Formed in 1969, Monty Python changed the face of British comedy. All these years on, the group still has a devoted following. Before the start of Drew Anthony’s production of Spamalot, various clips from the Pythons’ iconic TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and their various films, including The Life of Brian, are shown on an on-stage screen. The people behind me pre-empted every line.

Spamalot will doubtless appeal to dedicated fans like these. For everyone else, the show has a lot less to offer, 20 years since its premiere.

Stephen Curry and Jamie Rolton in Spamalot. Photo © Ben Fon

Despite winning the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical and running on Broadway for over three years, Spamalot was never a traditional musical in the first place. Billed in the past as a musical for people who don’t like musicals, it feels more like a sketch comedy crossed with a medieval spoof crossed with an undergrad show.

Subtitled “A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail” – which was released in 1975 – Spamalot features book and lyrics by former Python Eric Idle, who also co-wrote the derivative but perky music with John Du Prez. Idle also appears on screen as God.

Spamalot is an unashamedly ridiculous retelling of the legend of King Arthur searching for the Holy Grail with his Knights of the Round Table. As in the film, we encounter a plague victim who insists he is not yet dead; lewd, flatulent French soldiers; a killer rabbit; the Knights who say “Ni”; the Black Knight who insists that losing an arm is “but a scratch”,  and plenty of chorus girls. Meanwhile, the expanded role of The Lady of the Lake allows the show to poke fun at the musical theatre genre.

The Knights of the Round Table in Spamalot. Photo © Ben Fon

Two decades on, much of the comedy is dated, and some of it now feels tone deaf – You Won’t Survive on Broadway (If  You Don’t Have Any Jews), for example. The satire has lost its sharpness and many of the scenes fall flat, despite the cast giving it their all. The limited production budget doesn’t help.

Drew Anthony produces and directs the show, which arrives in Sydney after a short, sold-out Melbourne season. In his producer’s note in the program, he writes that “like the film our production uses deliberately cheap props”. The staging certainly looks cheap and cheerful, but does what it needs to do. There are two wobbly, cardboard-looking castle towers on either side of the stage, but most of the scenic elements (as well as The Black Knight) are evoked with a range of projections produced by Travis Badge at Aquixel.

On top of the modest staging, the music is pre-recorded.

The biggest applause of the night was for the song Always Look On the Bright Side of Life, which has been shoehorned into the show.

Still, the cast do as much as they can with the material they’ve got. Stephen Curry is an amusing, nonchalant, low-key King Arthur. Jamie Rolton (who co-choreographs the production with Suzi Rolton) gives a sweet performance as Arthur’s servant Patsy, who claps coconut shells together to mimic a horse.

Ethan Jones as Herbert, Jesse Vasiliadis as Sir Lancelot and cast members of Spamalot. Photo © Ben Fon

Marney McQueen unleashes impressive vocals and a diva-like presence as The Lady of the Lake, finding the humour in The Song That Goes Like This (sung with Sir Galahad) and Diva’s Lament (What Ever Happened to My Part?).

Among the all-singing, all-dancing Knights, Gareth Isaac is a goofy, pants-wetting, Broadway-loving Sir Robin and Ethan Jones shines as socialist peasant Dennis, who becomes Sir Galahad. Jones also plays the Rapunzel-like Herbert, who is rescued from a tower and then squired by Sir Lancelot played by Jesse Vasiliadis, while Noah Skape plays Sir Bedevere.

Despite their efforts, Spamalot fails to fire – though many in the audience seemed delighted to be able to revisit their love of Monty Python comedy once more.

Spamalot plays at the Sydney Event Centre, Star City until 18 October; and at the Coliseum Theatre, Western Sydney, 22–25 October.