I had the pleasure of introducing my youngest son to the delights of Monty Python via the National Tour of Spamalot, now onstage at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre. This is a kid who loves to laugh, but I wasn’t sure how well the material would hold up two generations after my uncles turned me on to the movie that inspired this show. (Monty Python truly owes a great debt to the fun uncles of the world.)

Never doubt the power of Python. The kid was overcome with a fit of joyous, gasping laughter as the silly French Guards taunted King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table from the top of their castle before catapulting a cow onto them. “Electric donkey bottom biters” was repeated many times on the walk to the car after what was a very fun night of musical theater, especially with this stellar touring cast.

Major Attaway plays the king with sometimes exasperated aplomb. He’s backed to the sword hilt by consistently funny performances from Leo Roberts (Sir Galahad, but please call him Dennis), Chris Collins-Pisano (a wild card among wild cards as Sir Lancelot), Blake Segal (the long-suffering Patsy, a maestro with the clip-clopping coconuts) and Sean Bell (the not-so-brave but always amusing Sir Robin, capable stand-in for the great Eric Idle, who wrote the book and lyrics and collaborated with John Du Prez on the music).

But the brilliant surprise of this production is Amanda Robles as the Lady of the Lake. Along with an impressive set of pipes, Robles displays wonderful comic timing that enables her to fit right in with the boys club vibe that permeates all things Python.

All the favorite movie bits are here, from the Knights Who Say Ni and the plague victim who’s “Not Dead Yet” to the standoff with the Black Knight and the encounter with the ultimate killing machine (“you mean behind the rabbit?”). It also smartly steals “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from The Life of Brian. Interestingly, in translating the piece to musical theater, Idle has created a show that also has a decidedly anarchic Marx Brothers vibe. Best of all worlds, really.

The set is no great shakes, but you could say the same thing about the movie. The laughs, those are the real deal.

Spamalot runs through May 31 at CIBC Theatre.

For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman