Stars unveiled for Python musical

The Python team made the original Holy Grail film

A leading trio of actors are set to star in a Broadway-bound production of Monty Python's Spamalot musical.

Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it will star Frasier actor David Hyde Pierce, alongside Tim Curry and Simpsons star Hank Azaria.

Python star Eric Idle wrote the book for the musical, and collaborated on music and lyrics with John Du Prez.

Directed by Mike Nichols, the show will open in Chicago in December and preview on Broadway in February 2005.

It features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights in the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table and their quest for the holy grail.

Pierce, who was Dr Niles Crane in Frasier, will play the character Sir Robin. Curry, known for his part in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, will play King Arthur, while Azaria - the voice of Moe the bartender on The Simpsons - is Sir Lancelot.

Python members Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and John Cleese played the corresponding roles in the classic UK film comedy.

Idle's musical collaborator Du Prez has credits for film scores including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and A Fish Called Wanda.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was named by film fans as the best British picture of all time in a 2004 survey by the UK arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database.