'Spamalot' U.S. tour set to end

NEW YORK, May 14 (UPI) -- The North American touring production of Monty Python's "Spamalot" is scheduled to close in Costa Mesa, Calif., Oct. 18, the musical's producers said Thursday.

The national tour will have played 1,408 performances in more than 101 separate engagements throughout the continent to an audience estimated at nearly 3.6 million people. The tour began in Boston in March 2006 and recouped its investment in less than nine months on the road.

By the time the tour ends, approximately 6.9 million people will have seen the medieval musical comedy on Broadway, in the West End, Las Vegas or Australia, or at one of the tour stops.

With a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez and direction by Mike Nichols, Monty Python's "Spamalot" is based on the screenplay of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" by Monty Python creators Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Representatives for the show said that throughout the tour: "3,000 pounds of confetti have been shot at the audience; 2,000 coconuts have been used in a feeble attempt to mimic the sound of horses' hooves; (and) not a single rabbit was harmed in the touring of the show -- though we tried."