‘Spamalot’ reaching for ‘Holy Grail’

Reviews of the Chicago tryout of the upcoming Broadway musical “Monty Python’s Spamalot” are encouraging but not at the level of raves.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the Eric Idle/John Du Prez show, adapted from the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “hits and misses for much of its first act but ultimately makes it home on sheer comic goodwill.”

Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times credited director Mike Nichols “for the speed and sureness and high gloss and masterful deployment of the impeccably cast actors.”

Chris Jones of Variety wrote that the show “has sufficient laughs and enough genuinely inspired theatrical silliness to ensure boffo Broadway returns and, no doubt, a long Vegas retirement,” though he urged the production to “toughen it up, tighten it up and free a trio of leads clearly terrified of the ghosts of Python past” before it goes to Broadway. The production stars Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria.