Butler ran for five months at
The Globe Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue in London's West End; he has written two novels, Hello Sailor and The Road to Mars, a children's book, The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat, and a bedside companion, The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge where he was President of The Footlights, admitting women to full membership for the first time. He had his own TV Show Rutland Weekend Television on BBC2 in the seventies, appeared in The Mikado at the
English National Opera in the eighties and his song Always Look on the Bright Side went to Number one in the UK in the nineties. He has since been hiding in California with his wife Tania and daughter Lily. He has a son Carey by former wife Lynn Ashley.
Eric Idle's multi award-winning Spamalot, which has been performed across the Globe, completed a hugely successful 2 year run at the Palace Theatre earlier this year. Last year Idle, accompanied by John de Prez, performed a ‘Royal' version of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, as the grand finale for the Royal Variety Show with the English National Ballet and the Rifle Regiment Pipe Band.
John Du Prez entered the film industry in 1978 composing additional music for Monty Python's Life of Brian. This began a long association with Monty Python leading eventually to his current writing partnership with
Eric Idle. He has scored more than 20 feature films including The Meaning of Life, A Private Function, A Fish Called Wanda, Once Bitten, UHF and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I, II and III. Other Python projects include the Contractual Obligation Album, Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl and The Fairly Incomplete & Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book. He was Musical Director for
Eric Idle's two North American stage tours,
Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python (2000) and The Greedy Bastard Tour (2003) and will be Musical Director for An Evening with Without Monty Python this September. He composed the original music for Spamalot with
Eric Idle in 2002 that went on to earn them the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Original Broadway Cast Album. He composed the music for Not The Messiah between May 2006 and June 2007 in France, Ireland, London, Portugal and Los Angeles. With the exception of the 2007 Toronto and US Premieres, he has conducted all performances of Not The Messiah including Australia, New Zealand and in the US, the Houston Symphony, National Orchestra of America and the Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts. He divides his time between Los Angeles and England.
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP
23 October 2009 at 8pm
Box Office: 020 7589 8212
Tickets £19.50 to £140.00
For more information on all the 40th Anniversary events visit
www.royalalberthall.com or
www.PythOnline.com.
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