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Spamalot is great fun, though a badly fractured second act is almost a letdown. The inimitable Python film "...and the Holy Grail" has been transformed into broad slapstick on Broadway with extended music, etc by Eric Idle, and stuffed with visual humor by director Mike Nichols.

The good news, for Python fans, is that the critical scenes of dialogue translate quite well to the stage. In fact, hard to believe, a few, such as the "French Taunting" are actually better than in the film -- by the end of the taunting, the actors had the audience totally cracked up, a more effusive response than the filmed version has ever gotten. And for a good reason....the actors do their jobs well and are able to draw on the audiences' energy to build up the comedic potential far more than the static film could ever hope to do.

Another case in point:  The King of Swamp Castle's instructions to the guards is sheer Abbot & Costello (or Morcomb&Wise for the Brits) tomfoolery, that shoudln't really work at all. But, again given good performances (in this case helped out by David Hyde Pierce, as Guard  #1) and the ability to adjust the timing to the responses, the audience was rolling in the aisles laughing.

Unfortunately, by the second act, things get to be a bit dumbed-down - there's an unfunny song-and-dance as Sir Lancelot is outed (definitely not from the film) and the ending, rather than being an in-joke about film-making itself, revolves around the particular needs of getting the musical itself onto Broadway (where certain ethnic groups must be courted).

But all in all, great fun, and a surprisingly successful translation. (And the Playbill cast-list includes the complete cast and production info for the Finnish Moosical "Dik Od Triannenen Fol").