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Monty Python alum John Cleese says he plans to ditch the famous song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from the new stage adaptation of the group’s iconic 1979’s religious satire film “The Life Of Brian”.
That film famously ends with Brian (Graham Chapman) and his disciples breaking into a cheery song about looking at life optimistically as they are being crucified.
Cleese also says he will ditch the famous scene where ‘Romans Go Home’ is written in Latin in graffiti, citing that “the language is now so rarely taught in schools”. The production will, however, retain the scene where a revolutionary named Stan announces he wants to be a mother named ‘Loretta’.
Speaking with the UK’s Mail on Sunday, Cleese says he’s still tweaking the script for the stage project after three years and says he now considers the end song ‘too predictable’:
“It was shocking in 1979. It was absolutely astonishing. People thought it was hilarious, they screamed with laughter. Well, nobody is going to be shocked now – the joke is 40 years old. People do love the song but do we want to end with something that’s completely predictable?”
Python co-star Eric Idle, who wrote the song, is said to be unhappy that the song will be dropped from the show, which is expected to open in the West End next summer. Idle is not involved with the production.
In addition, Cleese said he spoke with Sir Michael Palin last week and had a ‘friendly disagreement’ over some of the plans with Cleese saying: “Michael liked the first half of the new script but was dubious about the changes that I had made in the second half.”
One change Cleese did in the first half is to include a ‘wonderful opening’ which Palin wrote 40 years ago but which was never used.
Source: Mail on Sunday
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