Funnyman Joe Pasquale joins Spamalot for 6 weeks!
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London Theatre Direct
Joe Pasquale has been confirmed to star alongside returning Spamalot star Bonnie Langford for a limited six week run at the Playhouse Theatre. He will join the cast as King Arthur from the 17th June before embarking on his own nationwide tour, The Joe Pasquale Summer 2013 Tour from 1st August until 26th August. He will follow that with the starring role in the UK tour of Ha Ha Holmes! The Hound of the Baskervilles from 2nd September.
The Spamalot musical will mark the helium-voiced comedian's West End musical debut, although he has already trodden the boards in touring versions of Mel Brooks' 'The Producers', 'The Wizard of Oz' and Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.' His numerous live stand up shows included the 1996 £1 million selling tour 'Live and Squeaky.'
Pasquale and Langford actually starred alongside each other in Peter Pan thirteen years ago. After re-uniting on social networking medium Twitter, Joe went to watch Bonnie in Spamalot. She put the idea that he would make a great King Arthur to the show's producers and the wheels were put in motion that led to this upcoming tenure.
Pasquale said: "I've known Bonnie Langford since we worked together doing Peter Pan in 2000. The Spamalot Knights recently strong-armed Bonnie into joining twitter and she amassed over 1000 followers in her first week. When I saw she had joined up I sent her a message to welcome her as we'd lost touch for years. She invited me to see the show and I loved it so much that I went backstage afterwards to congratulate the cast. It was then that Bonnie said she thought I'd make a great King Arthur and the next thing that I knew, the show's producers spoke to my agent and it went from there very quickly. I'm now looking forward to a great summer of making audiences laugh at the Playhouse Theatre during six weeks filled with killer rabbits, flying cows and coconuts."
The funnyman will be stepping into shoes previously filled by Stephen Tompkinson, Jon Culshaw and Marcus Brigstocke, who have also played the role. Joe won the 2004 series of 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' and in last year's Dancing On Ice he surpassed his own expectations by lasting until round six of the competition.
Spamalot The Musical has been wowing both audiences and critics alike, which led to the show's current return to the West End. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Former Python Eric Idle has come up with a simpler, shorter and zingier version, which in Christopher Luscombe's fresh-as-paint production, recalls Monty Python's roots in undergraduate review. The lady sitting next to me spent most of the show physically helpless with laugher", while Magic 105.4 dubbed it "A lovely pudding of British silliness topped off with Eric Idle's hilarious songs!"
Spamalot Tickets at the Playhouse Theatre are on sale now