Monty Python's Spamalot

Those of us of a certain age, and with what Lisa Simpson once accurately tagged "nerdly tendencies," remember with inordinate fondness our first encounter with that spastic glory of a film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Hennepin Theatre Trust brings its Minneapolis debut here next week, in a show the New York Times' Ben Brantley called "resplendently silly" and possessing the virtues of "shrewd idiocy." Well, us critics like to break out the fancy terminology sometimes to describe simple pleasures, but suffice it to say that this musical take on King Arthur and the Holy Grail has been a massive hit everywhere it has traveled. And yes, it has the farting Frenchman and the knights who say "ni," for those of you who are wondering.
Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; First Sunday of every month, 1 & 6:30 p.m. Starts: May 27. Continues through June 1, 2008