Python show breaks Broadway records

Monty Python’s Spamalot has smashed box office records at a Broadway theatre.

The hit musical opened to critical acclaim in the US, and its popularity shows no signs waning.

It set a new house record at the Shubert Theatre in a week and has just been nominated for Best Musical of the 2004-2005 Season by the Drama League and the Outer Critics Circle (OCC).

The OCC is comprised of critics who cover New York theatre for out-of-town organisations and Spamalot has been nominated for eight awards at its 55th annual ceremony.

The production, a musical version of 1975 classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, opened at the Shubert on March 17 and is already sold out for months.

Eric Idle wrote it to bring new audiences to the theatre and is not shy about sending up Broadway institutions such as Andrew Lloyd Webber.

“The theatre’s become tedious and boring and dull,” the 62-year-old Python told US network CBS.

“(Lloyd Webber) has been about the musical for the last 25 years. He’s taken the comedy out of it. I think if you can laugh, have a song, laugh, have a song, that’s the most agreeable form of entertainment you can have in the theatre.”