Fresh from its $1million a week success in America, the Monty Python musical Spamalot charged into town today as tickets for the West End production went on sale.
English stars Tim Curry and Simon Russell Beale, who have both played King Arthur on Broadway, will reprise the role for the London show, which opens in October.
Inspired by the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Spamalot will be staged at the Palace Theatre, where Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman In White closes on Saturday.
Former Python star Eric Idle cowrote the musical with John Du Prez. Idle announced today that Curry will open the show as Arthur, with Russell Beale stepping into the part in January - a replay of what happened in the US.
Spamalot won more best musical awards than any other New York show last year, including a Tony. Its Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols, who also bagged a Tony, said today that he hopes for the same level of success in London.
"You can only tell when you put a show on in front of an audience what the response will be like but it would be fantastic if Spamalot gets the same reception in the West End that it's got on Broadway," said Nichols, whose films include The Graduate and Working Girl.
"Spamalot is an ineradicably funny musical. Directing it is a joy. All we do is laugh. Usually that's a lie because putting on a musical is an agonising thing but in this case it's true."
He revealed that Idle had long wanted to create a Broadway musical and originally hoped to base one on Mel Brooks's film The Producers - now a smash hit stage show in its own right - but Brooks turned down the idea.
Curry's stint as Arthur will be his first on the London stage for 20 years. Russell Beale, a triple winner of the Evening Standard best actor award, will step in after he finishes at the National Theatre in The Life Of Galileo and The Alchemist. The New York Observer has hailed Russell Beale "King of Broadway".
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Joining the dancing divas, serfs and killer rabbits in the quest for the Holy Grail are West End musical performer Hannah Waddingham as The Lady of the Lake and Tom Goodman-Hill as Sir Lancelot.
Spamalot is at the Palace Theatre from 2 October. See tonight's Evening Standard for ticket details.
