The Spamalot Diaries

"If making comedy is hard, making a Broadway musical is even harder, as Eric Idle describes in The Spamalot Diaries, his chronicle of the creation of the hit musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Idle fills out his breezy, sly diary entries with emails to and from the creative team; talks about all the songs written, rewritten and dropped from the show; and includes some lyrics – even a song written to the melody of Ravel’s Boléro. Idle showers heaps of praise on the late Mike Nichols, the show’s Tony-winning director, even as he describes some of his insecurities. If you love Monty Python or Broadway musicals, this is an entertaining read."