Spamalot - Production History - West End and UK Tour

West End and UK Tour

A London production opened at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End, commencing 30 September 2006 (London première 17 October) with tickets on sale booking to November 2008. Curry reprised his Broadway role as King Arthur until December, with Beale taking over from January. Sieber also reprised his role as Sir Galahad before leaving in early 2007, replaced by Graham McDuff. Hannah Waddingham was cast as the Lady of the Lake, Tom Goodman-Hill as Sir Lancelot, Robert Hands as Sir Robin, David Birell as Patsy, Tony Timberlake as Sir Bedevere and Darren Southworth as Prince Herbert. Notable cast replacements have included Peter Davison and Bill Ward in 2007 and, briefly, Marin Mazzie, in early 2008. Sanjeev Bhaskar took over from Alan Dale as the last King Arthur (23 June 2008 onwards). The London production closed on 3 January 2009.

A UK tour scheduled for later in 2009 was initially postponed, the producers commenting "Due to unforeseen circumstances the UK Tour of Spamalot will not be taking place as scheduled in 2009", but eventually started at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 29 May - 5 June 2010 and Nottingham Theatre Royal on 7–12 June 2010. The tour is scheduled to run until June 2011 at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. The production travelled to Trieste's Politeama Rossetti marking on 24 May 2011 the official opening of the show in Italy.

Phill Jupitus plays King Arthur in the current UK tour. Todd Carty plays Patsy, assistant to King Arthur for the duration of the tour. He is due to finish the tour after performing at Wycombe Swan theatre. Marcus Brigstocke will be making his musical theatre debut as King Arthur for a limited engagement. When the show returned to the West End for seven weeks, Jon Culshaw filled in as King Arthur for three of the weeks, with Brigstocke performing on the other weeks. Jodie Prenger, Hayley Tamaddon, and Amy Nuttall share the role of The Lady of the Lake. The tour also features Simon Lipkin as Sir Galahad, Graham McDuff as Sir Lancelot, David Lingham as Prince Herbert, Samuel Holmes as Sir Robin, and Robin Armstrong as Sir Bedevere.

The UK tour also features for the first time a re-working of the song "You won't succeed on Broadway" which has been renamed "You won't succeed in showbiz". The theme of the song has been changed from poking fun at the need for Jewish input into Broadway productions and instead mocks the cross over of celebrities in musicals and reality television competitions such as the X Factor. It notably pokes fun at reality TV celebrities including Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Susan Boyle (who is shot by Sir Robin when she begins to sing).

UK Casts: