Courtesy A line of knights breaks out in song in a scene from Monty Python’s ‘Spamalot.’

“There’s nothing wrong with a good flatulence joke,” Gary Beach likes to say when talking about “Spamalot.” And the theater critics must agree: The irreverent musical comedy won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005. The show is based on the 1975 movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which in turn is based on the legend of King Arthur.

Beach — who won his own Tony for his role as Roger DeBris in “The Producers” — stars as King Arthur in “Spamalot,” which hits the Majestic Theatre as part of the Broadway Across America series. He spoke to 210SA by phone from Minneapolis about the production.

Were you a Monty Python fan before you joined the show?

Not as much as I am now. I love it now. It’s so much fun to perform this material. And the audience response is tremendous, so it really is fun. People do look forward to seeing the show. It has an incredible following.

Why is that?

For a lot of people, it’s a part of their youth, you know? Watching it on television, seeing the movies. It’s held in a very, very esteemed place for a lot of people.

There’s a great sense of rebellion in this comedy. And like a lot of good comedy, there’s a sense of anarchy. You’re constantly overturning the royals. The paupers on stage are the ones with the real thoughts. King Arthur is a little duped, totally befuddled. I’m Not Dead Yet (Not Dead Fred), the Black Knight, Tim the Enchanter, all of those characters are in the show and they actually rule the day. It’s my job to react to them. It’s situation, react.
Situation, react.

A lot of people call it English humor. I think it’s far more universal than English. It’s just funny. That’s all it is. It’s funny. The question I get a lot is, “Am I going to get it?” Do you know Python?

Yeah, that was going to be my next question. I’ve seen ‘Holy Grail’ but I don’t have it memorized or anything.

Oh, I see. You have a life (laughs). I know, those people exist and they love the show. But it’s not the kind of things where you have to bone up before you go see it. It’s a regular musical comedy. The plot is ice-thin. We don’t bang you over the head with anything. It’s about the characters. It’s character-driven. Like I say, if you like Python, you’ll love it.
 If you don’t know Python, you’ll get it.

Is it true that ‘Spamalot’ attracts a different audience from most Broadway musicals?

Here’s the difference: It attracts a large male audience and young male audience. And the way they can tell is at intermission, the line at the ladies’ room is miniscule (laughs).
 It’s the opposite from most Broadway shows. The line at the men’s room is down the hall.
It’s a very different kind of audience. And it also attracts people who don’t usually go see musical comedies. So that’s interesting to me. I don’t know if we’re really mining a brand-new audience. I don’t think they leave “Spamalot” and say “Hey, now let’s go see ‘Sweeney Todd,’.” you know (laughs). But we get them in there.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor