You had me at dick. Actually, Eric Idle is what caused this play-for-the-radio to capture my attention. A live performance to be taped for future audiences unlucky enough to miss out on this event, this comedy stars every person with a Brit accent that you can name in the next three minutes. OK, Go! Russell Brand, Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Jane Leeves, Jim Piddock, Tracey Ullman and Sophie Winkleman …no, the Queen isn’t in it. But good try.
According to Eric Idle, “The astonishing cast we have assembled to work on my Dick is a comedy writer’s wet dream…“It’s comedy porn.” Eric Idle has some experience with the theater, both with The Rutles, Not The Messiah and Broadway’s Spamalot. The plot?
…set between 1910 and eight o’clock, which tells the story of young Dick (Russell Brand) who is studying philosophy and gynecology at Oxford; his two cousins: Emma, (Jane Leeves) an emotionally retarded English girl; her kleptomaniac sister Helena (Sophie Winkleman) and their dipsomaniac Aunt Maggie (Tracey Ullman) all live together in Kensington in a large, rambling, Edwardian novel. When the Reverend Whoopsie (Tim Curry) discovers a piano on a beach, a plot is set afoot that can be solved only by a private Dick, the incomprehensible Scottish sleuth Inspector McGuffin (Billy Connolly) who with the aid of Sergeant Ken Russell (Jim Piddock) finally reveals the identity of the Houndsditch Mutilator.
“John Du Prez plays the piano, and Eric Idle appears in his own play as The Narrator. The Grammy Award-winning duo who brought you SPAMALOT (which begins a run at The Pantages Theater February 28-March 3) and NOT THE MESSIAH (a comic oratorio performed at The Hollywood Bowl in 2009) have written eight new songs for the production.” Purchase tickets here
