The musical was quite a party when it hit Broadway a decade ago in a production directed by Mike Nichols. It won three Tony Awards out of 14 nominations, including one for Best Musical. The initial run of 1,500 performances grossed more than $175 million. Not bad for a production that most Python members ducked. Python Eric Idle was the force behind Spamalot, writing the book and lyrics to John De Prez's music.

While Spamalot takes a number of skits from the movie, the heart of the musical is in the new material, particularly the musical numbers—and it's almost all musical numbers, with more than 20 altogether.

The show opens with a one-two punch. We hear the recorded voice of Python John Cleese (Idle appears later as the recorded voice of God) urging audience members to "Let your cellphones and pagers ring willy-nilly!" Then the narrator introduces dancing representatives from England. What we get is a group of Finnish villagers paired off in a dance where the men and women slap each other's faces with fish, all overseen by the Mayor. The narrator stops the exuberant "Fisch Schlapping Song," saying, "I meant England, not Finland!" The dancers pack it up, and the roller coaster is set in motion—the stupider it gets, the funnier it gets.

Spamalot is a play on Camelot, King Arthur's court of medieval England. The name also comes from a line in the movie, "We eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot." King Arthur (a solid Joshua Terrazas) is the star of the musical and film. He is wandering the English countryside trying—unsuccessfully—to raise an army. His subjects view him skeptically. Nobody knows who he is, and most are surprised to discover England has a king. That's all you need to know about the plot. It's all joyful nonsense.

Henry Avery, as usual, delivers a strong production from end to end. Clearly this bunch had a lot of fun. It's hard to mention standouts, since it is a balanced group effort. But here goes: kudos to Terrazas as Arthur, Paul Ashby as Patsy, Tasha X. Waters as The Lady of the Lake, Nicholas Handley as Sir Lancelot, and the always wonderful Art Tedesco as Mayor of Finland and a bunch of other roles. Terrific cast throughout. They well earned their opening-night standing ovation. The product crew does a fine job. Wonderful lighting by Ryan Jason Cook, nice choreography by Peter Bennett, and another fine stage by Vic Browder.

Spamalot, book and lyrics by Eric Idle and music by John Du Prez, will run at Albuquerque Little Theatre, 224 San Pasquale SW, through June 14, 2015. The show starts at 7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2:00 pm on Sundays. On Thursday, June 4, there will be a 7:30 pm performance. Tickets are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors (65 and above), $18 for students (13 to college), and $12 for children (12 and under). You can buy tickets online at albuquerquelittletheatre.org or by phone at 242-4750, ext. 2.

Photo: Randy Talley

--Rob Spiegel