John Cleese was reunited with Monty Python co-stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam on Wednesday, and all three were ready for a Spanish inquisition as Fawlty Towers The Play launched in London’s West End.
Palin and Gilliam were on hand to support their old friend as the beloved show he devised with ex-wife Connie Booth enjoyed a successful press night at the Apollo.
But there was no Eric Idle following a dispute with his former co-stars over Monty Python’s dwindling fortunes.
Idle – who was among the six original stars from the hit comedy sketch series – revealed he was still working aged 80 after only receiving £2,000 per series from the BBC show.
The comedian has blamed mismanagement of Monty Python’s funds for his financial downfall – and has taken shots at his co-star Gilliam, now successful filmmaker in his own right.
John Cleese was reunited with Monty Python co-stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam on Wednesday, and all three were ready for a Spanish inquisition as Fawlty Towers The Play launched in London’s West End.
The former co-stars gathered for an embrace as they posed for photos onstage at the venue
The comedy icons were on hand to greet fans outside the venue, where celebrity guests gave the critically acclaimed production a thunderous round of applause.
Cleese, 84, was seen climbing into the rear of a waiting car after attending the event with wife Jennifer Wade, 52, and her father.
Meanwhile Gilliam, 83, signed autographs for those waiting outside the stage doors following Wednesday’s show.
Elsewhere Penny Lancaster appeared to be in high spirits as she left the theatre hand-in-hand with her brother, Oliver, during a rare night out without husband Sir Rod Stewart.
Fawlty Towers has come to the stage nearly 50 years after it became one of Britain’s best-loved sitcoms.
The original series, which ran from 1975 to 1979, followed inept hotel manager Basil Fawlty, played by Cleese, as he tried to keep his hotel and marriage afloat.
The writer and creator has used material from three episodes of the series – The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems.
John said it was a ‘thrill’ to bring the show to the stage for the first time.
Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Arlene Phillips joined the three stars onstage
Gilliam’s daughter Holly Dubois (far left) embraced Cleese as they gathered at the Apollo
Cleese was seen leaving London’s Apollo Theatre on Wednesday evening following the Fawlty Towers press night
Meanwhile Gilliam signed autographs for those waiting outside the stage doors following Wednesday’s show
Penny Lancaster appeared to be in high spirits after attending the star-studded event
Vanessa Feltz gave onlookers a wave as she made her way home after attending the launch
He has adapted the three episodes to write ‘one huge finale’ which will tie them all together.
The strikingly similar-looking West End cast includes Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil Fawlty, Anna-Jane Casey as his wife Sybil, Hemi Yeroham as waiter Manuel and Victoria Fox as Polly, the chambermaid.
Fawlty Towers, which premiered in the seventies, is set in a hotel in the seaside town of Torquay. Basil Fawlty is the irritable owner of the hotel, who was often rude to demanding guests.
Basil is constantly berated by his wife, Sybil, portrayed by Prunella Scales, and he also had a number of comedic run-ins with their Spanish waiter Manuel, who was played by Andrew Sachs.
The play will follow Basil as he attempts to ingratiate himself with guests he suspects are posing as hotel inspectors.
Fawlty Towers was awarded many plaudits, including two Bafta awards for best situation comedy.
Cleese with his wife Connie who played Polly in the original BBC show. The pair divorced in 1978 but there are rumour Booth will be sneaking into the West End revival
The cast acknowledged guests at Wednesday evening’s press night performance of the play
Anna-Jane Casey gave a curtsy while receiving a round of applause following the production
(L to R) Anna-Jane Casey, Adam Jackson Smith, Nizar El Hachem, Victoria Fox, John Cleese and Paul Nicholas
In 2019, the show was named the greatest British sitcom of all time by a panel of television experts for the Radio Times magazine.
The sitcom was based on real life hotel owner, Donald Sinclair, and Cleese was given the idea when he stayed at Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay.
The original episode, The Germans, was removed off some broadcast platforms for a period of time due to the use of racial slurs, following the Black Lives Matter protests.
However, it returned and was reinstated with a warning about ‘offensive content and language’.
Cleese co-wrote the original series with Connie Booth, who was then his wife. She also starred in Fawlty Towers as Polly.
Fawlty Towers The Play Review: Shamelessly recycled it may be, but this is a fine reproduction of a vintage antique… it’s as if time stood still, writes PATRICK MARMION
Shamelessly recycled, fifty-year-old comic material it may be. But as shamelessly recycled 50-year-old comic material goes, John Cleese and Connie Booth’s stage replica of their classic TV comedy, Fawlty Towers, is still very good fun.
It’s such a high-quality copy of the 1975 original that if you look closely, you might even find it says ‘Made In China’ on the bottom. Fawlty Towers purists will be relieved to learn there is nothing new to see here.
Instead, this is a tightly wrought highlights package, distilling the fire drill fiasco, the wall-mounted moose debacle, and the fateful fiver secretly bet on the horse Dragonfly.
Into the carefully choreographed chaos step deaf old battleaxe Mrs Richards (a peerlessly contemptuous Rachel Izen), undercover hotel inspectors and many others, including… the Germans.
Being live adds frisson, but this is a risk-free re-run unthreatened by ‘new material’. Caroline Jay Ranger’s production offers her company all the creative freedom that Kim Jong Un grants the people of North Korea.
It’s shamelessly recycled, but John Cleese and Connie Booth’s stage replica of their classic TV comedy, Fawlty Towers, is still very good fun
It’s such a high-quality copy of the 1975 original that if you look closely, you might even find it says ‘Made In China ’ on the bottom
And Liz Ashcroft’s staging distils the chintzy Torquay hotel into an open plan design faux pas — from lobby with flock wallpaper and dining room with lacy tablecloths, to upstairs bedroom sans sea view.
Adam Jackson-Smith is a faultless avatar of Basil, down to the long moustache muffling his sotto voce sarcasm. He leaps adroitly to attention at Sybil’s shrieking threats to his manhood (‘you’ll have to sew them back on first…’), but he’s also supple enough to do the swivelling, head-bandaged goose step for the bewildered Germans.
Anna-Jane Casey’s Sybil is likewise a Prunella Scales carbon copy, while Hemi Yeroham has the exact rubber-ball bounce of Andrew Sachs’s waiter from Barcelona, Manuel. Victoria Fox has the swimming head movements and mid-Atlantic accent of Connie Booth’s Polly, and Paul Nichols is as blissfully oblivious as Ballard Berkeley’s mystified Major.
It’s as if time has stood still for this fine reproduction of a vintage mid-century antique. I suggest you book an en suite.
It’s as if time has stood still for this fine reproduction of a vintage mid-century antique. I suggest you book an en suite
