3:11pm Friday 19th March 2010
By Charles Hutchinson
CITY Screen, York, will present a digital screening of Eric Idle and John Du Prez’s comedic oratorio Not The Messiah (He’s A Very Naughty Boy) for one night only on Thursday at 8.45pm.
Inspired by Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, the show was filmed last October at its only European performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an event held to celebrate 40 years of Python.
Led by Eric Idle, this humorous take on Handel’s oratorio, Messiah, features guest appearances by fellow Pythons Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam and contributors Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes.
Idle is joined by soloists William Ferguson, as Brian, Shannon Mercer, as Judith, Rosalind Plowright, as Mandy, and Christopher Purves, as Reg, who perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by John Du Prez... and three sheep.
“It’s rare you get to be silly on a mass scale,” says Idle.
“Not The Messiah tells the tragic tale of Mandy, impregnated by a Roman soldier, giving birth to Brian, a reluctant revolutionary who falls in love with Judith, gets mistaken for a Messiah and is condemned to death.
“It ranges in reference from Handel, through a naughty Mozart duet, to the Festival of Nine Carols, Bob Dylan, and the classic finale, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.”
Idle and Du Prez, incidentally, were the co-creators of the musical Spamalot.
• Box office: 0871 704 2054
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